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(06-29-2020 09:19 AM)VB Monarch Wrote:  I get what you are saying, but wonder when your offense is a consistent 3 and out if you can afford a throw away play setting something up for a future that never comes. A WR screen thrown in during the course of driving down field may make sense, but if you only get 3 touches, not sure you can waste one on a play that won't net + yardage

The problem in that scenario is with the offense overall not the WR screen.

Let's use an example in a different sport. I have never called plays for a football team, but I have done an awful lot of pitch calling in baseball, and the concept is similar. You don't call every pitch with the hope that you are going to throw it by someone, or even get a strike. You sometimes intentionally call a fastball up and in that is out of the strike zone to set up the slider on the inside half of the plate for the next pitch. That slider that looks like it is going to hit the batter is a lot more effective coming on the heels of that fastball that was a little too close to comfort.

If you have a pitcher that is struggling to just throw strikes, you still have to mix it up, because he is going to get destroyed if all you do is throw fastballs down the middle in hopes that he doesn't walk 8 batters in the game. If you have nothing but pitchers that can't throw a strike all season long, then you are just going to get crushed all season, and it is not going to be because you called that 3-2 curveball, but rather because your pitching staff sucks and can't execute an effective game plan.