Toss

The concept

A sweep with a faster delivery: the ball pitched to a back who is already running wide, so it reaches the edge half a second sooner than a handoff could.

The offense1 / 3
The look
The quarterback turns and pitches underhand to a back who is moving sideways at the snap. Nobody waits for a mesh, so the ball is three yards wider than a handoff would be at the same moment.
vs Contain2 / 3
The conflict
The edge defender widens with the back instead of chasing the pitch. The toss still gets outside faster than a sweep would, but he is waiting there — so the back cuts up inside him and takes what is left.
vs Contain3 / 3
The edge
The toss wins where the sweep would lose: against an edge defender who reacts quickly but not instantly. The back turns upfield outside him with a step to spare, and on the perimeter a step is the whole margin.

Why it works

Full speed at the point of attack
A handoff has to be taken almost standing still. A pitch is caught on the run, so the back reaches the edge at full speed instead of accelerating into it.
No blocking, same as the sweep
It asks for nothing a flag rulebook forbids. The receivers only have to take their defenders away from the corner.
It punishes a defense that reads the backfield
A defender taught to key the mesh has no mesh to key. By the time he finds the ball it is already outside him.

How it gets run badly

Pitching at the back instead of in front of him
Lead him. A toss thrown behind the runner stops him dead, which throws away the only thing the play was for.
Too flat, too early
If the back runs parallel to the line there is no room to catch it and turn. Five yards of depth gives him both — and a dropped backward pitch is a live ball in many rulebooks.
Calling it into a crowded side
The toss beats one defender with speed. It does not beat two. If the defense has an extra man to the wide side, run it the other way or go inside.

Who can run it, and how

All six formats. A pitch is legal in every rulebook on this site, and the toss needs no more blocking than the sweep does. Check one rule locally: some flag leagues treat a dropped backward pitch as dead and some as live, and that changes how hard you practise the catch.

In flag5v5 · NFL Flag · 6v6 · 7v7
Nobody blocks. The receivers run their defenders away from the wide side and the pitch does the rest — the play is faster than a sweep precisely because nobody has to hold anybody up for it.
In tackle9v9 · 11v11
The same pitch behind nine blockers. The line reaches playside, the tight end and receivers take the men over them, and the back reads the block on the edge rather than the defender.

Put Toss in your playbook

Draw it in the designer, change the assignments, and save it to your playbook.

Open the designer

The look

The conflict

The edge

Why it works

Full speed at the point of attack

No blocking, same as the sweep

It punishes a defense that reads the backfield

How it gets run badly

Pitching at the back instead of in front of him

Too flat, too early

Calling it into a crowded side

Who can run it, and how

Put Toss in your playbook