The Steelers plan to use the outside zone scheme to supplement their power style in order to take advantage of their all-of-a-sudden big, nimble and young offensive line. The hope is to kick start a running game that had its worst output in a decade last year.
Do the Steelers have the running backs to make the scheme work? Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer and rookie LeVeon Bell are more power runners than one-cut, take-it-to-the-house guys who are associated with the scheme.
“It is not like we are trying to run the sweep to the outside every play,” Redman said. “Outside zone, you are taking a certain landmark and picking a lane that you see fit.”
It sounds like the O-line loves the scheme, but it remains to be seen whether the Steelers have the RBs (namely LeVeon Bell) to pull it off.