What are the best red zone plays in 7v7 flag football?
Use traffic, because there is no longer any grass. Six defenders inside a twenty-yard space means every window is contested, so the concepts that win are the ones that make defenders run into each other rather than the ones that find an empty spot. Spot and other triangle concepts are the answer; anything that needs a receiver to simply be open is not.
Three answers, in the order to try them
- Start here
Spot
Start here
The triangle gets somebody open without needing anybody to win, which is the whole problem at this size. The sitter is the rhythm throw and the corner is the touchdown if the defense squeezes.
- If you have the taller receiver
Smash
If you have the taller receiver
The corner route to the pylon is the one throw six defenders cannot take away, because it finishes in the only part of the end zone that cannot be helped to. Give your best player the ball where only he can catch it.
- If they play off
Stick
If they play off
A receiver sitting at a fixed depth with a route breaking away from him. Against a defense that has backed off to protect the end line, the sit-down route in front of them is uncontested.
What changes at this size
Six defenders in the space four used to have
The jump from 5v5 to 7v7 is felt more in the red zone than anywhere else on the field. Two extra coverage defenders in a space that has not got any bigger means the open receiver you relied on at five a side is now a covered receiver with a defender two yards away, and a quick slant into that is a turnover rather than a touchdown. The plan has to change from finding space to manufacturing it. Bunched and stacked alignments do this without any rule bending, because defenders who start close together get in each other's way when the routes diverge. The second change is that the corner of the end zone becomes the most valuable real estate on the field, since it is the one place a defense with six players still cannot double. Throw to the pylon, and throw it where only your receiver can get it.
When not to call it
Against press coverage
Quick inside breaks into six defenders in a short field is a turnover rather than a touchdown. If they are pressing, you need the traffic concepts rather than the quick ones.
When you have run it twice
Red zone concepts at seven a side are heavily scouted because there are only so many. If you have shown Spot already this half, the corner route off the same look is the answer rather than Spot again.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free 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 are the best red zone plays in 7v7 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.