Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
Fk Screen Cheat Wheel is a play-action screen concept out of Empty Sketch Stack in Shotgun 11 personnel. Off the snap, the outside receiver on the screen side runs a quick angle to sell the flat before the running back cheats out wide on a wheel route up the sideline, while the stack releases on a vertical up the seam and a deep comeback breaker crosses over the middle to hold linebackers and safeties. The primary read is the wheel route out of the backfield, checking down to the shallow drag underneath if the wheel is capped, with the deep crosser and vertical serving as clear-out routes to occupy the safety shell.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is in man or zone by checking linebacker depth and whether a defender shadows the running back before the snap. If the defense shows Cover 3 or Cover 4 with deep safeties sitting back, the wheel route has room to work against a flat defender who bites on the run fake. Watch for a linebacker spy or nano blitz package designed to jump the screen action, since this can blow up the play before the wheel develops. Against Cover 2 or Cover 6, the flat defender and deep half safety can squeeze the wheel route, so the shallow drag becomes the safer outlet. Man coverage with press corners on the stack receivers signals a favorable matchup for the vertical route to clear space underneath for the wheel.
Usage Tips
Use this play on early downs when the defense is selling run or showing a hard blitz look, since the play action element punishes downhill linebackers.
Motion pre-snap to check if the defense shifts, this tells you if you are facing man or zone coverage before the ball is snapped.
If you see man coverage on the running back, trust the wheel route matchup against a linebacker for an explosive gain up the sideline.
Against zone shells, hot route the shallow drag into a deeper in-route to sit in the void vacated by underneath defenders chasing the wheel.
Pair this call with Fk Cheat HB Screen earlier in a series so the defense bites on the quick screen action, then hit them with the wheel for a home run shot.
