Let’s Talk Flag Football – JUNE 2022
With head coach: Alison Wood
“My Favorite Play”
What is my favorite flag football play you ask….. it’s the one that works.
To understand flag football plays you need to understand defense. The type of play that works best is completely defined by the defense. There are two basic types of defense: woman to woman defense and zone defense. Under these two schemes there is tight woman to woman and loose woman to woman, and multiple types of zone. Plays for woman to woman are crossing routes and double moves. A double move is for example out and up. Crossing routes are exactly what they sound like two players cross.
Loose woman to woman is when the defense lines up in what appears to be a zone, when the offense lines up they choose who to take. Tight woman to woman is a player is assigned who they will defend and that never changes. IWFFA zone defenses are: 2 rushers 4 secondary 2 safeties, or 3 rushers 3 secondary 2 safeties, or 2 rushers 5 secondary 1 safety.
To beat a zone the play should make a defender choose who to defend and then throw it to the player they don’t choose. I have seen so zone flag football plays that make no sense to me what-so-ever because they never make the defense choose.
If the defense has only 3 players across you can spread them horizontally. A good play for this type of defense is have two receivers line up on one side and one runs ” in” and the other one runs an “out” and whomever the corner decides to take… throw to the other receiver. We see much less of this defense because it leaves too large of gap right over the middle (in the hole) or to the outside (flat).
The most common defense I’ve seen in the IWFFA is 2 rushers 4 across and 2 safeties. This is the defense my team ran effectively for a decade. To beat this defense, make the corner choose to drop deep or stay home (remain in the flat). On one of our IWFFA coaching clinics, I have gone over this type of play. Line up 3 receivers on one side (known as trips- you bring a running back up in a slot position because you must have 5 players on the line – no more – no less). Then have two go deep, one to the middle, one deep left or right (depending of course on which side they are lined up) and then have the third receiver fill the flat (run an out) as long as your spacing is correct someone will ALWAYS be open. If the corner drops – hit the flat, if the corner stays in the flat – your deep person should be open. This is one of my favorite plays because almost always you can hit the flat (an easy throw and catch) and gain 3 to 4 yards. The big catch is receivers need to be spaced correctly and also ensure they do not run to the defense. You could run this play the entire game and win. If the defense starts to cheat then change a route to go where they are cheating from. For example, if the linebacker (one of the center defenders) cheats over to cover the flat, then change the “out” pattern to an “in” pattern.
So when creating plays – crossing routes double moves for woman, for zone over load the zone and make the defender choose who to cover throw to the other route.
Do you have any flag football questions for Coach Wood? Email: IWFFA@IWFFA.COM