AMA: Post-Cowboy's Game
Zone blocking- I want to say many years ago SP brought in Alex Gibbs ( i think as "oline consulting" ) and i really thought we were moving toward that zone blocking , backside run type offense but it never really took hold.
So what is making THIS iteration better? More athletic oline?
Every single team in the NFL has inside and outside zone in their playbook. It's not something extremely unique as a concept.
What made Gibbs version different was the details--the way he coached the line--and the way they used their 21 and 12 personnel looks (FBs and TEs). The "wide zone" that he gets credited with is also not something super unique, but again, the way he coached it (for example, the use of cutting on the backside and second level) is what made it unique. The years the Broncos seemed to be able to plug in any RB and they'd run for 1000 yards were in large part due to Gibbs' version of the zone running game and the massive cutback lanes it creates.
It fit into Shannahan's system (and his tree) because of how it paired up with the play-action passing game and the bootlegs and the screens. But again... literally every team has some version of this. No one is reinventing the wheel from a concept level.
Gibbs was a position coach, and it's the position coaches that make any system work. What Kubiak is doing isn't radical play design, it's good coaching by him and the coaches under him. It's attention to detail. It's accountability. It's, rather than asking each player to just beat the man in front of them, it's telling them to do their job, the way they are being taught, and trust that they will win--and defining what "winning" means.
Maybe Shaheed doesn't get open on the post, but he opens up Olave on the over route. Maybe Penning doesn't get the end reached, but the guard washes the LB and a cutback lane opens on the outside zone. Instead of it being "you're gonna have to beat everyone 1 on 1" it's just "hey, do your job, and if the defense overplays you then it's gonna let us win somewhere else."
Again, it all comes down to coaching which is involves a lot more than play-calling and design (thought that is also important).
Ultimately the Saints are executing really well on the details--and those little details add up to some very big plays.