Film Breakdown: How Scott Peters Fixed Cincinnati Bengals Wide Zone Run Scheme

The Bengals' run game has transformed over the back half of the season when they acquired Joe Flacco. Through the first five weeks, the Bengals run game was ranked 21st in rushing success rate. From weeks 6-18 the Bengals ranked 3rd in rushing success rate.

While there were improved performances up front, someone that deserves a bevy of credit is offensive line coach Scott Peters. Specifically it’s notable to see how Peters has coached them to run wide zone and mid zone.

Know Your Personnel

A common sentiment among great coaches is to understand the traits and abilities of your players. The Bengals offensive line is strong and smart but they lack athleticism. The only elite athlete they have up front (Using Relative Athletic Score) is right tackle Amarius Mims. The average RAS for the 6 most used Bengals OL is 6.27.

This is why for the past few years, the Bengals run game has been very tight. They have preferred inside zone, tight zone, and duo as their run concepts. All of these runs have an initial aiming point between the tackles and do not ask the offensive line to run horizontally.

These runs are the easy answer for how to work a run game with limited athletes up front, however, a great coach is able to find a way to do more. Getting this unit to effectively run wide zone is one of Peters greatest accomplishments this season.

How Peters Asked The Bengals To Run Mid and Wide Zone

Rather than asking these Bengals offensive linemen to open their hips and run on an angle, Peters has them stay square initially. Here is how the Bengals would run wide zone in 2021.

Peak Joe Mixon as he hits the backside C gap on wide zone, lowers his shoulder to ruin a DBs day, and then runs for another 10 yards pic.twitter.com/hWHPqLtgwj
— mike (@bengals_sans) December 20, 2021

This is the more traditional technique. Most of the offensive line is gaining depth and width with their first step, opening their hips and shoulders, and running on a line. This is also generally how wide zone was taught when it first caught fire in the NFL with Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak, and Alex Gibbs.

Now let’s take a look at how the Bengals have run wide zone this season in comparison.

pic.twitter.com/JP3X4qDI6R
— Walter (@Pff_Walter) January 7, 2026

They’re staying square and at times shuffling rather than opening up and running. This is useful to help their limited athletes up front while also allowing these players to showcase their intelligence by putting them in better position to pass stunts and games up front. On this particular play, Ted Karras and Dalton Risner are able to handle a slanting nose tackle because they’re tight to each other and square with the line of scrimmage. Karras is then able to climb and get a piece of the linebacker to spring this run.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) January 7, 2026

Here is another wide zone rep and this time you can see how the offensive line is once again square rather than opening up and running. Also worth pointing out that there is motion away from the run on this play. This motion bumps the second level toward the backside of the play which in theory should allow for easier angles for the offensive line. It actually ended up hurting them here however as there is an unblocked linebacker.

pic.twitter.com/egNYIIsfSv
— Walter (@Pff_Walter) January 7, 2026

This rep has motion toward the play but then split flow away from the play. This eye candy in both directions freezes the second level. Once again the guards are remaining square and shuffling rather than opening up and running at their targets.

They can generally achieve this technique because there is eye candy to hold the second level as shown above. Peters is finding a way to tighten the aiming points of the offensive line so that they do not have to open and run.

Even on the plays where there is no eye candy, the Bengals offensive line generally still stays square on their initial two steps.

pic.twitter.com/PHvBYkORxY
— Walter (@Pff_Walter) January 7, 2026

After the initial steps, they may transition to opening their hips and running at an angle as shown by both Amarius Mims and Ted Karras up front.

It’s also worth noting that this is not the only way they have run these zone plays even if it is most often used. Here is an example of them using the more classic technique to open up and run on their first two steps.

pic.twitter.com/yBjwhSyXJA
— Walter (@Pff_Walter) January 7, 2026

Risner and Mims here are opening their hips up immediately and running because of where they have to get to without eye candy to hold the defense. Their second level assignments are quite a distance away so rather than being able to shuffle and stay square, they need to get there quickly.

Everything is about the angle and assignments up front. Finding ways to tighten those angles and assignments has allowed the Bengals to maximize their talent on the offensive line while minimizing their deficiencies in a run scheme that generally wouldn’t work with limited athletes.

Peters has done a tremendous job this season of working with this group of players. There is more to his run game than just this look at wide zone and this article has not even mentioned the improved pass blocking as a unit. Hopefully the Bengals find a way to build off of this run game so they can start next season hot without asking Joe Burrow to be a superhero.