- The Washington Times - Wednesday, September 20, 2023

ASHBURN — Cole Turner knew the deception that was coming. Midway through the second quarter in Sunday’s win over the Denver Broncos, Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy dialed up a play that was the first screen installed featuring the tight ends in the offseason. 

Sure enough, the Commanders motioned a receiver from the slot, to the backfield and then to the flat — diverting the attention of a few Denver defenders. Then, when the ball snapped, quarterback Sam Howell faked a handoff, pump-faked to a bubble screen and then hit a wide-open Turner, who bulldozed his way for a 9-yard gain. Running back Brian Robinson also sprinted to the flat, freeing up space for Turner. 

“That’s kind of EB’s creativity,” Turner said. “It’s a lot of misdirection.” 

The play to Turner may have only generated nine yards — “If I break one more tackle, who knows what happens?” the tight end said. — but the lengths Washington went to to distract and throw off the Broncos spoke volumes. This season, the Commanders’ screen game has been an effective and crucial part of their offense. No team has gained more yards on those plays than the Commanders, who look to build on that creativity Sunday when they host the Buffalo Bills in another sold-out home game.

Through two games, Howell has completed nine of Washington’s 10 screen attempts — good for a league-high 103 yards, according to Pro Football Focus. The 23-year-old was a perfect 7-of-7 on those plays in Denver, connecting on big gains of 36, 21 and 21 yards. 

Howell’s 10.3 yards per attempt on screens ranks fourth in the NFL, behind only Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa, Green Bay’s Jordan Love and Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson. 

The reason it works? Details, details and details.

“We’ve put so much time into it and throughout the spring, OTAs and training camp and then in the preseason we put a lot of time into our screen game,” Howell said. “There’s a big emphasis on that and when we talk about it, when we install those screens, it’s very detailed.”

That work, he said, shows up in the variety of formations the Commanders deploy — and when the team resorts to calling those formations. “The main thing is making sure you’re setting it up throughout the game and giving those guys looks to where when you are calling the screen, they think it’s something else,” he said. Turner said the timing of the call is critical, as is the manner in which the offensive line sells it.

Washington’s overhauled offensive line has also helped. Gone are guards Andrew Norwell and Trai Turner, two veterans who lost a step in terms of athleticism and speed. Instead, 2020 fourth-rounder Saahdiq Charles and 2021 second-rounder Sam Cosmi man the inside. 

And those dudes can get out and block. 

“It’s all of us on the field to help sell it,” Charles said, “doing the things that coach asks us to do basically. I just execute and do my job.” 

Coach Ron Rivera said he was “very impressed” with Washington’s screen game, crediting the “balance” of Bieniemy’s play-calling has helped them on screens. Last year, under coordinator Scott Turner, Washington ranked 16th — league average — in screen pass attempts with 62. But the Commanders had a below-average offense on those plays: Washington’s screens averaged only 4.9 yards per attempt, ranking 20th. 

Robinson said last year the team “really took so long getting to the screen game.” The second-year back said it took the Commanders a while to find a rhythm in that area. But with Bieniemy, Robinson said he can tell the coordinator “loves” calling screens. He’s right in that regard: the Chiefs, Bieniemy’s last stop, had the seventh-most screen attempts last season — and the second-most yards on those plays. 

With the Chiefs, Bieniemy served as Kansas City’s offensive coordinator, but he left for Washington to become the primary play-caller — a role Chiefs coach Andy Reid holds in Kansas City. 

“It’s all about the timing, it’s all about the game flow,” said William Bradley-King, a practice squad defensive lineman who runs with the scout team against the Commanders’ offense. “See, EB, he play ‘Madden’ — you can tell. He knows when it’s second-and-long, and the pass rush is going to come a little bit, so that’s when you set ‘em up with the screen.

“It’s chess, not checkers at this point. “

• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.

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