OT: help me design some plays plz

[Shark58]

so little man is playing in a 1st and 2nd grade, 6-on-6 NFL flag football league

we are 2-0-1 (the 1 we were down by 2 TD and came back to tie as time expired)

the issue: the refs came down on our 2 most effective plays this past week, declaring them illegal because the receivers were blocking (of course one of them was a straight handoff behind a set of trips right receivers as a blocking wall)

now we need to draw up a couple of plays to replace them

will definitely put in a trips/flood underneath, and am thinking about a halfback screen, a play action pass (curious to see if it would create space at that age) and a dual running back set mixing up fakes and straight handoffs but don't know how results would really pan out.

any play thoughts from the gurus on the board are welcome, and TIA

 

[SUfaninAZ]

 

[Shark58]

View attachment 95596

almost our other banned play, lol

just scale it down to 6v6 and have the center pull to help the twins R block for the reversing receiver. we called that one "Bread and Butter:

 

[TexanMark]

That age: Give the ball to the fastest kid

 

[texascpa]

Wait, is this a 6v6 Spring Flag where you pass every down? If not, why can't they block?

 

[ShippDawg]

I've coached 5-6 and 7-8 for a number of years. Our league is 7 on 7, everyone is eligible for pass or run, no blocking, but you can "shield" (essentially a moving pick). QB can't run the ball. He has 10 seconds to throw and he can't be rushed. Coach is allowed in the huddle to show plays and to assist with lining kids up, etc

I run 3 plays out of the same formation. Everyone is doing the same action. Single back behind the QB. WR split wide right. First play is just a stretch run to the right to the single RB. WR lined up wide right comes around and QB fakes to him after the stretch run hand off. After running the stretch run hand off to the RB a couple times, I have the QB fake the stretch run hand off to the RB and give it to the WR who is coming around. You have to practice the timing so the WR lets the fake take place before he comes for the hand off. It has the look of a fake dive, end around type play. The WR usually has the left backside open because everyone thinks it's the stretch run to the right again and is crashing down on the RB.
The third variation off of that is a play action pass. Same formation, fake the the stretch run to the RB, fake the WR around hand off and have the guy lined up at right guard run to the right flat and the RB you faked the stretch run to run a deep corner to the right. QB chooses high low, guard in the flat, or RB in the deep corner. 90% of the time it's the deep corner RB. That play is usually a guaranteed TD if you have a couple kids that can throw and catch. The defense is chasing the fake dive, then the fake end around, and everyone on the defense is out of position.

I always tried to use deception, but not get too complex for the age. Get your athletes the ball in space pressuring the corners. If the defense keeps widening out to take away the outside run game, we'd run a quick hitter inside hand off to a guy lined up tight in the slot. The defense would lose him behind the center and guard.

Passing wise I used play action like I described above, and delayed passes quite a bit. Every kid runs downfield routes except one. The guy staying in delays 4-5 seconds while the defenders are chasing your other kids downfield and then the delay kid sneaks out and the QB drops it to him.

Obviously I spent way too much time designing plays for kids...DM me your email if you want me to send you the sheets I used to show the kids in the huddle.

 

[Shark58]

Wait, is this a 6v6 Spring Flag where you pass every down? If not, why can't they block?

6v6, run or pass, no rush and QB can't run

no blocking because no contact

 

[texascpa]

6v6, run or pass, no rush and QB can't run

no blocking because no contact

That's just plain dumb.

 

[ShippDawg]

That's just plain dumb.

Our league allows "shielding", which is like a moving pick. Can't put your hands out or make contact. Without blocking you have to get creative and use the width of the field to get kids in space or you're going to struggle to move the ball.

 

[upperdeck]

what flag football league at any level allows real blocking?

 

[texascpa]

what flag football league at any level allows real blocking?

Come down to Texas, I'll show you. Our 4 year old and 5 year old divisions allow full blocking in the fall league. In spring 7 on 7 we don't, if course, but you can't run the ball either.

 

[Finwad32]

Just give a high low look on the corner with a post backside. It would be a 2x2 surface with a RB that you could have check down.

Z runs a fly, H runs an out. X runs the Post. RB with a Checkdown.

If the Corner bails hit the out. If the Will has the out covered and the corner bails hit the RB on a check down. If the Corner sits on the out throw the Fly. If the Safety covers the Fly for the sitting CB hit the back side post.

You can have the Y run a 7-cut backside to hold the other CB/SAM.

 

[Shark58]

That's just plain dumb.

preaching to the choir

 

[Briancuse]

65 toss power trap.

 

[KaiserUEO]

32 Belly Option

 

[KaiserUEO]

 

[rrlbees]

Where's the poster that used to draw up basketball plays? Maybe he has a few football ones up his sleeve too.

 

[sufandu]

That's just plain dumb.

In an era where medical studies are showing that delaying the age when contact is allowed reduces brain trauma, it's not.

 

[texascpa]

In an era where medical studies are showing that delaying the age when contact is allowed reduces brain trauma, it's not.

Let's just wrap them up in bubblewrap.

 

[Finwad32]

Let's just wrap them up in bubblewrap.

Sorry man, I agree on this one. In youth leagues there's typically 4-5 really aggressive kids and 25-30 who get used as tackling dummies.

I've been around the game my entire life, playing or coaching, and I see absolutely 0 harm in delaying contact until a later age.

It's going to happen regardless, I'm of the opinion we might as well just do it and then continue to develop in whatever direction necessary.

Our college football practices consist of maybe, on a heavy day, 15 minutes of live tackling out of 150 minutes. We are not in the minority. Why would we want pre-teen children to be exposed to so much more?

 

[texascpa]

Sorry man, I agree on this one. In youth leagues there's typically 4-5 really aggressive kids and 25-30 who get used as tackling dummies.

I've been around the game my entire life, playing or coaching, and I see absolutely 0 harm in delaying contact until a later age.

It's going to happen regardless, I'm of the opinion we might as well just do it and then continue to develop in whatever direction necessary.

Our college football practices consist of maybe, on a heavy day, 15 minutes of live tackling out of 150 minutes. We are not in the minority. Why would we want pre-teen children to be exposed to so much more?

I have as well as President, board member and coach of youth leagues. I see 0 harm in teaching it.

No one is asking to spend more time than college players (but, that is a false argument in of itself, as these are 30-40 pound kids running much slower). Most practices revolve around just herding the kids together. But, blocking in football is a crucial part of the game. If it's 7 on 7 Spring Passing that's different. But, once you run the ball, blocking should be expected.

But, I will take it a little further - do we ban heading of soccer balls (a major cause of concussion and brain injuries in soccer), backyard wrestling, ANY physical contact? Kids will be kids, they rough-house.

 

[sufandu]

Let's just wrap them up in bubblewrap.

We're not talking about high school football. They're six year olds. If you wanna ignore medical science that's cool, go bang your head against a wall. But don't create situations for kids that don't know any better that can damage them later in life. It's not like adult flag football where people know how to hold back so that you can have a safe and reasonable level of contact. It's little kids that are either full on or full off. There's literature suggesting tackling should be held until high school too. It'll never happen because football is too big of a god to allow us to care about the safety of developing brains in preteens. We adults need to live vicariously through our kids.

The X's and O's of brain injury and youth football

 

[sufandu]

I have as well as President, board member and coach of youth leagues. I see 0 harm in teaching it.

No one is asking to spend more time than college players (but, that is a false argument in of itself, as these are 30-40 pound kids running much slower). Most practices revolve around just herding the kids together. But, blocking in football is a crucial part of the game. If it's 7 on 7 Spring Passing that's different. But, once you run the ball, blocking should be expected.

But, I will take it a little further - do we ban heading of soccer balls (a major cause of concussion and brain injuries in soccer), backyard wrestling, ANY physical contact? Kids will be kids, they rough-house.

Actually restricting heading of soccer balls has been suggested. Rough housing in the backyard is different than participation in a collision sport where hitting at speed is happening on every play when allowed. You have to understand that, if you choose to use any objectivity at all.

 

[ShippDawg]

My son plays in U12 travel soccer tournaments down here in the Carolinas and many of the tournaments do not allow heading for their age group. It's already going in that direction.

 

[MadNY3]

That's just plain dumb.

I coach 6-8 year old flag football after "retiring" from 9-to-11 year olds.

Here's why that is smart: 6-year old boys don't block. They start fights and hitting. When we say "they are kids" on this board, these are quite literally, kids.