Spotlight on Auburn's "screen" game.

[StatTiger 3,153]

Wide Receiver screens of various kinds are a trademark of the Air Raid offense. The primary philosophy of the Air Raid offense is to force the opposing defense to defend the entire field. The screens stretch the defense horizontally, setting up the vertical passing game to stretch the defenses vertically. The screens also slow opposing defenses from crashing to defend the run. During the A-Day game, we witnessed first hand how Chip Lindsey sets up some of his vertical pass plays with screen passes.

The Play...


 

During this play the offense has a 1st down at the 20-yard line, coming out in a 3-WR set. The defense has only 6 in the box but a safety will roll up just before the snap to provide a seventh defender to stop the run. At the snap, Jarrett Stidham play-actions with his RB and then fakes the screen pass to Eli Stove. Jason Smith and Eli Stove are stacked on the wide side, having run multiple screen passes from this formation.

Jason Smith initially fakes a slant route inside the CB. The corner sets up to defend the screen to Eli Stove, leaving the safety to guard Jason Smith 1 on 1 on the wide side of the field. After faking the slant, Jason Smith cuts back to run a corner route to the end zone. Jason Stidham throws a corner-fade towards the end zone but overthrows his target. 
 

Though the execution of the pass failed to finish the play, the play remains a good example of how the play sets up a great situation for the WR, 1 on 1 with a safety covering too much real estate. The play was also refreshing to see a rare pass inside the red zone, which have been seldom the past few seasons. Auburn's average national ranking in pass attempts inside the red zone is No. 96 over the past four seasons.

[bigbird 57,908]

1 hour ago, StatTiger said:

 Auburn's average national ranking in pass attempts inside the red zone is No. 96 over the past four seasons.

One of our biggest issues. People harped on our QB's lack of red zone TDs, but seldom would listen to this stat.

[ChattTNTiger 31]

Am I the only one who can't see the play?

[logan adams 333]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

One of our biggest issues. People harped on our QB's lack of red zone TDs, but seldom would listen to this stat.

Sean White is pretty much terrible when it comes to the red zone. His inability to be effective in the red zone made us extremely one-dimensional. I look forward to this changing this season.

[bigbird 57,908]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

One of our biggest issues. People harped on our QB's lack of red zone TDs, but seldom would listen to this stat.

 

11 minutes ago, logan adams said:

Sean White is pretty much terrible when it comes to the red zone. His inability to be effective in the red zone made us extremely one-dimensional. I look forward to this changing this season.

See.

[oracle79 3,569]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

See.

That's a GM over reaction to turnovers by a player (bet it fumble or interception).  Unfortunately, SW did that early on in the red zone and had a couple other close calls when given another shot, and BAM! GM is done with that.

Glad we're adding options to the WR screen so DB's can't load up and jump it when they see the initial screen action.  Now they'll have to make sure it really is a screen before jumping the route.

[WFE12 8,881]

7 minutes ago, oracle79 said:

That's a GM over reaction to turnovers by a player (bet it fumble or interception).  Unfortunately, SW did that early on in the red zone and had a couple other close calls when given another shot, and BAM! GM is done with that.

Glad we're adding options to the WR screen so DB's can't load up and jump it when they see the initial screen action.  Now they'll have to make sure it really is a screen before jumping the route.

Yes! It's all about unpredictability and our offense being multidimensional this season is going to work wonders. Us being one dimensional has worked to a fault in the past and it has frustrated me soo many times. Pound the ball with Bubba, run some screens with our speedy guys like eli stove and will hastings the GOAT, and eventually hit someone deep down field.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

3 hours ago, ChattTNTiger said:

Am I the only one who can't see the play?

Some network security, like the system they use at my office, blocks Stats images.

[aucanucktiger 1,705]

Chatter about Jarrett notwithstanding, IMO the most exciting thing about the Spring game on O was how good our WR blocking looked - both on the wings and down field. The importance of WR blocking (and holding the block without holding) cannot be overstated in many Lyndsey-Malzahn O schemes. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

11 hours ago, bigbird said:

See.

I mean...

It's really bizarre to me how much weight that MSU pick- on Sean's first ever possession as a college QB- still carries with people. Just another example of people seeing what they want to see, I guess. 

[logan adams 333]

13 hours ago, McLoofus said:

I mean...

It's really bizarre to me how much weight that MSU pick- on Sean's first ever possession as a college QB- still carries with people. Just another example of people seeing what they want to see, I guess. 

I see 10 touchdowns in over 15 games and consider that pretty bad. He's a game manager at best, but nothing more. 

Edited May 3, 2017 by logan adams

[logan adams 333]

On 5/1/2017 at 9:07 PM, bigbird said:

 

See.

If the coaches believed that Sean White would've been effective, then they wouldn't have ran it so often.

[Guest WarEagleSteve]

36 minutes ago, logan adams said:

If the coaches believed that Sean White would've been effective, then they wouldn't have ran it so often.

Actually throwing the ball and scoring touchdowns in the red zone has been something Auburn has struggled with throughout Gus Malzahn's tenure at Auburn. Go back and watch Nick Marshall's film and tell me how often he threw the ball inside the twenty (hint, it wasn't often). 2013 is the only one of Gus' four seasons as HC where Auburn was effective at scoring TDs in the Red zone. The last two years were particularly difficult to watch but it was an issue in 2014 too. In fact, I would argue that Auburn driving inside the Alabama 10 yard line four times in the first half and coming away with 12 points is a significant contributing factor to our loss in that contest. All of this is to say that I'm skeptical that all of Auburn's recent red zone woes can be laid at the feet of Sean White. 

[bigbird 57,908]

7 hours ago, logan adams said:

If the coaches believed that Sean White would've been effective, then they wouldn't have ran it so often.

Do you really believe that?

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 hours ago, logan adams said:

If the coaches believed that Sean White would've been effective, then they wouldn't have ran it so often.

Gus tried to give Sean's job to John Franklin all summer and then played 11 quarterbacks against Clemson last year. He said Jeremy Johnson was a Heisman candidate. Go on and keep basing your evaluations on his. 

[logan adams 333]

9 hours ago, WarEagleSteve said:

Actually throwing the ball and scoring touchdowns in the red zone has been something Auburn has struggled with throughout Gus Malzahn's tenure at Auburn. Go back and watch Nick Marshall's film and tell me how often he threw the ball inside the twenty (hint, it wasn't often). 2013 is the only one of Gus' four seasons as HC where Auburn was effective at scoring TDs in the Red zone. The last two years were particularly difficult to watch but it was an issue in 2014 too. In fact, I would argue that Auburn driving inside the Alabama 10 yard line four times in the first half and coming away with 12 points is a significant contributing factor to our loss in that contest. All of this is to say that I'm skeptical that all of Auburn's recent red zone woes can be laid at the feet of Sean White. 

Marshall was at least effective with his feet. And during his time, Auburn was WAY above the national average on scoring in the red zone. 

[bigbird 57,908]

2 minutes ago, logan adams said:

Marshall was at least effective with his feet. And during his time, Auburn was WAY above the national average on scoring in the red zone. 

But that had nothing to do with the NFL tackle, NFL fullback, or NFL running back. 

[logan adams 333]

5 minutes ago, bigbird said:

But that had nothing to do with the NFL tackle, NFL fullback, or NFL running back. 

And we have all of that now. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

14 minutes ago, logan adams said:

And we have all of that now. 

We do? Other than KP, who exactly are you so sure is going to the NFL? Are you seriously going to suggest that Cox is as good as Prosch or that any OL on our team is even in the same ballpark as Greg Robinson (or Reese Dismukes, for that matter)? Also, don't forget that healthy Sean and healthy KP had very little overlap last year. The year before, Sean had nothing but freshmen around him and a center who had never played the position before.

I'm really not sure you've put a ton of thought into this. 

[C'viewTiger 241]

4 hours ago, logan adams said:

And we have all of that now. 

Count me in the camp of until I see them play this year none of them are NFL ready. Until they prove it on the field.. We have a lot of pieces that have potential but until that potential is displayed and we begin dominating other teams, I'll remain in the wait and see mode.

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

@StatTiger, amazing breakdown as usual. I have a question. How did you get so good at breaking down film? Former player at the college level? Either way, wonderful work as always!

[G8orH8or 61]

Thanks again Stat!

[VipersStrike1 230]

On 5/2/2017 at 8:57 AM, McLoofus said:

I mean...

It's really bizarre to me how much weight that MSU pick- on Sean's first ever possession as a college QB- still carries with people. Just another example of people seeing what they want to see, I guess. 

Edited May 6, 2017 by VipersStrike1

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 hours ago, VipersStrike1 said:

I bet you really felt like you were dropping the mic there. Woo. 

 

 

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

I bet you really felt like you were dropping the mic there. Woo. 

 

 

"Boom." 

-Gus Malzahn