How Eric Bieniemy can improve the Commanders screen game

Examining the ways new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will look to improve Washington’s screen game.

The screen game is something of an afterthought for fans and media when discussing styles of offense and coaching. When designed and executed well, the screen game is something that can generate chunk plays, allow the team's best playmakers to get the ball in their hands in space, and give the quarterback easy completions. On paper, that sounds like an ideal way to help the offense be productive even when going through significant turnover at quarterback. 

The Washington Commanders are a team that has seen significant turnover at quarterback throughout the past few seasons through both injury and poor performances, so naturally the screen game should have been something the team looked to lean more into. However, the Commanders were somewhat disappointing when it came to the screen game, which felt like a big missed opportunity. 

Fortunately, the Commanders have hired Eric Bieniemy, who comes to Washington from one of the best screen teams in the NFL in the Kansas City Chiefs. So what changes can Bieniemy implement to help improve the screen game in Washington and take some pressure off a young quarterback in Sam Howell? Let’s take a closer look. 

Philosophy & Coaching

There are many different types of screen passes and everyone in the NFL will have multiple designs to get particular players the ball on screen passes. Somewhat understandably, the Commanders have tended to lean more into the perimeter screens to wide receivers, looking to get the ball into the hands of Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson on bubble and tunnel screens to the outside. The Chiefs of course did this too, but they also incorporated more traditional screens to the running back, known as slow screens. 

That is one philosophical difference between what the Commanders have done recently and what Eric Bieniemy is likely to look to implement with his offense this season. But the philosophical differences don’t stop there. When the Commanders did look to run more traditional slow screens to the running back, they did so believing the best way to do it was to sell a play-action fake to get the defense biting on a run fake and then trying to sink back into coverage. 

Here’s an example of how the Commanders ran slow screens last year. Washington aligns in a run look, with the quarterback under center, the tight end to the left and Curtis Samuel tight to the right side of the formation. As the ball is snapped, the Commanders have so much misdirection going on to try and confuse the defense. Samuel takes off on an end-around fake, the right guard pulls to the left side of the line to try and help sell a run fake and of course the quarterback turns his back to the defense as he fakes a hand off to the running back. 

All of this is designed to get the Lions to bite on play-action cues and then panic and try to sink back into coverage, creating space for the offensive line and running back to set up their screen. However, what it ends up doing is giving the Lions run keys that make them step up and fill the run fit, assuming the play is a run. With the guard pulling from the right side to the left, the linebackers alert and signal to the run and charge up to the line to fill their gaps. This then makes it very hard for the offensive line to pick up the extra defenders at the line of scrimmage and still try and get out in front of the screen pass. 

When watching the end zone angle of the play, you can see how the offensive lineman never really manages to get out in front of the screen. With the right guard pulling, center Chase Roullier is put in a very tough spot trying to pick up a defensive tackle and prevent him from blowing up the play straight away but then also trying to disengage from that block and get out in front of the running back. Left guard Andrew Norwell struggles to do the same thing, which leaves the linebacker on that side free to roam to running back Antonio Gibson and take him away as a viable option. Once the running back is not an option, the play is bust, but because the offensive line couldn’t handle the extra rushers from the other side of the line either, the quarterback is put under pressure and panics as he tries to force the ball to the back and puts the offense in a bad spot.

Now, this isn’t to say that philosophically, using play-action to set up screens is bad. There are definitely times when that works, and Eric Bieniemy certainly did use those types of screens with the Chiefs. However, the Chiefs generally preferred a slightly different philosophy, which is to make everything look as much like a normal passing play as possible.  

This is a nice example of how the Chiefs tended to run slow screens under Eric Bieniemy and Andy Reid. Instead of trying to sell a run fake and misdirect the defense that way, the Chiefs preferred to try and make everything look like a normal drop back pass. To do this, the coaching staff would teach the offensive line some key points. Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck’s coaching points here were for his offensive lineman to “set, extend and then release”. This means he wants his lineman to set like a normal pass set, not trying to sell a run fake or being over eager to get out in front on the screen. Have some patience and help make the play look like a pass by setting for a pass. 

After setting for a pass, the offensive lineman were then taught to engage with the defender ahead of them quickly, getting hands on them like they would to attempt to disrupt a pass rush move. He then taught them the key point of extending, which means to extend the arms to further sell that typical pass set and getting the defensive lineman to believe this is just a normal play where the offensive lineman is trying to keep them at arm’s length. Only after setting normally and extending the arms would the Chiefs then have the offensive lineman release and get out in front of the screen. 

This play is a great example of those coaching points. The key to watch here are the three interior lineman. The screen is being run to the left side of the offensive line, so the left guard and center are the two key components here, but the right guard has a role to play too. Ideally, the center and guard would only have one defensive lineman to block between them, allowing one to release a bit quicker and get to a landmark four yards outside the tackle, while the other can sell the pass set and then release to a landmark of two yards outside the tackle. But on this occasion, the Bengals have both the center and left guard covered with defensive lineman, so both have to sell their pass sets and do so effectively. Watch how the left guard and center both set normally for a pass, get their hands on their respective defenders early, extend their arms to fully sell the block and then suddenly release outside. 

Now the reason why the Chiefs preferred this approach to the play-action approach we saw from Washington earlier is that the linebackers, unless blitzing, will typically sink back into coverage when they read pass early. This creates a gap between the first level of the defense, the defensive line, and the second level of the defense, the linebackers. That gap buys the offensive lineman time to get out in front on the screen pass and set up their blocks effectively. 

Earlier I mentioned the right guard had a slightly different roll to play than the center and left guard. He executed the same set, extend, release coaching points as the other two, but once the ball is in the air, his role changes. The Chiefs teach the front side guard and center to get vertical once they reach their landmarks. The back side guard, however, gets the job known as the “rat killer”. Notice how the right guard looks backwards while the other lineman are working down the field. This is on purpose. One of the common ways screens get blown up is by a defensive lineman changing direction quickly and chasing down the running back from behind. The right guard here is responsible for stopping that happening. He checks back inside to look for any defensive lineman that are potential threats, but in this case none of them are so he then works to get vertical too.

As I said, there are definitely occasions where the Chiefs ran play-action screens that sold a run fake, but generally speaking they philosophically believed more in selling a pass set than a run fake. So expect Bieniemy to look to install those types of coaching points when it comes to the screen game, which will hopefully lead to the offense being put in a better position to set up the screen game. 

Personnel

One of the big reasons the Commanders struggled with their screen game last year was simply the personnel involved. While the Commanders went into the year with some athletic offensive lineman, large parts of the year were spent with the likes of Andrew Norwell playing at left guard and Trai Turner playing right guard. Both of them have their strengths, but neither is particularly athletic at this late stage in their career and they really struggled to get out in front in the screen game, especially with the style of screens that the Commanders typically opted to run. 

On this play, we see a typical tunnel screen from the Commanders, looking to get the ball out to receiver Jahan Dotson on the outside while tight end Logan Thomas, along with all three interior offensive lineman, look to get out in front of him to try and make some blocks and get Dotson into the open field. From the start, the play looks busted. Thomas initially looks to get outside and block the cornerback on the edge, but soon realizes he’s not going to get there and the defender inside is a much more immediate threat. Andrew Norwell at left guard does his absolute best to sprint outside and pick up that block and for the most part, he does a good job.

However, further inside, center Wes Schweitzer and right guard Trai Turner struggle. Schweitzer is an incredibly athletic lineman and it’s clear to see from the end zone angle that he’s the smoothest moving lineman out of the three. But despite being able to sprint out to get in front of Dotson, he appears to lack direction of who he’s trying to block. It’s almost as though he’s just sprinting to get outside rather than having a landmark to aim for or a specific defender in mind to block. He ends up getting too far outside and can’t adjust back inside to pick up the trailing linebacker. Turner, on the other hand, struggles to keep up with the other lineman working outside. He just doesn’t have the movement skills to get outside and cut off a more athletic linebacker, which frankly shouldn’t be surprising and shouldn’t have been something he was asked to do. 

Part of why the Chiefs have that back side guard play the role of the rat killer is that it's tough on just about any interior offensive lineman to make up that amount of ground in the screen game. Turner starts the play outside the right hashmark, so to expect him to engage with a block and then get outside to the numbers on the left side of the field, and beat a linebacker to that spot, is bad coaching. He should really have been looking backwards and trying to cut off any defensive lineman that might have been peeling back outside. 

All three of those interior lineman are now gone. The Commanders signed Nick Gates in free agency and drafted Ricky Stromberg, both are considered athletic options at center. Sam Cosmi is finally transitioning from right tackle to right guard and will instantly become one of the most athletic interior offensive lineman in the entire NFL. At left guard, while the competition between Saahdiq Charles and Chris Paul has to play out in training camp, both are significantly more athletic than Norwell and Turner. 

All of this change provides some questions about how the offensive line will hold up overall, but the big positive of these changes is the entire unit is significantly upgraded in terms of athletic ability, which can only help in the screen game.