What beats man coverage in 5v5 flag football?
Run Mesh. Two receivers cross underneath at four to six yards, and because man defenders have to follow their assignment they collide with each other at the crossing point. In 5v5 this is the highest-percentage answer available, because with only four defenders in coverage there is no safety to clean up behind the collision.
Three answers, in the order to try them
- Start here
Mesh
Start here
Two crossers at four and six yards pass within a yard of each other and the man defenders have to run through each other to keep their assignments. Nobody on your team has to beat anybody, which matters most at five a side where you have no extra body to scheme an advantage with.
- If they jam the crossers
Spot
If they jam the crossers
A defense that presses the mesh at the line never lets it happen. The corner, the sitter and the flat route form a triangle that gets somebody open on the quarterback's third step whether the crossers get clean or not.
- If one player wins alone
Four Verticals
If one player wins alone
Man coverage at five a side has no help by definition, so four receivers running straight turns the down into four separate races with nothing behind them. Simplest thing on this page and the most likely to score outright.
What changes at this size
What man coverage means with five players
At 5v5 man coverage is total. There are four defenders and four eligible receivers, so every defender is occupied and nobody is left to play centre field. That makes it the most dangerous coverage you will face and the most fragile: any receiver who comes clean is running at an empty field, and there is no second layer to make the tackle. It also means the rush is a single defender starting seven yards back, so the quarterback has more time than the picture suggests and should not rush the throw. Do not coach this the way an eleven-a-side team coaches it. There is no hot route, because there is no blitz to be hot against.
When not to call it
Against any zone
Defenders hand the crossers off and nobody collides, so the traffic that makes this work never happens. If a receiver goes in motion and nobody follows him, get out of these calls.
When you need more than eight yards
Mesh and Spot are four to six yard concepts. They convert third and four all season and they will not convert third and twelve, so on long downs go to the vertical answer or take the checkdown and punt field position.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the football playmaker, collect them in the free playbook maker, and print play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw any of these in about a minute
Open the designer, change the routes, save it to your playbook.
Open the designerRelated questions
What beats man coverage in 5v5 flag football?
Related guides
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.