Advanced routes and the playbook
Ready when: Routes (i2) and Quarterback drops and play calling (i3) done.
What you are learning
Routes with two cuts (stop-and-go, slant-go, dig, wheel) that fool a defender, and using the space a deep runner leaves for a short pass. The team builds its own playbook of plays that work.
Words on this card Touchdown, Down, Huddle, Receiver, Route, Slant, Stop-and-go, Plant, Formation, Playbook
- Touchdown
- Carrying or catching the ball in the end zone; 6 points.
- Down
- One play, from the snap until the ball carrier's flag is pulled or the pass falls.
- Huddle
- The team standing close together before a play to agree what to do.
- Receiver
- A player who runs to catch a pass.
- Route
- The path a receiver runs to get free for a pass.
- Slant
- Route names. Slant: a few steps, then a sharp diagonal cut. Hitch: run forward, stop and turn back. Out: run forward, then cut straight to the sideline. Post: run forward, then cut toward the middle of the goal end. Corner: run forward, then cut toward the far corner. Fly: run straight and fast.
- Stop-and-go
- Harder routes with two cuts, such as stopping as if for a hitch, then sprinting deep.
- Plant
- Pushing hard off one foot to change direction sharply.
- Formation
- Where players line up before the snap.
- Playbook
- A team's set of drawn plays.
Show it first for the one teaching
- Walk a stop-and-go: run five steps, stop as if for a hitch, then sprint deep.
- Walk a dig: run seven steps, then cut straight across the middle.
- Draw a play where one receiver goes deep and another cuts into the space left behind.
Your part while they practise
Be the defender; call the formation.
Step by step
- Multi-cut routes: stop-and-go, slant-go, dig and wheel.
- Run each against a defender.
- Send some players deep, then use a short route into the space they leave.
- Review each play after it is run.
How much: 10 plays 15 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Design a play
Each player draws one play, the team runs it, and the best go into the playbook.
Who plays: the team against you as the defence.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Each player draws one play on the sheet
- The team runs each play twice against the defence
- A play that gains 10 yards or scores both times goes in the playbook
- Fair play
- With a grown-up defender, the team gets one extra play.
- Points
- 1 point for a completed pass; 3 points for a touchdown; 2 points for each play that goes in the playbook.
- Fouls
- No points for that play
- Two receivers running the same path and colliding
- A route run at one pace with no change
- Any contact with the defender
- Winning
- The team beats its best score from the last session.
- 6 points for 1 star
- 12 points for 2 stars
- 18 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
No defender.
Disguised routes.
What you will see, and what to say
- the route is run at one pace
Sell the cut
Slow down before it, explode after. - collisions
Agree who goes first
Say it in the huddle.
Self-check
3 plays from the playbook run correctly twice.
Stop and get a coach when
Hamstring or ankle injuries.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains timing, team play.
awiseathlete.com/sports/flag-football/flag-football-a1