9v9 Offense

8 plays drawn for 9v9. Every one opens in the designer exactly as you see it.

Pick your format

Everything below is written for this format. Press the pill again for all of them.

Concepts

The named ideas a play is built from, written for 9v9. Every one works at any team size — which is why the diagrams are the same at every format, and only the write-ups change. The first two simulate for everyone; the rest need a Coach account.

MeshSoon
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.
FloodSoon
Three routes to one side at three depths — flat, out and 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 VerticalsSoon
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
SpotSoon
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
SmashSoon
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.

9v9 play collection

From the premium collection: diagrams without the written breakdowns that 5v5, 7v7 and 11v11 concepts have.

Sprint Flood
Flood
The one diagram in the set that labels its players, so this is the most literal of the eight. The quarterback sprints to the trips side and three routes climb in front of him at three different heights — a quick out underneath, a deeper out over it, and the outside man digging back across the middle behind both. The back seals the edge so the sprint has somewhere to go. Read it low to high and throw on the move; if all three are covered the backside slant is the check-down, and if nothing is there run it.
Open in the designer
Overload
Crossers
Three receivers cross into the same half of the field at three different depths while the fourth runs off the coverage on the other side. Against man it is three separate footraces and somebody wins one; against zone the three of them arrive stacked on top of two defenders and the middle one comes open. Stagger is everything here — tell them to hold their depth and not drift into each other, because two crossers at the same height cover the same man.
Open in the designer
Drive
High-Low
A two-level bind on the middle of the field. The shallow crosser runs underneath everything and the dig comes in behind him at twelve, so the linebacker who takes one has given up the other. The corner off the backside holds the safety, and the back leaks to the flat as the outlet. This is the answer to a defense sitting in zone and daring you to be patient — take the shallow every time until they jump it, then the dig is a first down.
Open in the designer
Dagger
Vertical Stretch
The seam runs off the safety and the dig lands in the window he just left. That is the whole play, and the order matters: the inside man clears first, the second man comes in behind him at fourteen, and the quarterback throws to grass rather than to a body. The comeback outside is the answer when the corner squats instead of turning. Do not throw the dig early — it only exists once the seam has taken somebody with it.
Open in the designer
Deep Over
Crossers
One receiver runs the whole width of the field behind the linebackers while everything else pins the coverage in place — a vertical up one sideline, a dig coming the other way, and an out underneath. By the time the over route gets to the far hash he has usually outrun everyone who started near him. It is a slow play and it needs protection, which is why all three linemen stay in and the back checks before he releases.
Open in the designer
Five Verticals
Verticals
Nobody in the backfield and five men running at the top of the coverage. Three climb straight up the field and two bend in behind them, which turns one safety into a man who is wrong no matter which he takes. The ball has to come out — empty means the three linemen are the entire protection — so the quarterback should know pre-snap which side he is throwing to and let it go on the fifth step. This is a shot play, not a base call.
Open in the designer
Stick
Quick Game
Three steps and gone. The inside man sticks at five and turns, the back runs to the flat underneath him, and one defender has to choose. Read him, not the receivers, and throw the one he leaves. The backside dig is there on a second look when the defense rotates to the stick side. This is the play that punishes a defense flying upfield, because the ball is out before the rush matters.
Open in the designer
Jet Sweep
Run
The one run in the set, and the answer to a defense that has started dropping eight. The back takes it across the formation at full speed and gets to the edge before the front can reset; everybody else blocks the man in front of him and the receivers on the play side turn their defenders out. It only works at speed — a jet that has to slow down to find the hole is a two-yard loss. Best called right after a snap where the same motion produced a throw.
Open in the designer

Run game

What 9v9 can actually run. The universal calls need nothing but angles and a handoff; the blocking schemes need a line, and flag football has no blocking of any kind.

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.