No matter what level of football you are playing, from Pop Warner to the pros, utilizing a screen pass is a great way to completely thwart an oncoming defense. There's a bit of trickery involved from the offensive players, but with just a few simple moves, you'll beat the defense for big yardage gains as you bust through their secondary. Here are some tips on throw a screen pass in football.
Instructions
1. Set the offense in a passing formation. The trick to the screen pass is that you want your lineman to be overmatched. This invites the defense to blitz the quarterback. After the pass is thrown, the wide receivers will act as blockers for the small secondary that the defense is left with. Be sure to set your offense with at least three wide receivers, if not four, as well as a tight end in passing formation and a running back who appears as if he will run a short route. This will make the defense's mouth water at the thought of pummeling the quarterback.
2. Hike the ball and have your quarterback drop back as if he is going to pass normally. Allow him one or two seconds to scan the wide receivers.
3. Block the defensive lineman that are rushing the quarterback. As your quarterback is dropping back, the offensive lineman must block the defense as they normally would in pass protection.
4. Move to the receiving position. As the quarterback and lineman are doing their thing, it's important that the running back (who usually catches the screen pass) flank to the side of the quarterback in anticipation for the throw.
5. Release the approaching defensive line. After one to two seconds, the offensive line will release the defensive line or essentially "give-up" blocking them. This is done on purpose so that they rush the quarterback and take their mind off the awaiting running back.
6. Throw the pass to the awaiting running back. Once the overzealous defense has bitten, it's time for the quarterback to throw the pass to the running back. In a perfect world, the quarterback will get rid of the ball before he is hit by the defense, but it should be noted more than one quarterback has taken a hit on a busted screen pass play.
7. Catch the ball and run like heck. Now that the running back has caught the ball, it's time to run up field. And all of the wide receivers are not supposed to block the thin secondary of the defense creating more opportunities for the running back to gain yardage.
Tags: running back, wide receivers, screen pass, awaiting running, awaiting running back, defensive line, passing formation