How do you run a two-minute drill in 7v7 flag football?
Work the boundary, and know which throws stop the clock in your league. 7v7 has enough defenders to take the middle away late in a game, which pushes the answer to the sideline anyway, and sideline routes are also the ones that stop the clock where the rules allow it. Everything you call should finish out of bounds or on a stoppage.
Three answers, in the order to try them
- Start here
Stick
Start here
A fixed spot on rhythm, run at tempo. Against six defenders playing soft late in a game it converts every time, and a team that can run one concept perfectly at pace beats a team thinking about eight.
- If they take the short out away
Smash
If they take the short out away
The corner route over the top of a squatting flat defender is the chunk gain that still finishes near the sideline. It is the answer to a 7v7 defense that has decided to jump everything underneath.
- If you need it all at once
Four Verts
If you need it all at once
Four receivers past the marker against a defense with two deep. At seven a side there is no third safety to help, which makes this a legitimate last-play call rather than the desperation it becomes at eleven.
What changes at this size
The middle closes when they know you are throwing
At 7v7 a defense that knows the clock is your problem drops six and takes the middle of the field away entirely, which is a luxury a 5v5 defense cannot afford. That changes the plan in a way the clock rules alone would not: the boundary is not just where the clock stops, it is the only place left to throw. It also means your two-minute package should be small. Six defenders playing soft will give up the ten-yard out all night, and a team that can run three concepts perfectly at pace beats a team with eight it has to think about. The rule differences still matter here, so confirm them before you build a plan: 7v7 leagues vary more than any other format on whether the clock stops on a first down, and that single line in the rulebook decides whether you should be throwing short or throwing for chunks.
When not to call it
Keep the package small
Six defenders playing soft will give up the same throw all night. The team that loses this drill is usually the one calling its eighth different concept rather than its first one for the fourth time.
Confirm what stops the clock
7v7 leagues vary more than any other format on whether the clock stops on a first down, and that one line in the rulebook decides whether you should be throwing short or throwing for chunks.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free play designer, collect them in the playbook maker, and print football 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
How do you run a two-minute drill 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.