How do you keep an NFL Flag quarterback from getting outside?
In NFL Flag a quarterback cannot run the ball across the line of scrimmage, so getting outside buys him time rather than yards, and that changes what your rusher is for. He is not defending a run, he is shrinking the space the quarterback can drift into while still looking downfield. Take an angle to his outside, stay square, and herd him back toward the middle where your other four defenders are standing.
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 NFL Flag
Escaping earns him no yards, only seconds
Rule 2 forbids him from carrying the ball past the line, so the worst outcome of losing contain here is a longer play rather than a first down. That makes this page a question about coverage stamina, not about run defense, and it is why the technique matters differently from plain 5v5.
He is allowed to retreat as far as he likes
A sack in this format is his flags being pulled behind the line, so he may drop back and run sideways indefinitely. A rusher who commits upfield gets left behind by a quarterback moving away from him, and the ground you give up going forward is ground you cannot recover.
Your four cover defenders are the ones paying for the extra time
Every second the quarterback survives is a second four defenders have to keep covering four receivers with nobody spare, and one of those four is the centre. Contain here is really about cutting the play short so your coverage is not asked to hold for five seconds.
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 instinctWrongNFL Flag: the RUSH takes the instinctive path.
Where a young defender goes when nobody has told him otherwise.
- The jobRightNFL Flag: 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 handle the drift, and what each one gives up
Angle outside and herd him in
Where it excelsCloses the direction he wants and pushes him back toward your defenders. The throw comes out early, off balance, or not at all, which is the whole point given he cannot run for yards anyway.
Exposed · the middle underneathThe wider path costs time, and the middle of the field is where this format's crossing concepts live. A quick in-breaking route is caught before your rusher is close.
Mirror him and never commit
Where it excelsHe stays square and shuffles, matching the drift without ever lunging. Against a quarterback whose only option is lateral movement, refusing to commit is very hard to beat.
Exposed · the combinationNothing is ever hurried, so a composed quarterback works the whole progression. The last read, usually a combination route, is the one that comes open.
Chase him
Where it excelsOccasionally produces a flag pull behind the line, which in this format is a sack and a loss of yards. Against a nervous young quarterback it can end a drive outright.
Exposed · deepMost of the time he simply moves and you are behind him, with your momentum going the wrong way and the deep part of the field now defended by three players who are also covering somebody.
Angle outside and herd him in, and be patient about it
Because he cannot run past you, you are never in danger of being beaten for yards on the ground, which means there is no reason to lunge. Take the angle, stay square, shorten the field he can drift into, and let the play die of old age. The one thing to avoid is chasing, which turns a contained quarterback into a free one.
The numbers behind the decision
He retreats fifteen yards behind the line
Let him. Every yard backwards is a yard his throw has to travel and a yard your coverage gets for free. Do not follow him all the way; hold your depth advantage and make him come back toward you to throw.
Your rusher keeps getting to the flags too late
He is probably taking a curved path that looks like contain and functions like chasing. Straighten the first three steps so he is gaining ground and width at once, rather than running an arc that gains only width.
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 football play designer, collect them in the playbook maker, and print wristband play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw it for your own team
Open the designer at NFL Flag, 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 keep an NFL Flag quarterback from getting outside?
What counts as a sack in NFL Flag?
Should my rusher chase a drifting quarterback?
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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.