What is a QB spy in 5v5 flag football?
A QB spy in 5v5 flag football is one defender whose only job is the quarterback: he ignores every route and every fake and watches one player. It is the answer to a quarterback who runs, and in plain 5v5 he is allowed to cross the line, so that is a real problem. A spy costs you exactly the same defender a rusher would, and unlike a rusher he does not concede the quick throw.
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
He is allowed to run, which is why this card exists here at all
In plain 5v5 the quarterback may cross the line of scrimmage and take yards with his legs. Under NFL Flag rules he may not, so the spy there is answering a much smaller problem. This is the format where an unspied running quarterback will genuinely beat you by himself.
A spy and a rusher cost the same, so compare them directly
Both take one of your five defenders out of coverage and leave four on four. The difference is what you get: a rusher gives away the quick throw and often runs past the problem, while a spy concedes nothing until the quarterback commits and then meets him coming forward.
The hardest part is telling a child to do nothing
The ball goes somewhere else on most snaps and the spy's job is to keep watching a player who does not have it. That is the most counter-intuitive instruction on this site, and it fails not because the player cannot do it but because nobody told him it was the point.
One defender whose only job is the quarterback
He ignores every route, every fake and every receiver, and watches one player. It is the simplest assignment on the defense to explain and the hardest to obey, because the ball going somewhere else is exactly when a young player wants to go and help.
A spy is a rusher who waits, and it usually beats one who charges
Both cost you the same defender. The rusher gives up the quick throw and often runs past the problem; the spy concedes nothing until the quarterback commits, and then arrives with the quarterback running toward him rather than away. Against an athlete, waiting is the better version of the same idea.
It is the answer to a specific opponent, not a standing call
You spy because their quarterback is their best runner. Against a team whose quarterback stands and throws, a spy is a defender doing nothing, and you should take the call off rather than leaving it on because it worked last week.
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 answers to a running quarterback, and what each one costs
Spy him
Where it excelsTakes the run away without giving up the quick throw. The quarterback looks up, sees somebody standing in front of him doing nothing else, and has to throw into a four-on-four that is still fully intact behind it.
Exposed · the middle underneathYour spy is not covering anybody, so the middle of the field has one fewer body than the offense has receivers for it. Crossing routes through that space are the price.
Rush him
Where it excelsAlso removes the run, and occasionally ends the play outright. Against a quarterback who holds the ball as well as running it, this is the answer that punishes both habits at once.
Exposed · the flatSeven yards against a quick throw is a race you lose, so on every snap where he does not run you have spent a defender for nothing at all.
Ignore it and cover everybody
Where it excelsFive on four with a spare. Against a quarterback who has not yet realised he is allowed to run, this is simply the best defense available and it costs nothing.
Exposed · deepHe will work it out, usually in the second half, and from that moment he takes five yards a down until you change something. The cost arrives late and then does not stop.
Cover everybody until he runs, then spy him
Do not spend a defender on a problem you do not have. Start five on four, and the first time the quarterback tucks it and runs for yards, give that job to one player and keep it there. A spy is a response to evidence, and the evidence usually arrives by the second drive.
The numbers behind the decision
Your spy keeps chasing the ball
Expected, and it is a wording problem more than a discipline one. Tell him his man is the quarterback, the same way another defender's man is a receiver. A player who has been given a man stays with him; a player told to watch a situation will drift toward the football.
They hand it off and your spy is useless
Then he is the nearest unblocked defender to a run, which is not useless at all. His rule is simple: the quarterback until the ball leaves the quarterback, then the ball. That one sentence covers every handoff without changing the call.
When not to rush
When the spy cannot actually catch him
A spy who is slower than the quarterback is a spectator with a good view. Pick the player who can match him, which is often not the player you can most easily spare, and accept that this call has a real cost in coverage.
When they throw it every down
A defender watching a quarterback who never runs is a defender you are not using. This is the easiest call on the shelf to leave on too long, because nothing bad visibly happens while it quietly costs you a man on every snap.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the football playmaker, 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
What is a QB spy in flag football?
Is a spy better than a rusher in 5v5?
When should you start spying the quarterback?
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.