What is the Toss concept in NFL Flag?
In NFL Flag a toss is much safer than the same call in tackle football, because a dropped pitch is not a turnover. The rulebook makes the ball dead where it hits the ground, so the worst case is a loss of yards rather than a loss of possession. That is what makes it callable with young players, and it buys the back two yards of width over a handoff.
Why Toss works in NFL Flag
A dropped pitch is a dead ball, not a fumble
The rulebook lists the ball hitting the ground as a way the play ends, and says that when it happens from a snap, backward pitch or lateral, the ball is placed where it landed. There is no loose ball and nothing for the defense to pick up. A toss in tackle football risks the drive; a toss here risks about four yards, which is a completely different decision.
It has to leave your hand behind the line
Handoffs, pitches and laterals are permitted behind the line of scrimmage only. If the exchange happens after the carrier has crossed it, the officials blow the play dead and spot the ball where possession was lost. On a toss that means the quarterback cannot drift forward while he waits for the back to get width, which is the most common way this play goes wrong.
The back can still throw it
Rule 3 says any player who receives a handoff, backward pass, pitch or lateral may throw the ball from behind the line of scrimmage. So the man who catches your toss is a passer, and the halfback pass off this exact look is live. It also means the defense cannot simply commit everybody to the edge the moment the ball is in the air.
The ball beats the defense to the edge
A handoff travels at the speed of the back, and the back has to run to where the quarterback is before he can run to where he is going. A pitch skips that entirely and arrives already outside, so the runner spends none of his head start closing the distance to the football. Against a defense that flows fast, that is often the whole margin.
It widens the runner's choices
Catching the ball three yards wider means the edge defender has to decide sooner and from further away. A defender forced into an early decision is a defender who can be wrong, and the runner can still cut back inside him because he has not yet committed his own path to the sideline.
It is the same teach as the sweep for everyone else
Only the exchange changes. The runner's read, the aiming point and every other player's job are identical, which means a team that has installed one has effectively installed both. Very few concepts in a run game cost that little to add.
How to read it
- 1
Catch it first, then look
The one failure mode a handoff does not have is a ball on the ground. The runner's eyes belong on the football until it is secured, and the read he would otherwise be making can wait the half second that takes.
- 2
Keep running while you catch
A toss caught standing still has given back the exact advantage it exists to create. The runner should be moving toward the sideline before the ball leaves the quarterback's hands.
- 3
Read the edge defender on the move
Same decision as a sweep and the same answer: if he widens, cut up inside him; if he sits, keep stretching. The difference is only that the runner is making it from further outside and with more time.
- 4
Turn upfield at the first clean crease
The extra width is a head start, not a licence to keep running sideways. Yards still come from getting square, and a runner who drifts to the boundary with it has spent the half second he was given.
What changes in NFL Flag
A dropped pitch is a dead ball, not a fumble
The rulebook lists the ball hitting the ground as a way the play ends, and says that when it happens from a snap, backward pitch or lateral, the ball is placed where it landed. There is no loose ball and nothing for the defense to pick up. A toss in tackle football risks the drive; a toss here risks about four yards, which is a completely different decision.
It has to leave your hand behind the line
Handoffs, pitches and laterals are permitted behind the line of scrimmage only. If the exchange happens after the carrier has crossed it, the officials blow the play dead and spot the ball where possession was lost. On a toss that means the quarterback cannot drift forward while he waits for the back to get width, which is the most common way this play goes wrong.
The back can still throw it
Rule 3 says any player who receives a handoff, backward pass, pitch or lateral may throw the ball from behind the line of scrimmage. So the man who catches your toss is a passer, and the halfback pass off this exact look is live. It also means the defense cannot simply commit everybody to the edge the moment the ball is in the air.
When not to call Toss
It puts the ball on the ground in a way a handoff does not
A pitch is a live ball in the air with nobody blocking anyone, and a dropped one is a fumble at your own numbers rather than an incompletion. The advantage is real but small, and it is not worth having with a young or nervous exchange.
It cannot be run to the short side in traffic
The pitch needs room behind the line to travel, so a toss into a boundary or a defense already crowding that edge finishes before it starts. A handoff can still be run into a crowd and lose two; a toss into one is a recipe for losing the football.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the football playmaker, collect them in the playbook maker, and print play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Open Toss in the designer
Opens this exact NFL Flag diagram. Move anybody, change the depths, then save it to your playbook.
Open this play in the designerRelated questions
What happens if we drop the pitch in NFL Flag?
Is a toss a forward pass in NFL Flag?
Can we toss it in the no-run zone?
Toss or handoff for young players?
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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.