Zone: Flow, Starting and Stopping It
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Loading ...Flow in zone situations, at its finest, is so beautiful and potent as to completely crush the will of the defensive team, making them completely shift away from zone as a defensive strategy. It is an offense’s best friend and a defense’s worst nightmare.
How does it happen? And how can it be stopped(or perhaps you can only hope to contain it)?
Flow starts when the disc moves past the cup. It may end there if no continuation options are available, but simply breaching the cup puts the defense, well, on the defensive.
Continuing flow takes coordinated movement. If all the downfield receivers rush towards the disc, it’s likely that only one more pass (with perhaps a second quick dish for minimal yards) will go off before crowding prevents further motion. This is still better than no flow, but the best teams will work in turn such that 3-4+ passes are made, quickly moving the disc downfield.
On offense, flow in a zone situation is essentially a series of opportunity cuts.
If you’re deep, the defense is usually flipping out about preventing a quick deep strike–meaning at least one and perhaps two or three defenders are good bets to be behind their men deep. This usually means the cutters who were in the deep/wing positions on offense are perfectly positioned to get a big gainer on a cut back to the disc; 15-20 yards is not too unreasonable an expectation.
Poppers or those close to the disc should look to do one of two things off of the initial move past the cup:
- Get a quick dish to keep the disc moving (if the popper in question is immediately open and the thrower is being marked or otherwise has few options)
- Haul ass upfield and look for an opportunity to get the disc further down the pass chain–you never know when that deep might get pulled too far to one side, etc.
Above all else, flow demands that you keep the disc moving. It’s almost always a better call to dish it to somebody nearby and keep pushing upfield than to hold the disc waiting for the perfect look. The longer you hold the disc, the more time the defense has to catch up and get comfortable; a constantly moving disc forces the D to constantly adjust, and it can be very demoralizing for a cup to constantly be left behind the action.
If you’re on defense, goal #1 when the disc gets past the cup is to slow disc motion.
A backfield defender‘s main priorities are,
- To stop the quick huck for a goal, and
- Stall (disc motion) for time while the cup catches up.
Sometimes this means taking your one guy and sticking to him, but more often than not this means letting a small fish go to keep the big fish at bay–you can let them get off those little 3-5 yard squirts for a time if it means the disc remains generally in the same area for your cup to catch.
Again, being able to read space and motion is key–recognizing what spaces are viable for the offense in flow and where the biggest threats are, and then responding to limit them, is the crux of zone D.
If you’re in the cup and the disc gets past you…bust ass to catch up and get in the way again. In much the same way that you don’t want to just blindly sprint from station to station when the disc is swung, though, you have to be cautious to make sure you’re not rushing to your ‘position’ only to let the disc slip right by you and start the chasing cycle all over again. A cup needs to expand and become dynamic as the disc moves to limit threats in flow, much the same way the backfield does.
Often the type of jail-break flow situations you’re describing are when many teams have an audible call to go into person-D. Usually a zone’s goal is to slow down an offense, but if the O breaks through, it can often be best to try to contain playing person D.
“It’s almost always a better call to dish it to somebody nearby and keep pushing upfield than to hold the disc waiting for the perfect look.”
As a cup defender, I love to play against teams with this philosophy. Layout block time!
Gwen,
The transition to man D is definitely a solid option, and definitely the end result on the flowchart–I suppose I’m talking more in terms of trying to keep that initial break from blowing it wide open. Even with the transition, a given defender will likely have to choose who to cover, so the same general ideas apply.
Seigs,
As a popper, I love defenders who love to lay out for this stuff. Missed layout blocks mean we’re really off to the races!
That’s why I don’t miss. Speaking of missing, you missed my point. I don’t agree that you should keep the disc moving just for the sake of keeping the disc moving. Sideways passes (“this stuff”) in the zone are dangerous, and I think you want to make sure that the potential return validates the risk.
Seigs,
I’m not saying you should blindly make passes–but your point is well taken.
In practice, I suppose these “sideways” passes wind up looking more like leads to space up the field, which are both viable and dangerous.
There are certainly situations where this is not the case–motion that leaves you stuck on the sideline, for instance–but as a general tenet I’ve found “keep the disc moving” to be as true in zone as it is in man offense.