Screen pass rate

A screen gives up on the idea of beating the rush by holding the ball. The quarterback lets the defense come, then dumps the ball short to a receiver who has blockers waiting, so the play works as a run that starts as a pass. FTN's charters mark each dropback that was designed as a screen. The rate divides those by all of an offense's charted dropbacks, so it describes how often a play-caller reaches for one rather than how well they went.

Screens are one of an offense's answers to pressure and to defenses that sit deep. A team that throws a lot of them is telling you something about its line, its quarterback or its plan, and the short completions they produce inflate completion percentage while adding few air yards — worth knowing before reading a passer's accuracy at face value.

The rate counts the call, not the result. A screen a defense sniffs out for a loss counts exactly as much as one that goes for forty, so the board describes a habit and the scoreboard columns elsewhere describe whether it paid.