Arrow Screens, Bluffs, and Other Variations

Arrow screens are pretty common across football and the NFL. There’s nothing too fancy or complicated about them. Often run out of a 3-receiver set, the inside receiver runs a quick out or flat route, and the two outside receivers block the most dangerous defenders (often with the outside receiver running off his man):

They can be great plays for picking up easy yards against the right look, particularly on early downs. Or, as was the case on this play below, they can be used as good answers for certain blitzes in obvious passing situations:

You can read about the sequence that led to the above completion and see how masterful Tom Brady was at the line of scrimmage here.

I’m not going to lie to you, though, the arrow screen itself is not all that exciting. What is exciting, however, is how it can be used with bluffs or fakes to catch the defense with its pants down.

You can see an example of this below courtesy of Aaron Rodgers during the Packers’ 2022 Week 10 overtime win against the Cowboys.