How do you stop the quarterback escaping in 5v5 flag football?
In 5v5 flag football you stop the quarterback escaping by rushing from slightly outside him and squeezing in, never by running at him. A rusher who takes the shortest line gives the quarterback both sidelines, and in a five-player defense there is nobody out there. Say it to your rusher as one sentence: stay outside his shoulder and make him go where your friends are.
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
There is nobody on the sideline to clean it up
With five defenders matched against four receivers, every player is accounted for. A quarterback who gets outside is not running into help, he is running into grass, and he will keep going until somebody chases him down from behind. That is the whole reason contain matters more here than at any larger size.
He is allowed to cross the line, so escaping is worth something to him
In plain 5v5 a quarterback who beats your rusher can simply run for yards. Under NFL Flag rules he cannot, which makes the same technique worth far less there. Here, losing contain is not just a longer play, it is a conceded first down.
One rusher means contain and pressure are the same player
At eleven a side you can rush four and have two of them contain. With one rusher there is nothing to divide: he is both the pressure and the edge, so if he has to choose he chooses the edge, and a coach has to say that out loud beforehand.
Rushing straight at the quarterback opens the sideline
A rusher who takes the shortest line is a rusher the quarterback simply walks around, and once he is outside there is nothing but grass. The fix costs nothing: approach from slightly outside and squeeze in, so the shortest way out of trouble runs back into your defense.
Contain is a sentence you can say to an eight-year-old
Stay outside his shoulder and make him go where your friends are. That is the whole technique, it needs no vocabulary, and a child who can repeat it back will do it. Most failures here are not technique failures, they are a coach never having said it in words that fit.
The rusher who never touches anybody can still win the down
A quarterback who has to move sideways is throwing off balance, late, or not at all. Tell your rusher that making the throw ugly counts as success, because a player who thinks only a sack counts will chase, and chasing is what lets the quarterback out.
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.
Three ways to rush him, and what each one gives up
Straight at him
Where it excelsShortest distance and most time-efficient, which against a quarterback who is standing still and throwing on rhythm is exactly right. A wider path only means arriving later.
Exposed · the flatBoth sidelines are open and he takes whichever one he likes. Against any quarterback who moves at all, this is how a two-yard play becomes a fifteen-yard one.
From outside, squeezing in
Where it excelsTakes away the sideline and makes the only escape route run back into your other four defenders. The quarterback throws off balance or does not throw, and both are wins.
Exposed · the middle underneathYou arrive later, so a quick throw over the middle is gone before you are anywhere near him. You have bought the edge with time you did not have much of.
Do not rush, spy him instead
Where it excelsHe stands at the line and mirrors rather than charging. Nothing to escape from, nothing to run around, and the quick throw is not conceded because nobody left.
Exposed · deepNothing ever hurries the quarterback, so he holds it as long as he likes and eventually somebody comes open behind your four defenders, which with no spare man means uncovered.
From outside, and tell him the edge beats the sack
Rush from outside his shoulder and squeeze. Then say the thing most coaches never say: if you have to choose between getting there and keeping him inside, keep him inside. A rusher who thinks only a flag pull counts will chase, and chasing is precisely what lets a 5v5 quarterback out of trouble.
The numbers behind the decision
He steps up inside your rusher
That means your rusher is too wide, which is the failure on the other side of this page. Outside his shoulder is a yard or two, not five. If a quarterback is stepping up into daylight, bring the path back in before you change anything else.
They roll him out on purpose
A designed rollout is the offense choosing a side in advance, and it beats a rusher who is still deciding. Have your rusher take the side they rolled to and give up the backside entirely, because chasing a rollout from behind never catches it.
When not to rush
Against a quarterback who will not move at all
Contain is designed to stop escape, and a statue does not escape. If he is standing still and throwing on rhythm, a wider path only means arriving later, and you should either come straight or not come at all.
When you have two rushers and both contain
Two players approaching from outside leaves the middle wide open and hands a running quarterback the easiest lane on the field. If you send two, one of them squeezes and the other takes the inside. Two contain players is nobody containing anything.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free play designer, collect them in the free playbook maker, and print printable 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 do you stop the quarterback escaping in 5v5 flag football?
What does contain mean in flag football?
Should my rusher try to pull the flag or keep him inside?
Related guides
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.