University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points Thursday
November 15, 2001 | Football
Nov. 15, 2001
By Lee Pace
The screen pass has become a lethal weapon in the Tar Heels' offensive arsenal over the last several weeks. One version of the play broke for 75 yards Saturday in the first half of Carolina's loss to Wake Forest, and another gained 36 yards the previous week at Georgia Tech.
There are a variety of different screen passes, but all of them have several elements in common.
* They work best against zone pass defense because the receiver can get open between the wall of onrushing defensive linemen and the linebackers and secondary players settling into their drops.
* They can also bust blitzes if the receiver catches the ball beyond the flow of blitzing linebackers.
* The receiver must catch the ball behind the line of scrimmage to allow other receivers to engage their blocks downfield during the flight of the ball. On a ball thrown beyond the line, a blocker can't engage his man during the ball flight or he'll be flagged for offensive pass interference.
* The play usually pits a tailback or receiver in space against a player who's not blocked, requiring that he make a move, that he make the defender miss in order to gain good yards.
The screens that have worked the last two games for the Tar Heels are "bubble screens," so-named because the route run by the receiver resembles a small bubble or an arch. The same pass and route is run from a variety of formations, helping to prevent the defense from picking up tendencies.
The play at top in the accompanying diagram went for 36 yards late in the first half of Carolina's 28-21 loss Nov. 1 in Atlanta. Carolina sent "trips" receivers to the left, with QB Darian Durant in the shotgun with a tailback to his right and a lone receiver right. The tailback went in motion right, but he and the receiver to that side were nothing more than window dressing to the defense.
Brandon Russell (31) was the inside receiver to the left, and on the snap of the ball he ran a bubble pattern toward the boundary, stretching at least to the bottom of the numbers on the playing field before turning upfield. The outside receiver ran a "go" pattern, drawing the cornerback with him and taking him out of position to make a tackle, and the next receiver blocked the man covering him.
"If you send three out in formation, the defense will send three to cover them," says offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill. "One of them you can't block. So it's up to the receiver to make someone miss."
That's exactly what happened, with Russell sidestepping the charge of the outside linebacker. Once he did that, he had plenty of running room on the corner before the secondary recovered and pursued him downfield to make the tackle. Had Russell not been able to dodge the linebacker, the play would have gone for a loss of two or three yards.
"The bubble screens can be hit and miss," says Tranquill. "A lot depends on what kind of coverage you catch them in. If they're playing tight man, it's not very good."
The throw from the quarterback is important as well. Simply throwing it well enough for the receiver to make the catch isn't good enough on a screen pass. On an 18-yard downfield curl pattern, for example, as long as the receiver catches the ball--whether it's thrown high, low or to the side--it's still a nice gain. On a screen pass, anything other than a perfectly thrown ball that allows the receiver to catch it in front of him while on a run is considered a bad pass. If the ball's low or to the back of the receiver, the instant the receiver loses in having to slow down or turn to catch it can be the difference in breaking the pass for a gain or getting nailed. Durant has better accuracy on these short passes than Ronald Curry.
The play at bottom was the one taken 75 yards by Sam Aiken (88) during the second quarter of Carolina's 24-0 run in the first half against Wake Forest. Aiken lined up in the backfield alongside Durant, then went in motion toward the right, giving the Tar Heels a "quad" receivers look to that side. Each of the receivers blocked the man covering him, and Carolina got a good break in that the safety aligned opposite Brandon Russell (31) was blitzing and had overrun the play by the time Aiken caught the ball. In addition, the middle linebacker was blitzing also and completely out of position to make a play.
Chesley Borders (39) did a good job blocking his man, allowing Aiken to get around the corner, and then Aiken, just as Russell had done in the other example, made a defender miss. The backside cornerback ran the play down and tried to tackle Aiken downfield, but the Tar Heel receiver fended him off with an authoritative stiff arm.
"We treat the bubble screens essentially like a toss-sweep to a receiver," says receivers coach Gunter Brewer. "We're looking for about six yards. But if blocked well and the receiver makes someone miss, you can hit it for big yards."
Another common version of the screen pass is the throw to the tailback, who feigns a pass block for an instant, then slips out of the mass of humanity into the flat.
And then there's the "flanker screen," a.k.a. "tunnel screen," a.k.a. "jailbreak screen," a.k.a. "fold screen." This is the one where the outside receiver in a trips set takes a quick jab step downfield and "folds" underneath a "tunnel" of blockers--linemen and receivers and everyone else on the team. That play worked well in the early days of Mack Brown's successful run in the early 1990s, then fell off in production in the mid-1990s.
"That one seems to have run its course," Tranquill says. "People have figured out how to defend it. But we've hit a few times this year. It's actually given us more production over the course of the year than the bubble screen."
Two Tar Heels not known for their pass-catching skills while at Carolina made big
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The Tar Heel coaching staff throughout the 1999 and 2000 seasons talked about wanting to get Crumpler more involved in the passing game, and he was a part of it to a degree--catching 20 and 23 passes in those two years, respectively. But his run-blocking skills were so outstanding and the Heels lacked all-stars on the offensive line both years, so Crumpler performed more as a warrior along the trenches.
(You might wonder exactly how much some teams use their tight end in the passing game. At Oklahoma this year, for example, All-America candidate Trent Smith has 52 catches in 10 games.)
But the Falcons have had more luxury to explore his abilities as a receiver. He's caught 14 balls in eight games for 224 yards and two TDs. Crumpler is the Falcons' No. 2 tight end behind Reggie Kelly.
"You did not see him catch the ball too much at North Carolina, so you really didn't know he had great hands," Falcons coach Dan Reeves says. "I don't think there is anything that pleased us more than the fact that he catches the ball so well.
"We have got to figure out how to get the ball to him more, because he makes things happen," Reeves says. "He is extremely dangerous once he catches the ball. At his size, he is very difficult to bring down. Alge has even made a couple of catches where he actually caught the back end of the ball, which you have got to have really strong, powerful hands to do."
Crumpler comes from good football stock. His dad, Carlester, played tight end for the Buffalo Bills from 1974-77, and his brother, Carlester Jr., played for Seattle and Minnesota from 1994-2000.
Atlanta's opponent this Sunday will be the Packers, a team featuring three former Tar Heels--Henderson, linebacker Bernardo Harris and defensive end Vonnie Holliday.
Henderson continues to do for the Packers what he did best for the Tar Heels from 1991-94--help open holes in the running game for the tailback. He doesn't carry the
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"William's unselfish, never complains about not touching the ball, but when he does touch it, he gives a great effort," offensive coordinator Tom Rossley says. "Whenever we need him, he's there. And he's always there when we need a block."
QB Brett Farve hit Henderson for 14 yards on a key third-down play Sunday in Chicago to help set up Green Bay's game-clinching TD, and then he snared a 24-yard catch to help set up the Packer's final insurance score.
"William doesn't get the respect he deserves," says Farve.
SQUIB KICKS -- Receiver Bosley Allen has a sprained ankle and might miss or be limited in Saturday's game against Duke. He hurt the ankle when he landed awkwardly after a celebratory, leaping high-five with Chesley Borders following his TD catch against Wake Forest. Reserve defensive end Issac Mooring sprained his back Tuesday, missed practice Wednesday and is questionable as well. ***Defensive end Darryl Grant has moved to tackle to help bolster the Tar Heels' sagging depth at that position. Will Chapman is out for the year with a knee injury and reserve Jonas Seawright is out with a knee injury.
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