Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
PA Fk Cheat WR Screen is a play-action screen out of Shotgun Tight Y Off Wk that uses a hard fake handoff to sell run action before working a bubble screen to the boundary. On the diagram the outside receiver runs a vertical clear route up the sideline to pull the corner and safety deep, while the two inside receivers stay in tight to set up a blocking wall for the screen. The near backside receiver runs a quick flat/screen route that the quarterback looks to on his primary read, with the vertical route serving as the clearout to open up space underneath. This is a screen play designed to punish aggressive man pressure and overzealous linebackers who bite on the play-action fake.
Defensive Reads
Watch for a user-controlled linebacker sitting flat and reading the quarterback's eyes instead of biting on the run fake, which signals the screen is anticipated. Identify single high safety shells (Cover 1 or Cover 3) presnap since the vertical clearout is designed to hold that safety deep and remove him from screen support. Key on the defensive end or outside linebacker crashing hard upfield on the play-action fake, which is exactly the leverage this screen is built to exploit. If the corner assigned to the vertical route sits and squats instead of respecting the fake, the screen throwing lane will be compressed and risky. Look for scraping linebackers who diagnose the screen quickly and flow outside, since numbers advantage disappears if the second level reacts fast enough to beat the blocking wall.
Usage Tips
Call this on early downs or in obvious run-look situations where linebackers are keying run fits and safeties are cheating up into the box.
Check pre-snap for man coverage or blitz packages since the screen thrives against defenses selling out to stop the play-action fake and inside run.
Use the vertical clearout route to bait a single high safety or aggressive corner into peeling off, which opens a clean throwing lane to the screen.
Combine this with PA Fk Cheat Post Cross and PA Fk Cheat Quick Out from the same set so defenses cannot key on the play-action mesh point without respecting the deep shots too.
If the defense shows a hard edge blitz or crashing defensive end, get the ball out immediately to the screen before the fake even fully develops.
Avoid calling this against disciplined zone defenses that keep linebackers home and squat on screens, since the blocking wall can get outnumbered quickly.
