RPO of the Year ➕ Getting the QB in Rhythm with Screens

Sep 20, 2022 2:54 pm

Coach ,

The focus of this week’s tips is easy completions.

Perimeter screens, shallow screens, and simple RPO’s are good methods of getting the quarterback into a rhythm while also getting other players touches early in a game.

Scripting these types of plays into openers can help force a defense to defend the whole field providing something relatively simple for the offense to execute.

#1) RAC on Perimeter Screens

Ryan Mauiri, OC for Central College, led the #1 total offense (570.1 yards per game) and scoring (53.5 points per game) in the NCAA in 2021. A big part of their success was the ability to distribute the ball around the field and get easy completions and RAC.

By now, the bubble is nothing new. It’s something being run at every level. The details, of course, are what make a play go, and in this video Coach Mauiri describes their coaching point for their receivers as to where they are running to after the catch and ensures a consistent gain plus how that opens opportunity for RAC (click on image for video):

Video: Perimeter Throws

The bubble and now screens are a great way to get your QB confidence in throwing the ball plus getting the receivers involved early in the game. It’s a strategy many teams are using this season.

#2) The No Read Progression 3rd Down Call

One play I have been a big proponent of over the last few seasons is the shallow screen. This provides a great option for a team that doesn’t like to get their linemen out on screens. It also takes the read progression out of it for the QB and gives him an easy throw. This is a good call for early in a game when you are trying to get the QB into a rhythm and you have a third and 7 or less, though with blocking and a dynamic shallow runner, it certainly could pick up more.

A coach I met years ago is Josh Herring, OC at Jones County HS in Georgia. He impressed me with his knowledge of the passing game and both his ideas as well as his methods for teaching them.

He presented a clinic “Attitude Passes” and one of them was the shallow screen. The play is simple enough, a receiver runs shallow down the line of scrimmage being sure not to go past it because everyone else will be running the stem of their route like it’s a pass then transition into a blocker.

As I said, no linemen release to block. The blocking is handled by the receivers. In order to make this work against all the exotic fronts, mugs, sims, or rats you might see, having well-defined blocking rules for the receivers as well as attention to personnel make this play very effective.

Coach Herring explains his 3x1 “Police” here (click on image for video):

Video: 3x1 Police

#3) The RPO of the Year

Yesterday on OC Office Hour, XFL Houston Offensive Coordinator AJ Smith explained what he called “The RPO of the Year.”

It’s the inside zone with the two outside receivers blocking, the tight end running flat behind the line of scrimmage and the QB reading the end and either throwing to the TE or keeping it in the alley.

Here’s a diagram of it from LSU OC Mike Denbrock:

Coach Denbrock shows the play with practice film here (click on image for video):

Video: Skip

It’s a play I have seen a lot of as well both on Saturdays and under the Friday night lights and as long as the QB makes the simple reads correctly, it’s an effective way to stress the defense and get someone with it the ball in space.

That’s the theme of all of these plays. They have simple (or no) reads for the QB and they get the ball to someone in space. That’s the formula for plays that consistently move the chains.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski

P.S. Check out these top-performing offenses