Today we are going to talk about three benefits to using fast screens in your offense.
- First, is finding and utilizing space.
- Second is getting your best athletes quality touches.
- Third, is protecting your runs.
One of the biggest mistakes I make is not always taking advantage of space. A football field is 53-1/3 yards wide. As football coaches, we tend to only use 15 to 20 yards of width on any given play. We want to find where the defense is giving us space and then take that space.
We want to find ways to get your most explosive players the ball in the space we are taking. The more touches we can get our best athletes, the more of a chance we will have an explosive play. We want to get the ball to a fast guy. I talk about this a lot when I am at clinics and working with coaches. Are we getting the ball to our fast guys?
I want to give you one very simple way you can force the defense to defend the entire field, while giving you a chance to get your athletes the ball in space. This helps you protect your runs.
Have you ever tried to run the ball into a loaded box and not been able to have consistent success? If you are successful running the football, teams will load the box to stop your run game. Below is an example of of a defense loading the box to stop the run. We are in a 10 personnel set, and the defense has 7 players in the box.
It's a Math Issue
When you have 5 blockers, you can only block 5 defenders. We can account for the 6th player by reading him. But we can't block 6 with 5. We can't block 7 with 6. The math doesn't work. Unless you are a lot more physical than your opponent, you aren't going to have many explosive plays. And in many cases, you will have increased negative plays.
Improve the Math
If the defense has 7 in the box, they only have 4 players outside the box. That is a lot of space for 4 players to have to cover. Some math I like better is to play 2 on 1, or 3 on 2. We want to look at leverage, numbers, and green grass. In the picture above, we have green grass to the field.
Fast Screens
Fast screens allow us to get 2 on 1 and 3 on two matchups and take advantage of green grass. If we are in a twins set, the defense will play us with one up and one back typically. There will be a force guy and a drop guy. If we can get the ball to our either twin receiver quickly, and the other receiver can block the force player, we have a chance for 6 yard play.
6 Yards or 6 Points
We are throwing the ball to a receiver in space with a blocker leveraging the force player. If we do a great job of blocking the fast screen, we should be able to gain 6 yards. If we can make one guy miss, that 6 yard gain turns into 6 points. This is a great way to get your fast guys the football in space. Our fast screens provide our best athletes with opportunities for momentum changing plays.
Two Keys
There are two keys to making fast screens work.
- Receivers Must Block For Each Others
- QB Must Get the Ball Out
First, your receivers must be willing to block for each other. They must take pride in their blocking. If your receivers are not relentless blockers, fast screens are not going to be effective. Second, you have to get the ball out quick. Your QB has to get the ball out of his hands quickly and make the throw with some velocity. We equate the QB to a second basement turning a double play.
Multiple Ways
There are multiple ways to throw our fast screens to get the ball to great athletes on the perimeter. We can throw the fast screen to #1 as illustrated above. We can throw the bubble to our inside receiver. We can throw the ball to the back with fast motion out of the box, or from a stationary position on the snap of the ball. We can motion a player across the formation to change the math for the defense.
Attaching Fast Screens to Runs
This is something you can do at every level of football to protect your runs. Every time we call an inside run, we are going to attach fast screens to the call. If the defense gives us numbers in the box, we will execute the run. If the defense loads the box and gives us numbers on the perimeter, we will take the fast screen. This allows us to always protect our runs.
If you want a systematic approach to protect your runs with fast screens, I have a CoachTube Video that will give you everything you need to do this with a very simple approach. Our fast screens helped us to be more effective at taking space while creating more explosives in both the run game and pass game.
Instaling Presnap RPOs has helped coaches at all levels of football to score more points and win more games. If you want to have a simple way to throw for more yards and get your best athletes more touches, it gives you everything you need to successfully protect your run game while creating explosives in the pass game. I show you how to install fast screens and attach them to your runs, and how to practice your fast screens.
This has helped us to increate the number of explosives we have in the run game and the pass game. Because we are taking advantage of perimeter space, defenses tend to widen their alley players. This lightens the box and makes things easier on our offensive line. We also get more touches for our key skill players, and those are quality touches in space.
This simple concept will improve your run game and give your skill guys more touches.
I also wrote a book on installing pre and post snap RPOs available on Amazon as a paperback or as a Kindle Book. RPO Book on Amazon
If you have an iPhone or iPad, I have an iBooks Version of my RPO book, which includes video clips!
Let me add this... Preparation and Organization
