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About a week ago I wrote a long winded rant about how much I absolutely despise the bubble screen in this offense. What I have seen based on close observations is that it is basically a wasted play and gets blown up by defenders just about every time it’s ran. Against NC State, the Bearcats only gained 1 yard per play. Over half the time it resulted in negative yardage or an incomplete pass. Below is the basic framework of UC’s form of the bubble screen in which two wide receivers line up, typically staggered, on the same side as the running back:
Upon reading it, Matt over at Down the Drive countered with this. The idea is simple. Cincinnati operates the zone read and inside/outside zone on rushing plays while lined up in the spread. I’ll focus on the latter pair and you can read a more detailed analysis of how the Bearcats operate this formation here. In a nutshell the offensive linemen block the defenders diagonally across from them trying to get between each individual defender and the sideline. At the appropriate moment Isaiah Pead will hit the hole by the defenders in front of him overrunning the play. The problem is that behind him (on the backside) defenders can catch him before he hits the hole if they aren’t kept in check. The bubble screen, Matt essentially claims, keeps these defenders honest and forces them to hold on the snap of the ball, thus allowing Pead to hit the gap in the offensive line with little fear of being tripped up from behind. This I will absolutely not refute and it’s a solid argument. But the argument is not quite airtight.
The bubble screen is intended to occupy the backside outside linebacker or nickle safety. After rewatching the NC State tape for a fifth time, I can tell you that this player is typically #31 D.J. Green. At the top of the screen, Green shows like he’s lining up in man coverage on Shaq Washington in the slot:
Instead he crashes down on the play, with his eyes on the running back the entire time, not showing respect to the bubble screen that should theoretically keep him at bay preventing him from tackling the running back from behind:
Green isn’t really involved in stopping Pead but the key point is that the bubble screen, according to Matt, should prevent him from biting on the run. It doesn’t. Why? Because NC State knows the play is garbage and can cover it with only two guys (the corner and safety on that side of the field) all night long. Green also knows the play is crap and is free to attack the ball carrier. One of the reasons I chose those particular snapshots is because they are late enough in the game where defenses should be adjusting to the play as they had made halftime adjustments and had seen it a few times already. You can see that Green is still in run-stopping mode. Sure when the bubble screen is ran you might seen him in on the tackle but that’s only because he’s reading and reacting to the pass. Remember, this thing takes a full 3 seconds to run.
That brings me back to my main point that started this debate – Cincinnati needs to nix the bubble screen from their playbook because defenses easily react to it and it gets next to nothing on each play. I like Matt’s theory and it makes perfect sense. To assist in the running game, the Bearcats need to occupy the OLB/NS and prevent him from blowing up the play from the backside. But the bubble screen doesn’t do it because defenses know they can keep their OLB/NS in run support leaving the corner and safety on the playside to stop the screen. In that same vein Cincinnati should make the following adjustments (in list form because I’m all about lists):
- If in a 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB formation, move the tight end from the playside to the backside. The smartest move is to initially place him on the playside then motion him to the backside. In this way he can either a. block the OLB/NS from crashing the play from behind or b. run a route (curl, quick out, flat, etc.) to draw that defender into covering him.
- In the same formation, have the slot receiver run a route that will force the OLB/NS to man up or at least pay attention to him. Slants are good in this case as the defender has to at least think about staying home to cut off the pass. Plus it will usually get more than 1 yard per play so they will have to respect it. Ditto for quick hitches and quick outs.
- In a 4 WR, 1 RB, motion the playside slot receiver to the backside so 3 WR are now on one side of the field. The receiver that was in motion then runs a quick hitch, flat, or out, much like the tight end in #1.
There are many other options but these three jump out at me as they accomplish the goal of occupying the OLB/NS and gaining better yardage than the bubble screen. Curls, quick outs, quick hitches, and slants almost guarantee at least 5 yards if completed. The flat is a route that if completed will almost 100% of the time end up with positive yardage. What makes it a better option than the bubble screen is that even though it is a horizontal route, the receiver actual runs slightly diagonally towards the sideline, slightly upfield. The bubble screen forces the wide receiver to catch the ball about 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage and he must fight to even get positive yards. Advantage: Flat. Therefore there are alternatives, more efficient ones at that, than the pa bubble.