What do you run on third and long in 5v5 flag football?
Run routes that finish past the marker, and take your time. The rush at 5v5 starts seven yards off the ball, so a quarterback genuinely has time for a route that develops, and the down is lost far more often to a receiver breaking short of the sticks than to pressure. Put every break beyond the line to gain and let the concept work.
Three answers, in the order to try them
- Start here
Four Verticals
Start here
Four receivers past the marker against four defenders. Somebody is running free and the quarterback has the time to find him, which is exactly what a rusher starting seven yards off the ball buys you.
- If they drop everybody
Flood
If they drop everybody
Three receivers at three depths on one side, with every level past the sticks. Against a defense that has dropped to protect the marker, the deepest defender still cannot cover two of them.
- If nothing is opening
Sprint Out
If nothing is opening
Move the launch point and make the coverage chase. At five a side a defense that has dropped deep on third and long is slow to rally, and half a field with a moving quarterback is usually enough to find the sticks.
What changes at this size
You have more time than you think
Third and long feels frantic and at 5v5 it should not. The rusher begins seven yards behind the ball, so even a fast one arrives around two and a half seconds, which is comfortably long enough for a twelve-yard dig. That means the concepts that fail on this down are not failing because of pressure, they are failing because somebody ran an eight-yard route on third and twelve. The other thing that separates 5v5 is the amount of grass behind the defense. Four defenders cannot cover the deep field and the intermediate field at once, so a defense that drops everybody to protect the sticks leaves the underneath completely free, and one that stays flat gets beaten over the top. Make them choose, and make sure every receiver knows the number that matters is the distance to the marker, not the depth in the play call.
When not to call it
If receivers break short of the marker
This down is lost to route depth more than to coverage. Every break has to be past the line to gain, and the number that matters is the distance to the marker, not the depth in the play call.
On third and four
These are long-down concepts that ask everybody to run a long way. On a manageable third down they take longer than necessary and give the rush time it should never get.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free flag football play designer, collect them in the football playbook maker, and print wristband 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 do you run on third and long in 5v5 flag football?
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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.