Playbooks

Franchise Playsheet

Screen Game

PlaysheetOffense
1Formation
5Sets
27Plays

Overview

Screen Game is a single formation situational playsheet: 27 plays, all of them out of Shotgun, spread across 5 sets. There is no under center package, no pistol, no heavy personnel wrinkle to fall back on. Everything runs through 11 (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) and 10 (1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR), which means every snap starts with the quarterback already depth and the back already aligned as a pass option rather than a downhill runner. As a situational sheet it is bigger than only 7% of the game's 42 offensive franchise playsheets, so you are choosing focus over breadth on purpose.

The concept list tells you exactly what the 27 plays are for. Screen work headlined by HB Cross Screen gives you the built in answer to pressure, and it is paired with Post, Double Posts, Seam and Crosser shots so the same Shotgun looks that sell a checkdown can also attack the deep middle. The explicit Cover 2 Beater and Cover 4 Beater tags mean you get plays designed against specific zone shells instead of guessing, and Play Action plus Motion concepts let you manipulate a defense that has started to sit on the quick game. The run side is deliberately narrow: Inside Zone, Zone Run and generic Run Play calls that exist to keep second down honest, not to grind out four minute drives.

You pick Screen Game when you want a compact, repeatable Shotgun identity where every play looks like the last one at the snap. Because all 27 plays share one formation family, your pre snap process becomes muscle memory: same audible tree, same hot route spots, same read progression. A player running a balanced book with six or seven formations has more answers but slower hands. This sheet trades variety for speed, and against opponents who blitz early and often, the screen and man beater pairing off identical alignments is a real edge.

Scheme Fit

Screen Game wants a receiving back with strong catching, route running and elusiveness ratings, because HB Cross Screen and the checkdown game are the spine of all 27 plays. You need offensive linemen who can get out in space on screens and a quarterback with quick release and accuracy in the short and intermediate range, since every snap starts in Shotgun with no under center run threat to lean on. Pick this sheet if you are a fast pre snap operator who likes hot routing from a single formation family and punishing blitz heavy opponents, and avoid it if your roster is built around a power back or you want a real short yardage package.

Playsheet bonuses

  • IUnlocks the playsheet
  • II+5Impact Blockall OL
  • III+3Catching, Break TackleRB/FB
  • IV+5Catching, Break TackleWR/TE

Every play in this playsheet (27 plays)

Shotgun Empty Base3 plays

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Strengths

  • Total Shotgun concentration means your entire audible package lives inside one formation family, so you can flip between HB Cross Screen, a Post shot and an Inside Zone call without ever giving the defense a personnel or alignment tell.
  • The screen game paired with Post, Double Posts and Seam concepts gives you a true pressure answer: when the defense sells out with a nano blitz, the screen is already on the call sheet instead of requiring a formation change.
  • Explicit Cover 2 Beater and Cover 4 Beater plays let you attack a diagnosed shell directly rather than hot routing your way into an answer, which saves pre snap time against opponents who disguise late.
  • Mixing 11 (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) and 10 (1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR) inside the same 5 Shotgun sets means formation subs can put your best receiving back and slot options on the field without ever leaving Shotgun.
  • Motion and Play Action concepts out of the same Shotgun looks let you bait user controlled defenders who have started jumping the quick game, turning your own repetition into a trap.

Weaknesses

  • One formation across all 27 plays is the core problem: an opponent who learns your 5 Shotgun sets knows every alignment you can show, and there is no under center or heavy package to change the picture.
  • With only Inside Zone, Zone Run and generic Run Play calls, short yardage and goal line situations are a real liability. You cannot line up and run power at a defense that has committed to stopping the pass.
  • 10 (1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR) personnel in Shotgun invites free blitzers. Without an extra blocker on the field your protection math is thin against edge pressure and interior twists.
  • The screen heavy identity is easy to key. Defenders who sit in zone with flat coverage and user control the middle will squeeze HB Cross Screen for one or two yards repeatedly.
  • As a situational sheet larger than only 7% of offensive franchise playsheets, it lacks the depth to adapt mid game if your primary concepts stall. You run out of new answers before your opponent runs out of adjustments.

Usage Tips

Build your primary audible around the Shotgun 11 (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) sets and keep HB Cross Screen as one of the four, so you always have a pressure release on any down without scrolling the playsheet.

Save the Shotgun 10 (1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR) sets for second and long or third and 7 plus, where the extra receiver widens the box and your Post, Double Posts and Crosser concepts get one on one leverage.

Use the Cover 2 Beater and Cover 4 Beater tagged plays as your dedicated third down calls once you have identified the shell, and hot route the back out of the formation if you read man coverage instead.

Call Inside Zone and Zone Run on first down early to make the defense honor the run out of Shotgun, then come back with Play Action and Motion concepts on the same look in the second quarter.

Do not go back to the screen game more than twice a drive. Once the opponent user controls the middle linebacker over the screen, pivot to Seam and Post shots off the identical Shotgun alignment.

Formations in this playbook

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