Bubble screen
What it is
A quick throw behind the line to a slot receiver bubbling outside, with the receivers outside him blocking.
Why it matters
The bubble is a run play thrown rather than handed: it takes what a defense gives when it declines to cover the slot, and it is the standard back end of an RPO. Its value is not the play itself but the fact that a defense must account for it, which removes a defender from the box.
Both sides of it
Running it
The slot bubbles back and outside to gain width before turning upfield; the outside receivers stalk the defenders over them. The ball is out immediately — the throw is the read, made pre-snap off the leverage of the defender over the slot.
Stopping it
Take away the leverage before the snap rather than the throw after it. The overhang defender aligns outside and at a depth that lets him arrive as the ball does; corners defeat the stalk block with outside leverage and force the ball back inside to pursuit.
Also called
Programs call this bubble, now screen or fast screen. The Coach answers to any of them.
Related
This entry is authored, not generated. It is one of 205 in the index that the AI-ssistant Coach retrieves from, and that Film Study tags clips against.