also: wide zone · stretch · OZ
Zone blocking aimed at the edge. The line runs playside trying to reach defenders aligned outside them, and the back presses the sideline before cutting up. Three common names, and programs disagree about whether they mean the same thing.
The same zone principle aimed at the edge instead of the interior. Linemen are trying to reach block defenders aligned playside of them, and the back presses toward the sideline to make the defense run with him before cutting up behind the first block that got won.
It lives or dies on the reach block, which is the one block in football that cannot be solved with effort or angle. A line that can run can make this the best play in an offense; a line that cannot will produce a string of two-yard losses with it, and that is a personnel fact rather than a coaching failure.
The design payoff is that it stresses a defense laterally, which is a completely different problem from the one inside zone poses, and running both makes each harder to defend.
wide zone, stretchinside zone, toss and pitch, speed optionOutside zone, wide zone and stretch are used as synonyms by many coaches and as three different plays by others, with the usual distinction being aiming point and how far the back is asked to press before cutting. There is no settled standard, so this is a first-week question for a new assistant rather than something to look up.
The most personnel-dependent run play in common use. Whether your line can reach is the whole question. It is answerable in one practice.