We Are a Terrible Screen Pass Team

[Sons Of Shula]

Still think we mostly agree. There was something wrong with Miami's screen game that is separate from box count. Poor blocking? D reading the play call? Personnel? I don't know, but if the box count says the screen is the best play and results show it's one of the worst plays, there is something wrong somewhere. One more time . . . in general I'm a fan of the screen. It has a number of advantages. But when the math says it's a good call and the results say it was a bad call, something is wrong. My vote goes to frequency of the call and (lack of) blocking.

Screens, flares, draws, traps, play-action, and the rest of the gimmicks are constraints when a defender or the defense cheats. It's the only time they should be used. 8 in the box doesn't constitute as that if they are still playing disciplined. It's really that simple.

Screen plays as part of your system will result in failure which is why we are so ineffective with them.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

So did it improve with Matt Moore at QB?

Matt Moore was not listed on the chart I saw. I'm sorry.

 

[pacogar]

You young probably don't recall the Marino years much, but when Keith Byers was here, the screen pass to him was unstoppable. To neutralize pressure, Marion would hit Byers in the flat and put the ball perfectly on his outside hip in perfect stride. Byers was such a player maker. It could not be stopped and always result in Another Miami Dolphins .....1st Down!

Sadly that type of screen play has been lacking. I agree we see two many bubble screeens. With Drakes bigger roll next year, let's hope we see more of them.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

You young probably don't recall the Marino years much, but when Keith Byers was here, the screen pass to him was unstoppable. To neutralize pressure, Marion would hit Byers in the flat and put the ball perfectly on his outside hip in perfect stride. Byers was such a player maker. It could not be stopped and always result in Another Miami Dolphins .....1st Down!

Sadly that type of screen play has been lacking. I agree we see two many bubble screeens. With Drakes bigger roll next year, let's hope we see more of them.

Those weren't screen passes, they were types of HB flares. Still a constraint play nonetheless.

 

[taldolfin]

You would think a key element is to allow the def to come at the qb for the screen to work. We are great at letting that happen.

 

[royalshank]

Those weren't screen passes, they were types of HB flares. Still a constraint play nonetheless.

Agree. I was thinking along similar lines when I saw the thread title in that it feels like we've been a bad screen team since the Marino years. Last time I recall running them well was when Woodley was QB and he would hit Nathan and Vigorito out of the backfield (sometimes they were shovel passes as we let the rush over-commit on the outside) out of the backfield. But I don't recall us being good at screens since then.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

We still suck at it.

 

[datruth55]

We still suck at it.

Man our WRs suck at blocking on those screens...wow. Which reminds me, does anyone else think that Fasano's blocking has sucked this year. He certainly doesn't seem to be blocking as well as I had hoped.

 

[<O>]

We still suck at it.

I suspect this is because, as someone mentioned above, screens are constraint plays, and when opposing defenses don't need constraints applied to them because they aren't busy allocating lots of coverage toward the various offensive weapons on the field (of which the Dolphins have few if any), a constraint play is meaningless and ineffective.

When you're busy positioning yourself to cover the combination of Matt Ryan to Julio Jones downfield, a constraint play has a far greater chance of being effective. When you're able to cheat toward the line of scrimmage and the short areas because there is little if any downfield threat to consider, constraint plays -- which by their very nature operate primarily in those shorter areas -- will be far less effective.

 

[Fins1971]

And you can take Ryan Tannehill out of the equation since we still suck.

 

[John813]

I was wondering what happened to SOS.

Pretty good idea what Hammered means.

Yea, we still suck at screens.

 

[Namor]

We have sucked on a lot more than just screen passes this year.

 

[artdnj]

I root for Tannehill to spike the ball when a bubble screen is called. No chance of lost yardage and we can get to the next real play sooner

It seems like we play with 3 downs instead of four due to play calling. Theres always a wasted play be it screen, run into stacked box etc. goes something like this. First down, gain 4, second down, run into stacked box, third down, pass play blown up by ineffective blitz pick up, 4th down, punt. Sprinkle in a penalty, usually a formation or hold or negative play and thats our usual drive. Get down by 10 plus and we open up the playbook a bit.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

And you can take Ryan Tannehill out of the equation since we still suck.

I would say this is certainly true of most quarterbacks. Cutler's placement on a couple of those screens was pretty lousy, but ultimately it's not something that would make a huge difference in the overall yardage we gain on these plays in bulk.

Rare to find a quarterback who is an active detriment to screen passing. I'd say one of the few that I've ever seen was Donovan McNabb, the man responsible for coining the term "worm burner."

 

[Trade Viper]

Well, here is what I saw Monday night, the running back was looking at the QB the whole time, I mean feet going one way and head turned backwards, gazing at the QB. I don't know, but is that how it should be done??

And then the almighty worm burner, a thing of Beauty I tell you.

Oh and remember the Thurmond Thomas screens, yeeeesssss and how easily the mighty Dolphin D stopped them every time ????? It was Yuuuuuuge as I remember.

The Ever Finally Waking UP VIPER