Screens Part 1: What’s in a name?
The first part of my screen series will be describing what each of the screens is. We all have different terminology so I will briefly explain what we use at my school. I didn’t invent this, it is TFS terminology, we might have some slight tweaks but this is how we call our screen game.
We call our screens both by number and by name.
In terms of numbers, screens at 40s/50s.
- 40 to the Right
- 50 to the left
The second digit describes which skill player is getting the ball.
- 41/51 = #1 WR
- 42/52 = #2 WR
- 43/53 = #3 WR
- 44/54 = #4 WR
The number by itself indicates who is getting the ball, what direction, and if no tag is used it is the first screen in our screen series which we call QUICK SCREEN.
Quick Screen and Bubbles
A Quick screen is also known as fast screen or hitch screen. #1 WR foot fires 2 steps up field, comes back catching ball behind LOS and reads his blocks.
Now we have adapted from traditional TFS for the other WRs on quick screens. I didn’t like #2 and #3 WRs on the quick screens, so we modified it to make them automatic bubbles. So a 42,52,43,53,44,54 are all bubble screens. The called WR runs the bubble, the other WRs stalk their man.
We only run bubble when we have a numbers advantage (some teams only have 2 players out there to cover trips) or if we see OLBs who are cheating to stop run and they aren’t honoring our inside WRs.
Solid Screen
Solid is almost the same thing as quick, except with a run fake opposite the direction of the screen first.
We can call this play as Solid Rt/Lt. Or by saying 41/51 Solid. Number explains the player and the direction, the “Solid” tag explains that its our solid version of the screen.
Jailbreak
You can probably guess, Jail Rt/Jail Lt. or we can say 41/51 Jail.
Jailbreak is a screen to the outside WR, he will push it up the field further than quick, OL pass sets and releases, QB will pump one way retreat and throw the jail. I have seen some guys refer to this as a tunnel screen. This is my favorite of our screen plays because most teams buy the pass look we show from all 11 guys, blitzers are rushing hard, coverage guys are dropping off getting deep, and then we hit this and get our whole Ol in front leading the way. It was a great play for us this year, our varsity team’s best play this season.
Slow Screen
Slow screen is your typical RB screen, he sets up to block, kinda rolls off and catches the screen. We didn’t run this screen a ton, but more on that later.
So now that I have introduced the basic terminology we use and what each screen is, I will go more in depth into the individual techniques of each screen.
My next post will be Screens Part 2: Skill Players
Which will be followed by Screens Part 3: Offensive Line (I feel this is the jewel of the screen system I used, Our screen game for my OL is so ridiculously simple, yet complete. This is the secret to why we popped on screens so often this year, because our OL did a heck of a job blocking them).
I hope you guys enjoy
