OC: Swing Passes and Why We Run Them

I have read a lot lately on this subreddit, other forums, and even in articles about people’s dislike for swing passes. The offense that Frost runs in centered on the success of this play and so I figured I’d try to provide a breakdown. I am just a former high school player who played in a very similar offense so I am not a super expert, but I missed seeing play breakdowns. A large percent of our offense is predicated on RPO’s. In these we call a basic run play and tack on a pass route on the backside. I’ve seen us tack on screens to a number of run calls but it is frequently inside zone or a QB draw.

The above play is an example of a QB draw RPO that we ran against Colorado. On the Offensive line the four right most O-linemen block out and Jaimes pull between the vacancy created between the C and RG. Meanwhile Mo Washington motions out and Martinez chooses to throw the screen because he has the numbers (there are three blockers for three defenders). Because of a good throw and good blocking it goes for 10 yards.

Another play Frost tacks a swing onto is outside zone. Here against Purdue, Martinez honestly has both the run and pass open and he chooses the swing pass (if I had to guess he is reading the backside linebacker). JD does a good job reading the blocks which were decent and allows them to pick up a good first down.

A lot of the time swing passes are tacked onto inside zone. Here is the classic inside zone left with the backside trips running a bubble screen. Martinez has numbers of the screen so he makes the pass to Spielman. I believe Noa gets caught holding here, but honestly he did not need to, JD would get a first down regardless.

This brings us into the parts of swing passes that everyone hates. When we mess up. The vast majority of the failures are in two categories: blocking and bad throws.

Look at this play. Washington has two blockers for two defenders. This should be an easy first down. Instead, Noa gets ran two yards into the backfield which forces Washington to change his route, which gives JD’s man enough time to get off the block and make the tackle

Then there are also some plays that are just plainly the fault of a bad throw. Here Martinez just tosses the ball into the ground. While these throws are probably rarer than most of you remember they still happen too often (Martinez wasn’t the only one too, Vedral missed a few in his starts).

A throw doesn’t have to be incomplete to ruin a play too. Here Martinez throws the ball behind Wan’dale which gives the defenders time and space to get off blocks.

However, when a screen works it is beautiful. Washington’s touchdown against Colorado is a perfect example

Martinez makes a good read and delivers a good ball. The WR makes their blocks and TADA, Touchdown Huskers.

Additionally, the coaches get creative with these screen passes adding on this beautiful TE slip which provides a similar benefit but in a new look to catch the D off guard.

Here they do the same thing but with a hidden WR. If we could have gotten the block that should have been a first down.

I hope my point here has come off well. The screen/Swing passes are a very important part of this offense and if ran correctly results in constant first downs and the occasional big play. Blocking and QB play harmed the play last season but it was probably more successful than you remember. If you want I recommend watching this video of every Swing/Screen Pass. Although, it is not always accurate (he included check downs and slip screens too, so its not all what I was going over in this post), it shows both the benefits and issues we had when running this play last year.

P.S. Sorry about the repeated YouTube link. hopefully, It worked out well, but if not I’ll try to do individual YouTube links next time. Let me know any feedback

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