Have we tried a halfback screen pass at all this season?

I honestly cant remember us doing so. And if in fact we have called this play, why arent we doing so with more frequency?

A screen pass is one way to beat a ferocious blitz, and we didnt attempt it one time tonight.

Obviously, its not the reason we lost, but if we complete a HB screen or two for big yardage (or a slant), maybe the Ravens dont blitz as much tonight.

Funny I was just talking to my cousin about this. It would have been a fundamental way to answer the aggressiveness of the Ravens d line. Not sure why we don't use screens. In fact, I don't think we've used screens very much in the last six years or so.

Other teams use that play 10 times a game. Not sure why we don't. And don't tell me it's because Smith can't throw the short pass. I'm not in the mood.

Originally posted by AXEGRINDER:
Funny I was just talking to my cousin about this. It would have been a fundamental way to answer the aggressiveness of the Ravens d line. Not sure why we don't use screens. In fact, I don't think we've used screens very much in the last six years or so.

Other teams use that play 10 times a game. Not sure why we don't. And don't tell me it's because Smith can't throw the short pass. I'm not in the mood.

Honestly, that was NOT my intention by making this thread.

I just think that, like you said, a screen pass to a halfback is a fundamental way to beat a blitz. And we didnt try it once today (nor much at all). Its just odd to me that we dont attempt it more because our OLine has been suspect for YEARS, yet we have a pretty good (if not very good) pass catching running back.

Successfully completing plays like a halfback screen takes TREMENDOUS pressure off of the OLine, yet we never seem to use it. Very strange to me.

For some reason, screens are missing from our playbook. It should be added.

gore's hands arent reliable, making screen passes potentially dangerous...not sure about hunter's hands but so far he has caught most everything thrown to him

not only that, why wasn't Davis and Walker kept in to block more with the OL being suspect? I would rather see them block then using them as receivers. Also we should have not only used the bubble screens more but the halfback screens like you suggested and where were the slants, hooks and comeback routes? Definitely could have used those with the Ravens over aggressive D.

Originally posted by 80sbaby24:
I honestly cant remember us doing so. And if in fact we have called this play, why arent we doing so with more frequency?

A screen pass is one way to beat a ferocious blitz, and we didnt attempt it one time tonight.

Obviously, its not the reason we lost, but if we complete a HB screen or two for big yardage (or a slant), maybe the Ravens dont blitz as much tonight.

I have not seen a screen pass thrown to Frank Gore or Kendall Hunter at all in the regular season. I've seen WR and TE screens used at times but those are also rare. I think the last screen to the halfback I saw was in preseason (it didn't work) but hey, it's in the playbook... why haven't we used it again since? Especially with how aggressive the Ravens were playing against us? I really wish Matt or Grant or someone would ask Coach Harbaugh about it.

This game was like deja vu of the New Orleans Saints game in preseason (we didn't use any HB screen passes in that game either).

What really sucked was seeing the Ravens blitz their cornerbacks & safeties and they were coming at us pretty much untouched. Then another situation there was a play where we sent practically everyone on a damn streak (including Vernon Davis) and Frank Gore was kept in to block. Alex literally had NOWHERE to go with the ball on that particular play. Very frustrating to watch.

Hunter had one a few weeks ago, but we need to start throwing 2 to 3 of them a game

Originally posted by NinerJedi:
For some reason, screens are missing from our playbook. It should be added.

We did like 4 WR screens some to Crabs, and about two to Ginn.

Ginn can gain that yardage with his speed, and Crabs with this upper body.

I've seen a couple of Kendall Hunter screens but that's about it. Mostly checkdowns if anything to our RB's.

I'm hoping Harbaugh is practicing those and by playoff time the Cowboys and Packers will get screen wh*red like they do everyone else.

I thought we were running screens a couple times Thursday but it was just our entire offensive line getting blown up

Harbaugh and Roman don't call many halfback screens in their offense. Didn't see them use many of them at Stanford either. Not sure why but I don't think they like using them.

I was thinking this during the game. Why not throw a screen to Hunter to beat the blitz? Also, about 5 seconds before the interception before the half I said out loud "Take a shot down the field". It was then followed bu F*** as loud as I could scream. Had to tell the wife to put the kids in our room to watch cartoons. Didn't want them to hear it. So what do I know! HA HA HA!

I think we'll only be seeing WR screens to Crabtree this season...

That is an excellent question, and I've wondered about it all year. During the Ravens game, when there was a jailbreak of 4 players getting through the OLine I thought for sure it was a screen, but no......we just couldn't block anyone. I have never seen it so bad that it LOOKED like a screen! Hell, when the coaches saw that, it should have occurred to them--and use Hunter to boot.

I donot believe Alex throws the screen well. In the past he would throw the ball high and Gore would tip it and it would be intercepted. Alex has done good this year so I'm not attacking him, just never seen him throw the screen well in the past.