QB Keep
The quarterback fakes the handoff one way, keeps the ball and runs the other. The defense tackles a back who does not have it.
- The offense1 / 3
The look
The mesh looks exactly like the dive: the ball goes into the back's stomach and comes out again. The back carries on with empty hands while the quarterback bends away behind the line with the ball on his hip.
- vs Bite2 / 3
The conflict
The edge defender crashes down on the back, because that is where the ball seemed to go. The quarterback is outside him with the ball, and the only defender who could have stopped the keep is tackling a back with empty hands.
- vs Bite3 / 3
The edge
The keep's yards are all on the side the defense left. It is rarely a long run. It is a quarterback outside an edge defender who went the wrong way, with room to turn up.
Why it works
It punishes the defender who chases the ball
The edge defender on the far side is taught to crash on the run. The keep is the play that makes him hesitate, which in turn opens every run the other way.
It needs no blocking
The fake takes a defender out of the play by getting him to tackle the wrong player. That is legal in every code.
It adds a runner the defense has to count
Once the quarterback is a threat to keep it, somebody has to account for him on every run, one more defender who cannot go to the ball.
How it gets run badly
A fake with no conviction
Both players sell it: the back runs through the line as if he has the ball, and the quarterback does not look at his hands until he is past the mesh.
Running it where the quarterback cannot run
In NFL Flag the quarterback cannot run at all, and in many other flag leagues only after a handoff. Know your rule before you draw the play.
Keeping it against a disciplined edge
If the edge is staying home, the keep is the wrong call. Hand the ball off until he starts crashing.
Who can run it, and how
Five of the six formats, three with a caveat. The keep needs the quarterback to be a legal runner. NFL Flag does not allow it, so the play is not on that page, and in many 5v5, 6v6 and 7v7 rulebooks he can only run once the ball has actually been handed off or pitched. Check before you install it.
- In flag5v5 · 6v6 · 7v7
No blocking, and none needed: the fake does the work. The receivers take their defenders away from the side the quarterback is heading, and the back carries the fake all the way to the line.
- In tackle9v9 · 11v11
The line blocks as though the back has it, which sells the fake to everybody except the one defender left unblocked on the quarterback's side, the man the keep is aimed at.
- 5v5The 5v5 page
- 6v6Its offense
- 7v7Its offense
- 9v9Its offense
- 11v11The 11v11 page
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the football play designer, collect them in the flag football playbook builder, and print wristband play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Put QB Keep in your playbook
Draw it in the designer, change the assignments, and save it to your playbook.
Open the designer