7v7 Flag Football Plays: Diagrams You Can Open and Edit

What changes at 7v7

Each concept carries a second answer

On 7v7 Mesh the outside receivers sit down at ten while the crossers work underneath, so the same call covers man and zone. That is what the extra players buy at seven a side: one play, two reads.

Pressure becomes a real question

Seven defenders can send a second rusher and still cover, so a 7v7 quarterback has to count before the snap and throw where the extra rusher came from. The blitz page for this size is about recognition, not protection.

No run pages, on purpose

7v7 sits on the passing side of the blocking line, so the run shelf opens the general explainers rather than pages of its own. The format's own writing goes into five concepts and the situational calls.

Start here

Concepts

Five passing concepts written for seven a side, where the center stays in to block and the pattern is built around it. The first two simulate for everyone; the rest need a Coach account.

Mesh
Two crossers run opposite ways two yards apart, so any defender chasing one has to get through the other.
QB reads
Which crosser comes out of the traffic clean. It is a look, not a progression.
vs Man
Both defenders arrive on the same grass at the same moment. One goes over, one goes under, and whoever goes under is late.
Flood
Three routes to one side at three depths, flat then out then sail, stacked in a single vertical slice of field.
QB reads
High to low. Look at the sail first; the moment a defender commits, the level above or below him is open.
vs Man
Three routes, three defenders, nobody wrong. Against man a flood is three separate races down one sideline.
Unlock
Four Verticals
Four receivers running straight, spaced so no deep defender can cover two of them.
QB reads
Count the deep defenders before the snap. Three deep means the seams win; two deep means the middle does.
vs Man
Four one-on-one races with no help. The concept is doing nothing. Whoever is losing his matchup is the throw.
Unlock
Spot
A corner over the top, a hitch sitting underneath and a flat running away from both, a triangle out of one bunch.
QB reads
The flat defender. If he runs with the flat, the hitch is open behind him; if he sits, throw the flat.
vs Man
Traffic. Three receivers off one spot means three defenders trying to follow through the same two yards of grass.
Unlock
Smash
A hitch at five yards under a corner route at twelve, both to the same side and in the same throwing window.
QB reads
The deepest of the two defenders. If he stays, take the hitch; if he leaves, the corner is behind him.
vs Man
No conflict at all. The corner sits on the hitch, the safety runs the corner route, and smash becomes two separate one-on-ones.
Unlock
Slant-FlatSoon
One receiver breaking inside, a back running outside underneath him. Two routes, opposite directions, one defender between them.
QB reads
The flat defender, and nobody else. He picks one and you throw the other. One read, one beat.
vs Man
Both are covered by whoever is on them. The flat is a hard cover from inside leverage, the slant a hard cover from outside.
Unlock
StickSoon
An inside receiver to five yards who sits down against zone and keeps running against man, with a flat route under him.
QB reads
Read the coverage off the stick route itself: if he sat, it is zone and he is open; if he ran, it is man and you have the flat.
vs Man
The stick never stops, so the defender never gets to pass him off. It is a chase, and the flat underneath is a second problem.
Unlock
Double SlantsSoon
Two receivers on the same side both breaking inside, stacked so one defender is between them.
QB reads
Whichever slant the inside defender does not take. Fast, flat and off the back foot.
vs Man
Two inside breaks from outside leverage. Both defenders are running across the field with no help inside them.

Formations

Where everyone lines up before the ball moves. Every formation page covers each team size in its own section, so these are the same twelve wherever you coach.

Bunch
Three receivers clustered inside about six yards, usually to one side, with nothing outside them.
What it creates
Traffic before the snap. Three defenders have to stand in one small square of grass, then the receivers leave it in three directions.
vs Man
Three defenders in a space the size of a car, each obliged to follow somebody out of it. Whoever guesses wrong is beaten at the snap, and nobody has run a route yet.
Trips
Three receivers to one side, spread across the field rather than clustered, and one or none to the other.
What it creates
An arithmetic problem. Three receivers running into two defenders' areas leaves somebody uncovered before anyone has run a good route.
vs Man
Man travels with the receiver rather than the space, so spreading out costs the defense nothing. Three defenders follow three receivers and trips has bought you very little.
Stack
Two receivers on one track, one directly behind the other, rather than side by side.
What it creates
A free release for the back man. Nobody can get hands on him without going through the receiver in front, so he leaves the line clean every time.
vs Man
Two defenders standing in each other's way, having to agree before the snap on who takes the front man and who takes the back one. Whichever they pick, one of them starts late.
Empty
Nobody in the backfield. Every eligible player is split out, and the quarterback stands alone.
What it creates
Maximum receivers and a defense with nothing left to guess about. Every player who could catch it is already where he is going to start from.
vs Man
Everybody is covered and nobody is spare, because the offense has put every eligible on the field and the defense has had to answer each one.

7v7 play collection

From the premium collection: diagrams without the written breakdowns the concepts above have.

Spacing
Quick Game
Five options across the width of the field, all of them short. Empty means nobody stays in to help, so the ball has to come out on rhythm, which is exactly why this is the answer to a defense that brings pressure. Throw to whoever the coverage left alone and let him turn upfield. The staggered depths are the point: they stop two receivers from occupying the same defender.
Open in the designer
Power
Run
The one downhill run in the set, and a short-yardage and goal-line answer. The back takes it off the quarterback's hip and runs to daylight behind four receivers who screen: there is no line to follow, and nobody may block, so the lane is whatever those four can occupy by standing in it. Angle it to a side rather than straight into the snapper. Best used once the defense has started dropping everyone to cover the pass.
Open in the designer
Stick
Quick Game
Three steps and gone. The inside receiver sticks at five and turns; the man outside him runs to the flat underneath. One defender has both, so the quarterback reads him and throws the other one, with no pre-snap guess required. This is the play that punishes a defense flying upfield, because the ball is out before the rush matters.
Open in the designer
Four Verts
Vertical
Four receivers up the field against a defense that only has three deep. Somebody is one-on-one; count the deep defenders before the snap and know which one before you take it. The back checks underneath as the release valve if nothing opens. Take that throw rather than holding the ball, and the vertical shot is still there next series.
Open in the designer
Now Screen
Screen
Get the ball to your best athlete in space with three receivers already screening in front of him. Thrown immediately: the whole play is the catch plus whatever he makes of it. Quads forces the defense to declare how many bodies it will put on that side; if it is fewer than four, this is free yardage until they fix it.
Open in the designer
Jet Sweep
Run
The backside receiver is at full speed before the snap, takes the handoff behind the quarterback and races the strong edge behind the trips, who screen rather than block. Time the motion so he is passing the quarterback as the ball is snapped. Walk it through before you run it. It pairs with Power: same formation, opposite picture, and the second one is what makes the first one work.
Open in the designer

Run game

7v7 is a passing game first, so the run cards open the general explainers rather than 7v7 pages; the construct puts this format on the passing side of the blocking line.

Sweep
The ball carried wide and turned upfield outside everybody, before the defense can get there to meet it.
The read
The last defender with outside leverage. If he stays home you cut up inside him; if he chases inside you keep going and beat him to the corner.
Toss
A sweep with a faster delivery: the ball pitched to a back who is already running wide, so it reaches the edge half a second sooner than a handoff could.
The read
The same key as the sweep: the last defender with outside leverage. The toss buys the runner an extra look at him before he has to decide.
Dive
The ball handed straight ahead through the middle, as fast as the exchange allows. No angle and no race, just the shortest distance to the yards you need.
The read
The middle defender. If he sits in the hole, the back takes what the collision gives; if he drops into coverage, the hole was his and he has left it.
Jet Sweep
A receiver in full-speed motion takes the handoff as he passes the quarterback and keeps going. He reaches the edge already at top speed, and nobody standing still can match that.
The read
Whether anybody ran with the motion. If nobody did, you have one more player to that side than they do; if somebody did, the side he left is a man short.
Counter
The back takes one step one way to pull the defense with him, then takes the ball back the other way into the space they just left.
The read
The defender on the side the play finishes. If he chased the first step, the counter is open; if he stayed home, the fake bought nothing.
Reverse
The ball starts wide one way, then a receiver coming back the other way takes it from the runner. The ball changes direction, and so, a second too late, does the defense.
The read
The defender on the far side. If he chased the sweep, the reverse has that whole side to itself; if he stayed home, it is a slow play into a man who was waiting for it.
End Around
A receiver comes around behind the quarterback and takes the ball going the other way. One handoff, not two: a reverse without the part that gets fumbled.
The read
The defender on the far side, the same as the reverse. Whoever is on the side the receiver finishes has to decide whether the fake inside is real.
Option
The quarterback runs at one defender with the back trailing him, and leaves that defender alone on purpose. Take the quarterback and the ball is pitched; take the back and the quarterback keeps it.
The read
One defender: the pitch key, usually the edge. The quarterback does not read the defense; he reads that man, and gives the ball to whichever player he did not take.

By situation

Seven of the eight situations open pages written for 7v7, where a defense has enough players for a real shell. The Cover 2 card still opens the site's original 7v7 page.

Three answersvs Man coverage
A defender on every receiver and nobody deep.
Three answersvs Zone coverage
Nobody is chasing your receivers. They are guarding grass.
Three answersvs the Blitz
They are sending everyone. You have about two seconds.
Three answersvs Cover 2
Two safeties deep, and a hole between them.
Three answersRed zone
A short field. The deep routes you like have nowhere to go.
Three answersShort yardage
Fourth and one. You need a yard, not a play.
Three answersThird and long
Past the sticks, not to them.
Three answersTwo-minute drill
The clock is the defender you actually have to beat.