Screen game shows improvement against Bills, thanks in part to some fakery

After the screen game struggled over the course of the last month-plus, it appeared that the Patriots were able to do a few things to get it back headed in the right direction Sunday against the Bills.

In Buffalo, the Patriots were 3-for-3 on screens for 24 yards. It doesn’t sound overwhelming, but that represents a major improvement over the previous few weeks. And the 24 yards is the third-highest production when it comes to total yardage New England has accrued on screen passes in a game all season long.

How did they do it? It helps to have David Andrews back in the lineup and Shaq Mason continuing to pancake opposing defenders. As well incorporating a little misdirection into the mix.



After a six-yard gain on a screen pass to Rex Burkhead roughly midway through the first quarter and a 12-yard gain on a screen to James White in the early stages of the second quarter (that featured the sight of all three interior offensive linemen running downhill ahead of White), the Patriots got a little devious.

On this pass play on New England’s first drive of the third quarter, the Patriots were sitting on a second-and-16 from their own 24-yard line. Brady was in shotgun, and took the snap from Andrews. He dropped back and pump-faked left to Burkhead — Burkhead flashed his hands in the air like he was going for the ball. The fake was helped by the sight of left guard Joe Thuney lumbering out ahead of the pack.

That drew Buffalo's best pass rusher Jerry Hughes — who was flying up the middle on his way to Brady — off the scent just enough for him to get turned around. Meanwhile, James White was to the right of the quarterback, and gathered in the quick pass. White ended up with a six-yard pickup, allowing the Patriots to keep the chains moving on a drive that would ultimately end up with a Bulkhead touchdown.

Check out the play below and pay special attention to Burkhead and Thuney, who either a) do a dynamite job selling the fake, or b) they were the second option and Brady decided on White instead. Either way, the misdirection had some members of the Buffalo defense completely fooled.



It was a small play, but when you consider the level of execution in an area where New England had been struggling for the last few games, it represented a positive moment, one we could see more of going forward.

“Offensively, I thought we had some productive plays in the game,” Bill Belichick said Monday morning when asked about the effectiveness of the screen game against Buffalo. “There were other plays that there’s always room for improvement on, so we’ll just keep working on everything that we do in the running game, the passing game and all the other type plays that we have and try to keep working on them to get the most out of them.”