A year ago, as a pressure team on defense, we were getting hammered by the screen play. In one of our biggest games of the season, against one of our biggest rivals, we gave up a screen play for a 35-yard touchdown and another for a 70-yard touchdown in the same game. Those two scores proved to be the difference in the game.
As you would expect, the remaining teams on our scheduled followed suit in running all kinds of different screens against us with varying success.
So last off season, we were faced with the dilemma of finding a way to remain a pressure team while dealing with the screens that plagued us.
Our first thought was that the screen game is really an extension of the run game. An outside run play is designed to get our defensive rushers / front up the field in order to not have to block them.
This led us to the conclusion that we needed to teach our defensive players to fit the different screens just like we teach them to fit different run plays. So we decided to create a defensive team drill to use during practice in the preseason and then once a week during the actual season. The drill we came up with was the Screen Fit Drill, pictured below.
The Screen Fit Drill puts the defense out versus a 2 x 2 set with a TB offset to both sides. The coach behind the offense signals the call to the defense, while the coach behind the defense signals the direction and type of screen to the offense. The ball is snapped, the defenders either drop to their zones or rush to the “Chase Line” and then react to the ball being thrown.
The two biggest teaching points were to “chase the head of the snake” and fit the blocks correctly. First, head to where the ball carrier is running the screen. Chase the ball carrier to the spot where the screen is intended to go. Second, the force players had to bring the screen back to the inside defenders and the inside or alley players needed to get over blocks into the alley. Meanwhile, the rushers had to run to the ball to “close the door” on the screen.
During the preseason, as we were installing all of our different coverages, we would use this drill to make sure our players knew how to fit the two most prominent screens we see – the Jail Break Screen and the Swing or Bubble Screen. We would run this drill against all of our different coverages and even our blitzes.
During the season we would tailor the drill once a week – after stretching for 7-8 minutes on Wednesday practices – to our upcoming opponent. What screens does the opponent run, are they into the boundary or to the field, and to a certain receiver? If the opposing offense ran the drill out of a trips set, then we would change the drill to have trips to one side of the formation. Basically, we made the drill match our opponent’s screen game. After running the drill during the whole preseason, our players knew the drill and we got very efficient running it.
The results on game day this season were exactly what we were looking for – we did not give up a screen pass over ten yards all season. We believe the success is directly related to the Screen Fit Drill and the emphasis the drill placed on fitting the blocks correctly while “chasing the head of the snake.” If you are a pressure defense, then use the “Screen Fit” drill to help prepare your defense for the inevitable screen plays that are sure to come.
