Playing Flag Football... Any Tips?

[A-Unit]

I recently joined a league in Flag Football with some friends. There's 5 players per team on the field, we can roster 10. The field is about 50 yards long, 30 yards wide (or less). It's enclosed, much like a hockey rink on artificial turf. A safety net hangs down so no balls fly out of the rink and pelt the on-lookers. The turf does a good job digging my skin apart each week. It's tremendous fun.

The most important abilities are hand-eye coordination to get the flag and speed. If you're fast, the size of the field works to your advantage. Since you can't tackle, can't hit the QB in anyway, can't guard the flag with your arm (arm-barring), can't jump, about the only skill that helps is speed and catching-ability.

Any other thoughts from guys who have played or played?

I'm not the QB, as of yet, since my arm isn't near as strong as the other guys. Normally I'm wr, and on D, I cover the speedier players. We have a few tough games coming up with teams that were formerly football players, so I'm not thrilled with how we play. I devised a few easy plays, which led to our success the week we implemented, but the next week we discarded organized play, we lost, and only by 3 points to boot. That to me is our first problem. All the guys can catch. All the guys are athletic enough to get out on the defense. Our downside, IMO, is we don't plan. The play is made in the huddle.

On defense, we end up also playing man, which to me is foolish, because THERE will always be miss-matches. I was allowing a few yards, and then got burned a few times. So this week I'll press right to the line hoping to shadow the receiver the whole way. At least if I get blown out, I get blown out without allowing any short yards, which happened when the QB could throw underneath and outside.

My suggestions were, play zone defense, since there's only a few guys capable of covering man, and keep ready-made easy plays in the huddle. Alot of times we try single and double reverses, which totally screw us for loss of yards. The guys running them are fast, but the field isn't wide enough to pull it off effectively. Granted, it's ABOUT fun, but it's MORE about winning in this case since we pay money. $65 for the field rights for about 10 weeks, and $65 for the jersey.

Any thoughts guys?

Thanks, all are appreciated.


A-Unit

 

[Bible_Belt]

When you make plays, make a run and a pass play that begin identically. Your runs probably have to be tosses outside, so make some toss passes, where just before the running back crosses the line, he steps back and throws a pass. The idea is to make them cover the entire field. If your WR is running a streak pattern, the CB/safety has to go back to cover him when he is not yet sure if it is a pass or a run. This opens up the run. When you catch the secondary coming up to stop the run, fake the same run play, and then throw a long pass beating them deep. Your sideline players should help the guys on the field by shouting 'run' or 'pass.' They get a better view from the sideline.

 

[AC/DC]

Quick passes to the flat are good for short yards. A good way to get good yards is quick passes up the middle to your tight end or half back, cuy theyre usually not accounted for after they enter the secondary.

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

Sounds advice guys. I appreciate it.

The run "idea", Bible was something I thought last week. Normally when we did running plays, pulling the HB/RB back, it was obvious, since that was the only time we did it. However, as you mentioned, if you only pull the RB when you do it, then you also pull the entire D right to your face and automatically chance gaining nothing, perhaps worse. If a QB is astute, he'll recognize the shift or the tendency, and find the faster, deeper receiver, but we're also talking about guys who weren't All Stars in Football in school. They can whip the ball, but not thread the needle.

Short passes definately works, and I'll reintroduce my suggestion, or perhaps take over the QB slot. My throwing isn't the top in the game, but I can understand movement and tendency. The week before, I noticed the QB was eye-balling the main receiver before he threw it there, so in the huddle we always had an advantage.

For those thinking of playing, I would do it, but if you don't have somewhat specific roles for you and your friends, your capable of fighting pretty quickly. We haven't yet, b/c we put our friendship above that, but it gets somewhat frustrating when there's no organization, IMO, when plays are randomly strewn together in the huddle, and the whole team has no clue what's going on. Very often, I'm told to run a route, then the actual play was a fake reversal or simple dump pass without knowing the FULL play. All players should know what's going on so they can best assist the QB in at least MAKING it seem like they are getting the ball. Without routes, the average players don't have a chance to get open, and don't understand the fundamentals.

Thanks guys. I'm just throwing my logic out there for those that play and what I've seen. I'm the new guy and not the team captain yet, so I'll prove myself before I get puffy and try to suggest more than I bring to the table.



A-Unit

 

[speed dawg]

Haha, another flag football guy? We won the ch'ip my senior year at college, so you could say we were decent. The run/pass thing is key. We had pretty good athletes, so we could out run alot of people. Also utilize the lateral pass aka backwards pass. You can toss backwards as many times as you want to.

We had defensive plays too. Usually two guys blitzing (7 on 7 play). On offense, we had a center and 2 back linemen. If the other team blitzes hard and fast, these guys should always be open.

 

[GirlCrazy]

Play action maybe?

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

No doubt it's a fun sport for guys looking for competition.

We play 5 guys, and there's no laterals UNLESS it's to your RB to pass. The league and court we play on tries to diminish some of the other intricacies that would allow better athletes to succeed.

- Not hopping. Leaving your feet is automatic loss of down and 10yd penalty. We've scored 5 times by our guys catching and jumping slightly, only to find ourselves no back 10 yards prior to where we were.

- No arm-barring. Can't protect the flag. Even if it's unintentional, you can't have arms down. Defenders have to have free access to the ball at all times.

We rush 1, but it doesn't do much, at least IMO. Getting the flag is a the real bytch of it sometimes. Fun sport though.

We try play action, but the field is 50x30, if that. I might be being generous, too. If a d runs a zone, keeps a safety, and drops back 2, with 2 guys pressing, basically an X shape, it covers the field well enough no one is getting beyond the back 2 in most cases. And you have 3 downs to cross the half way point. And then on the next 3 you have to score. You start from your own end zone, or a few yards out.



A-Unit