How many players should you rush in 5v5 flag football?
In 5v5 flag football the honest answer is nought or one, and two only on a down where the offense has to throw long. You have five defenders against four eligible receivers, so rushing nobody leaves one spare, rushing one leaves you even with no help anywhere, and rushing two leaves three defenders covering four players. That last one is not a risk you are taking, it is arithmetic: somebody is uncovered before the ball is snapped.
Your RUSH ends up here. It is the instinctive place to go and it is the wrong one, which is why this keeps happening to teams who are trying hard.
When rushing is the right call in 5v5
The spare defender is worth more than the sack
One free player standing in the middle of the field takes away every crossing route in a youth playbook, and crossing routes are most of a youth playbook. Nothing a single rusher achieves from seven yards away is worth as much as that, unless the quarterback is standing still holding the ball.
Two rushers is mathematically uncovered, not merely risky
Three defenders cannot cover four eligible receivers. There is no scheme, no zone and no effort level that changes it. When you send two, you are choosing which receiver to leave open and hoping the quarterback does not find him, which is a hope rather than a defense.
Your quarterback can run, so nought has a real cost
In plain 5v5 he may cross the line. A defense that never accounts for him gives up five yards a down to a quarterback who works that out, which is the single most common way an unrushed youth defense bleeds a game away. The fix is a spy rather than a rusher, but the cost is the same defender.
Every rusher is a defender who is not covering anybody
That is the whole decision and it is arithmetic rather than attitude. Sending more players does not create pressure out of nothing, it moves defenders from one job to another, and the job they leave is the one where the ball is actually going most of the time.
The right number is a property of the opponent, not of your defense
A quarterback who holds the ball makes one rusher worth it. A quarterback who throws in a second makes any number of them worthless. Decide after watching a series rather than before the game, because this is the one defensive question a single drive genuinely answers.
Two is a call, not a philosophy
There are downs where sending an extra player is right: obvious long yardage, a team that only throws deep, the end of a half. There is no defense where it is right on every down, because the coverage arithmetic behind it stops working entirely.
Where he actually has to be
Same 5 defenders, same alignment. One job changes.
- The instinctWrong5v5: the RUSH takes the instinctive path.
Where a young defender goes when nobody has told him otherwise.
- The jobRight5v5: the RUSH takes his actual landmark.
Where the job is. Say it out loud before the snap and most of this page stops being a problem.
This is the landmark. Give it a name your players can repeat back to you. A spot with a name gets occupied; a spot described in a sentence does not.
Nought, one or two, and what each one gives away
Rush nobody
Where it excelsFive on four with a man over. Double their best receiver or sit on the middle and make the quarterback throw outside, which at this age is the throw he is worst at.
Exposed · the middle underneathA quarterback who runs finds the space in front of him eventually, and once he does there is nobody accounting for it. This is the cost, and it is paid slowly rather than all at once.
Rush one
Where it excelsRight against a quarterback who is still looking two seconds after the snap, and it removes the quarterback run entirely, which is the other half of what you are buying.
Exposed · the flatFour on four with nobody free. Any receiver who wins his matchup is uncovered to the end zone, and rub routes work because there is no spare defender to switch onto.
Rush two
Where it excelsA long-yardage call. Two players arriving from different angles will make a young quarterback throw before he is ready, which usually means throwing short of the sticks.
Exposed · deepThree defenders, four receivers, somebody uncovered before the snap. Call it twice in a row against a coach who is paying attention and the second one is a touchdown.
Nought, and spy the quarterback if he starts running
Begin every game with five covering four and make them prove they can beat it. If their quarterback starts taking yards with his legs, do not answer with a rusher: put one defender on him as a spy and keep the other four matched. You spend the same body either way and the spy does not concede the quick throw.
The numbers behind the decision
They throw quickly and your rusher never arrives
Seven yards against a one-second throw is a race you lose every time. Count to two after the snap for one series, and if the ball is gone before you finish, stop sending anybody. This is the cheapest read in youth football and almost nobody does it.
You want pressure without paying for it
Walk a defender toward the line before the snap and send him back at the snap. A young quarterback throws earlier when somebody is in his eyeline, and a look costs no defenders at all.
When not to rush
When you cannot cover with the players who are left
Adding a rusher is a bet that your remaining defenders can hold up alone for a second longer. If they cannot, every extra rusher makes the defense worse in a way that looks like effort and plays like a collapse.
When you are behind and chasing
The instinct late in a game you are losing is to send more. It is usually wrong: the offense is trying to run clock and take no risks, so the big play you are hunting is not being offered, and the one you concede ends the game.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free flag football play designer, collect them in the free playbook maker, and print football play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw it for your own team
Open the designer at 5v5, put your defenders where this page says, and print it so everybody shows up on Saturday knowing the same thing.
Open the free play designerRelated questions
How many players should you rush in 5v5 flag football?
Is it ever right to rush two in 5v5?
What happens if you never rush in 5v5?
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Coach Ray Carroll
Coaches 5v5 flag football from kindergarten through 7th grade in San Mateo and San Carlos, California, and built RC Football to design, teach and print the plays his own teams run.