What is bunch formation in flag football and when do you use it?

Why it works

• It creates the traffic before the snap

  Man defenders have to line up near the receiver they are covering. Cluster the receivers and you have clustered the defense, without running a single route.

• Defenders cannot get depth or leverage

  In a bunch there is no clean outside shoulder to take, because another receiver is standing there. Defenders end up guessing at the snap rather than playing technique.

• It tells you the coverage immediately

  If three defenders follow the bunch across the field, it is man. If they stay spread out, it is zone. The alignment is a free pre-snap read every time you use it.

• It is at its best where the field is shortest

  On the goal line, with man coverage and three defenders trying to change direction in a space the size of a car. A compressed field takes the deep routes away from most formations; bunch never needed them.

What to run from it

• SpotThe concept built for a bunch: a corner over the top, a hitch sitting underneath and a flat running away, a triangle out of one cluster.
• MeshTwo crossers leaving the cluster in opposite directions, through traffic the alignment has already created.
• FloodThree receivers to one side at three depths. Against zone, which is where bunch alone is weakest, the flood is the answer.
• SmashThe point man sits down while the outside man runs the corner, and the flat defender cannot play both from inside a crowd.

How to line up in bunch

1. 1

   Cluster three receivers inside six yards

   Tight enough that a defender cannot stand between any two of them. If there is room for a defender in the gap, it is trips, not bunch.

2. 2

   One on the line, two off it

   The point man on the line of scrimmage, the other two a yard back and slightly outside, so the three make a triangle rather than a row.

3. 3

   Give each one a different direction

   One out to the sideline, one across the formation, one deep. The flat route should be moving at the snap, because he drags a defender across the other two and does most of the formation's work.

4. 4

   For younger teams, use two

   Below about eight years old, three players leaving one point at speed collide more often than they separate. Two receivers still create the traffic with far less chance of your own players running into each other.

What it gives you, format by format

• 5v5

  The strongest version, because five defenders cannot both crowd a bunch and cover the rest of the field. Bunch three to one side and the two defenders left over are responsible for everything else, which is why the backside back running away from the cluster is so often uncovered. If they rush, it is three on three in a phone box.

• NFL Flag

  The centre is eligible, so a bunch can be built with the centre as one of the three and still snap the ball. That is a formation the defense has almost certainly not repped against, and it puts a receiver in the middle of the cluster who starts on the ball rather than off it.

• 7v7

  Enough defenders to put three on the bunch and still play a safety, so the free release matters more than the collision. Use it to win leverage rather than to create a pick: the inside man of the bunch has a two-way go and no defender can take away both.

• 11v11

  A compressed split that pulls the corner inside and turns the whole boundary into space. The advantage is less about traffic and more about what the alignment tells you: if the corner walks in with the bunch it is man, if he stays on the numbers it is zone, and you have that answer before the snap.

How the defense answers it

• Play zone and refuse to chase

  The single best answer, and the reason bunch is a situational call rather than a base one. Zone defenders never follow a receiver into the cluster, so the collision never happens and the offense has crowded itself into a third of the field for nothing.

• Band the bunch instead of matching it

  Rather than assigning a defender to each receiver, assign one to the first receiver out, one to the second and one to the deepest, whoever they turn out to be. Nobody has to fight through traffic because nobody is chasing a person.

• Press the point man

  One defender jams the receiver at the front of the triangle, which delays the release everyone else is running off. Legal in most flag rulebooks as long as the contact is not a hold. Worth checking yours, because it is the cheapest answer available.

• Take the space the bunch gave up

  Three receivers to one side is nobody to the other. A defense that rotates one player away from the bunch and dares you to throw backside is trading the part of the field you are strong in for the part you emptied.

When not to call it

• When the defense plays zone

  The whole mechanism depends on defenders being obliged to follow individual receivers. Against zone you have simply crowded your own offense into a third of the field.

• With receivers who are still learning to run routes

  Three players leaving one point at speed needs spatial awareness. Below about eight years old it produces collisions between teammates more often than it produces separation.

Take it to your team

Related questions

Related guides

• Flag football formations→
• Flag football defense: coverages and fronts→
• Every offensive concept and formation→
• Build this formation in the play designer→
• Are Pick Plays Legal in Flag Football?→
• Best red zone plays in 5v5→
• Best 5v5 play against man coverage→