Screens, Play Action, Reverses, etc

[Jackrabbit]

Screens

- The RB animations make it less effective than it should be.
- They work better for me in 2nd/long and 3rd/long situations.
- They do not work with 4 LBs (3-4 and 4-4) and 4-6 defenses. 5-2 is fine.

Play Action

- Must run the ball quite frequently for these to work.
- You have to keep the FB or TE in to block. Blitzers get free otherwise.
- Better with 4 LB sets. In 4-6 that up safety always seems to get free.

Bootlegs

- Always boot out to the QB's throwing side. They must "run into the throw" for it to be effective.
- Never throw to the deep route on the other side of the field on boots.
- Right handed QBs need more room. Run the play from the left hash and boot to the QB's right.
- Stop before you throw. Otherwise, precision passing kicks in and goofs things up.

Reverses

- Motion the WR that will get the pitch toward the QB right before the snap. The WR will be closer and get the ball sooner.
- If you're getting the LB coming in on the run side(where the WR will run after getting the pitch), then motion the TE over to that side.
- If you have the def overloaded on the run side, motion the TE for sure.
- It'll help the WR if there's more room. Don't run a reverse to short side of the field.
- I've broken a 50 and 30 run TD runs with reverses, against Auburn and Northwestern (I'm Wisconsin).
- Run it against 4 LB sets and 4-6. All that movement blocks up the middle. The guys you are worried about are the run side LB and DE. That CB may be up too since one reverse is based on a 2 wide set on the strong (TE) side of the formation. That's zone and you need to audible to your formation's audible.