5v5 Defense
Coverages, pressure and situational answers for 5v5. The same shelves as the Defense hub, narrowed to the game you actually coach.
Pick your format
Everything below is written for this format. Press the pill again for all of them.
Coverages
What each shell is and what it gives up, written for 5v5. Grey cards are pairings that are not written yet.
- Coverages and frontsMan, zone and the common shells in one place, with what each one gives up.
- Where everyone lines up · 5v5SoonBefore any coverage: the spots your players stand in every single down, and why each one is there.
- Man coverage · 5v5SoonEvery defender is responsible for one player and goes where that player goes.
- Zone coverage · 5v5SoonEvery defender is responsible for one patch of grass and covers whoever comes into it.
- Man vs zone · 5v5SoonWhich of the two your age group can actually run on Saturday.
- Cover 0 · 5v5SoonMan coverage with nobody left behind it. When the rush is the whole plan.
- Cover 1 · 5v5SoonMan coverage with one player staying deep to clean up what gets past.
- Cover 2 · 5v5SoonZone, split into two deep halves, and the hole that always opens between them.
- Cover 3 · 5v5SoonZone, split into three deep thirds. The youth default, and why it is the default.
Stop the…
Every card is a thing that beat somebody last Saturday, in the order it actually happens. The same question at any team size.
- Stop the sweepSoonOne player runs wide and outruns everyone. Contain has to beat speed, and that is a spacing fix.
- Stop their best playerSoonEvery team has one, and at this age they get the ball every down. Where to put your best defender, and where not to.
- Stop the quarterback runningSoonNobody rushed, so the quarterback just walked forward. The single most common way a youth defense gives up yards.
- Stop the deep ballSoonEveryone came forward and nobody stayed behind it. One rule fixes this, and it is not a coverage.
- Stop the quick throwsSoonThe ball is out in a second and a half to somebody standing three yards away. Rushing harder makes it worse.
- Stop the rub routesSoonYour defenders keep running into each other and you cannot work out why. Switch, do not chase.
- Stop MeshSoonThe two crossing routes that make man coverage collide. The most-run concept in flag football.
- Goal line defenseSoonNo grass behind you, so the deep help you normally rely on has nowhere to stand.
- Two-minute defenseSoonProtecting a lead with the clock running, and the two mistakes that give it back.
Fronts and pressure
Rushing is optional, and it costs you a defender every time. Start with whether, not with how many.
- Should you rush at all?SoonYou do not have to. Plenty of good youth defenses never send anybody, and here is when that is the right call.
- The seven-yard rush lineSoonWhere a rusher has to start, how it is marked, and the leagues that move it. Get this wrong and it is a free first down.
- How many to rushSoonNought, one or two. Each extra rusher is one fewer defender in coverage, and that trade is the whole defense in 5v5.
- Who should your rusher be?SoonNot automatically your fastest player. The job needs discipline more than speed, and picking wrong is why the quarterback keeps escaping.
- Keeping them from getting outsideSoonRushing straight at the quarterback opens the sideline. What contain means, in a sentence you can say to an eight-year-old.
- Blitz looksSoonStanding somewhere that suggests you are coming, then not coming. Free pressure once your players can be trusted to fake it.
- QB spySoonOne defender whose only job is the quarterback, ignoring every route. The answer to a quarterback who runs.
Other common coaching questions
The rules a defensive coach ends up arguing about, answered plainly.
- Are pick plays legal?The rule the offense is testing, and what you can actually call.
- What counts as a legal flag pull?SoonWhere the contact line is, what a strip is, and what the official is actually watching for.
- Is flag guarding on us or on them?SoonThe penalty coaches argue about most. It is on the ball carrier, and here is what it looks like.
- Can you rush every down?SoonUsually yes, sometimes no, and a handful of leagues cap how many rushes you get in a half.
- Is the ball dead if it hits the ground?SoonAlmost always yes, which means no fumbles and no scooping it up. The rule that surprises every new coach.
- Can you return an interception?SoonSome leagues let you run it back. Plenty blow it dead where you caught it.
- How do you teach defense to 5 and 6 year olds?SoonNot with a coverage. Three ideas they can hold, and the order to give them in.
No coverage has a 5v5 write-up yet, so every card in the first shelf is grey — 30 of 32 on this page. Unlike the offense format pages there is no premium catalogue to fall back on, because the collection is offense-only, so this is the plan for 5v5 defense rather than the delivery.
Draw a 5v5 defense
Drop a coverage on the field, move the defenders, save it for Saturday.
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