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Texas_D_Coach

Choosing Your Starting Qb's?

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We had our 3rd game yesterday. We lost 24-13, but I am very happy with the progress we made since the last game. The game was within 6 points until the last 4 minutes when the other team scored late to extend the lead.

Good deal. Hopefully you can build on this. Keep plugging away and enjoy how your players are coming together to roll out there as a team.

First off we threw deep on the first play of the game (unsuccessfully), and again on 2 other plays in the game.

This is a good idea. If anything, you weird the opposing coach out. One good approach we use is the following:

1. First play of game, have our QB drop back like he is going to throw deep.

2. Everyone runs a 9 route.

3. The C stays home to block.

4. The C and QB wait three seconds and the QB hands off on a draw. Works EVERY TIME.

A few plays later, put the kid who has the best arm in at QB and tell him to throw it to the teammate who goes down field the farthest (teach the WR not to run 60 yards). ;-) Call a simple running play, then have that QB throw deep again. Put your normal QB back in the game and call that Center Draw again. You are maybe 5-6 plays on offense, and you have just told the defense that you will be setting the tone.

The biggest problem we have right now is getting the QB's to find the open receivers. Several times we had guys wide open and the QB trying to force it into coverage. We'll have to work on this...

This can be tough. I know with 7-9 year olds the defense certainly has the advantage over QBs. Just keep teaching the QBs to read the field. They have to learn by mistakes, there is no way around it. He's putting in his dues early, so-to-speak. Know your QBs strength's and weaknesses, and above all ensure that he is someone that can lead the offence with crisp play-execution.

When your QB drops back and you see an open receiver, do you "point him out" to your QB? I started doing that this season, and it backfired on me. At least it did with my QB. He told me, "It messes me up when you tell me who to throw to". Point taken. ;-)

Regarding blocking the rush, I have assignments based on each side of the line. This is when I simply tell my players "stop him if he is rushing on your side." Our league allows blocking. We go in full-throttle, and back down as that day's official mandates. I encourage pancake blocks. I have different levels of blocking styles because in some games we are asked to "tone it down". This is fine. Some officials are more strict than others. We then go to "easy blocking". I figure most of these kids are going to play tackle soon, and it is never to early to teach football players about blocking. Their future teams will appreciate a willing blocker no matter what the offensive position.

The kids had a great time and it was good to see them having fun this week.

Nice to hear. It sounds as though you are doing everything any team would ask for--and then some. Keep up the great work and continue to let us all know how you do!

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I coach the defense and I can tell you that when an opposing qb throws a long pass, even an incomplete one, I get nervous. Especially when I can see that he has a strong enough arm to go deep. The ones that really scare me are the ones towards the outside. Nobody wants to get burned deep and the threat of it definitely effects the playcalling. And if I see the opposing qb has a weak arm I'm play my defense even tighter. So yea, let one rip early, don't even try to connect, just tell the qb to throw is really far so the defense cannot catch it.

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When your QB drops back and you see an open receiver, do you "point him out" to your QB? I started doing that this season, and it backfired on me. At least it did with my QB. He told me, "It messes me up when you tell me who to throw to". Point taken. ;-)

I did try that a couple of, and when I did, the defense came over and covered and he tried to force it in there anyway. I learned my lesson about pointing out open recievers just as you did... I think I'm going to reiterate to the kids to hold their hands up when they think they are open. That way it will be easier for the QB to scan and look for people.

Regarding blocking the rush, I have assignments based on each side of the line. This is when I simply tell my players "stop him if he is rushing on your side." Our league allows blocking. We go in full-throttle, and back down as that day's official mandates. I encourage pancake blocks. I have different levels of blocking styles because in some games we are asked to "tone it down". This is fine. Some officials are more strict than others. We then go to "easy blocking". I figure most of these kids are going to play tackle soon, and it is never to early to teach football players about blocking. Their future teams will appreciate a willing blocker no matter what the offensive position.

Unfortunately we are not allowed to block at all. I have trained my centers to look for the blitz, and if they see on, to try to run their route toward the blitzer to slow him down. I still need to do a better job of teaching the QB's to dump the ball off to the center when the blitz is too fast for them.

Nice to hear. It sounds as though you are doing everything any team would ask for--and then some. Keep up the great work and continue to let us all know how you do!

Thanks!!

I coach the defense and I can tell you that when an opposing qb throws a long pass, even an incomplete one, I get nervous. Especially when I can see that he has a strong enough arm to go deep. The ones that really scare me are the ones towards the outside. Nobody wants to get burned deep and the threat of it definitely effects the playcalling. And if I see the opposing qb has a weak arm I'm play my defense even tighter. So yea, let one rip early, don't even try to connect, just tell the qb to throw is really far so the defense cannot catch it.

That's exactly what we did on the first pass. I had both outside receivers run go patterns deep and just told my QB to chuck it as far as he could to the one that was more open. Another thing that I think helped is when we were warming up before the game (where the other team could see us) we practiced only passing routes (no running play), and especially the deep bomb routes. If the other coach was paying attention at all he would have thought we were mostly a passing team. The last couple of games I had the kids practicing their end arounds before the game (because we needed the practice), so I think the defenses in those games were ready for them and keyed on the run instead of the pass.

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Can your QB run when he is blitzed? How many rushers can blitz? Our league allowed up to two defenders to rush once every four downs. Some teams never blitzed us, while some teams blitzed every opportunity they could. My QB knew that when he saw the rusher(s), he was to simply take off running. We were blitzed probably 40 plays this season, and only sacked once. Other than that we'd get a minimum of 7-10 yards when the QB ran (which isn't bad when there are eight defenders on the field) so we didn't mind being rushed.

If your league doesn't allow the QB to run when blitzed nor allows blocking, I'd consider talking with them about amending some of the rules as your QB is in a no-win situation.

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Most of the 5 on 5 leagues do not allow the quarterback to run. There are some exceptions, like Coach Rob's current league but most of them do not. Typical I-9 and NFL flag rules allow any number of rushers if they start the play 7 yards back from the los. The referee places a bean bag to mark the spot. Once the ball is snapped, if you began the play behind the marker you can rush. In turn the qb cannot run. From what I could tell, just about every team would send a rusher every play. The offense has two choices. Either get your play off quickly, before the rush is a factor, or try to have your qb juke the rusher and buy time. It seems to me the best teams would do the former, executing quick strike plays.

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I can't remember where I read it, cause I've been reading so much FB stuff lately, but this is an interesting play that I think would work.......

Tell your QB to pick a DB to throw DIRECTLY AT...... just like he's throwing it to the DB. Then you have the end run a pattern that takes him right in front of the DB that is targeted. Most youth DB's, when they see the ball coming right for them, will sit and wait for the ball to get there. Your receiver runs right across his face and catches the ball on the run in front of a flat-footed DB.

I haven't tried it yet, since we just started practice yesterday, but I'm dieing to try this in practice to see how well it'll work!

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There are some exceptions, like Coach Rob's current league but most of them do not.
Before they allowed the QB to run in our league, we'd have someone make a quick pitch to our reg QB giving them the option to run at that point.
From what I could tell, just about every team would send a rusher every play.
We only ran into a few teams that decided not to rush on a consistent basis. Not a smart idea. You get detroyed if you don't send a rusher 95% of the time unless you have a stellar defense against the pass.
The offense has two choices. Either get your play off quickly, before the rush is a factor, or try to have your qb juke the rusher and buy time. It seems to me the best teams would do the former, executing quick strike plays.
From watching the 12-14 age group, the receivers can fly down the field faster and the QBs seem more adept at scrambling. The 6-10 y/o group needs more of the quick strike play strategy. Teaching our kids to be "actors" on the fakes paid big dividends on our misdirection plays. You don't have a lot of time with a rusher coming full speed, so any time you can buy with a fake helps a lot.

CRob

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I'm also having trouble getting the kids out of the huddl efast enough. What I do is show each kid thir position (I have them color coded),and give them a quick run down on what I want them to do. I switch up players almost every play to spread the ball around. Should I just assign each kid one position for a whole drive? That's what I'm thinking of doing from now on.

Texas,

The first year I coached I did what you are doing - moving kids between positions, but I usually did it between games and not during. However, I still ran into the issues you note and issues with running the right route etc. during the play and just executing the play the way it should have been. This last year, I assigned each player a position/color (I also use the color technique for positions) which they had for most of the season and was much more successful. I did change centers out at mid-season and had 3 QB, so when one wasn't playing QB he had a set receiver slot. In my playbookook (see the playbook link), it may look like I have a lot of plays, but I have many of the same plays that just go to different players. So, I may have 4 inside reverses, but they go to different positions/players and attack different parts of the fields. Same thing with the passing attack. Each position hasv arious routes and attack different parts of the field. That allowed me to distribute the ball to every player on the team during a game and attack the part of the field I needed to. By keeping them in the same positions/color and practicing these, I only had to flash the play to them in the huddle and they were ready to go. We were probably the quickest team in and out of huddles in the league.

For my passing plays, I designate a primary reciever and that is what the QB is looking for. Takes some of the uncertianty out of the equation. If that reciever is not open I made sure they understood that they did not have to throw it and it was better to get another offensive play than an interception. I was fortunate in that I had QBs that understood the game and this concept. Also, as they developed they began to be able to look for alternate recievers if the pass was too dangerous. However, I found that most of the time the primary reciever is open and it is a matter of QB experience and patience that is the key. For example, letting the pattern develop and the player clear of traffic instead of throwing too quick and into traffic.

Can't wait until the fall season is here again!

Husker Fan

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Most of the 5 on 5 leagues do not allow the quarterback to run. There are some exceptions, like Coach Rob's current league but most of them do not. Typical I-9 and NFL flag rules allow any number of rushers if they start the play 7 yards back from the los. The referee places a bean bag to mark the spot. Once the ball is snapped, if you began the play behind the marker you can rush. In turn the qb cannot run. From what I could tell, just about every team would send a rusher every play. The offense has two choices. Either get your play off quickly, before the rush is a factor, or try to have your qb juke the rusher and buy time. It seems to me the best teams would do the former, executing quick strike plays.

I guess I can see this. I can only assume because there are fewer defenders on the field, that they are trying to give the defense an advantage. We played a seven on seven game this season (our opponent was a player short so we went with seven also) and I was amazed at the "room" we had on offense. It was our most productive offensive game, and I thought about you boys on here playing 5 vs. 5. I assume they are very offensive-minded leagues---and I loves me some offense. ;-)

Orange, you would LOVE having eight defenders on the field. I faced some pretty stingy defenses. For some reason last season (6-8) was a full-throttle offensive league, but this season (8-9) those kids learned to play some defense. We had one of the most aggresive defenses in the league. Our weakness was the "best player on offense". We had trouble stopping speed.

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Well I haven't updated in a couple of weeks so I figured I would let everyone know how we are doing.

We have finally settled in to a rythm on offense. We have a fixed QB and C, and a RB who plays that position most of the time. We let the rest of the kids rotate in as WR or RB.

After losing our 1st 4 games we finally won one this last weekend. Funny story too, as we went up 20-6 on the other team by halftime and their HC was going berserk screaming at the Ref about bad calls (and one of his parents who was helping run the chains got kicked out of the game for mouthing off to the ref too). We ended up winning 26-14 and I thanked the ref after the game for his services and for doing a good job despite the jerk coaching the other team.

The kids are all getting ball touches so they are happy.

My DC was out of town the 2nd and 3rd game, and running the team all by myself was ######. There is no time to think much less make adjustments on defense and offense. At least for me having a DC is the only way to go. He sees things I don't see and vice versa. It definitely makes our team better having 2 coaches.

We have 1 more game and then the playoffs. I'm excited about how the season is turning out.

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Well I haven't updated in a couple of weeks so I figured I would let everyone know how we are doing.

We have finally settled in to a rythm on offense. We have a fixed QB and C, and a RB who plays that position most of the time. We let the rest of the kids rotate in as WR or RB.

After losing our 1st 4 games we finally won one this last weekend. Funny story too, as we went up 20-6 on the other team by halftime and their HC was going berserk screaming at the Ref about bad calls (and one of his parents who was helping run the chains got kicked out of the game for mouthing off to the ref too). We ended up winning 26-14 and I thanked the ref after the game for his services and for doing a good job despite the jerk coaching the other team.

The kids are all getting ball touches so they are happy.

My DC was out of town the 2nd and 3rd game, and running the team all by myself was ######. There is no time to think much less make adjustments on defense and offense. At least for me having a DC is the only way to go. He sees things I don't see and vice versa. It definitely makes our team better having 2 coaches.

We have 1 more game and then the playoffs. I'm excited about how the season is turning out.

Good luck with the rest of the season...I myself prefer to call everything myself.I have my brother help me out and hes awesome about this.He looks for things then will let me know, but I will make all the calls on offense & defense.(lol i know i'm selfish)

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Good luck with the rest of the season...I myself prefer to call everything myself.I have my brother help me out and hes awesome about this.He looks for things then will let me know, but I will make all the calls on offense & defense.(lol i know i'm selfish)

That's because you're a control freak like I am! I think it's just because we know what our kids can do and what we want, so it's hard to trust someone enough to give them that control. What you do is kind of what I did last year and I really liked it b/c I had the best handle on what each of the kids could do and how I wanted to attack offensively & defensively.

This year I'm going to TRY and pass off some of the responsibility, just because I also coach 2 soccer teams and might have to miss a football game or two. My plan is to have a DC and also have a parent who is helping me by watching the other team's D and what they're doing.

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That's because you're a control freak like I am! I think it's just because we know what our kids can do and what we want, so it's hard to trust someone enough to give them that control. What you do is kind of what I did last year and I really liked it b/c I had the best handle on what each of the kids could do and how I wanted to attack offensively & defensively.

This year I'm going to TRY and pass off some of the responsibility, just because I also coach 2 soccer teams and might have to miss a football game or two. My plan is to have a DC and also have a parent who is helping me by watching the other team's D and what they're doing.

Haha I'm somewhat of a control freak.But your definitely right.I'm all about playing the kids to the best of there ability.I know what they can do because of things we do in practice.So thats why I prefer to make the calls and make things work.This season may be different because of having my old assistant coach come work with me.He may run the defense but i'm not sure yet.We will see.I'm just ready for the season to get started and get the fun going though.Luckily I have my QB coming back from last season.The best pure QB I have ever had.He's a lefty and can toss the ball the length of the field easily while reading field.I taught him to read half of the field left to right.He picked it up so easily and is going to be an awesome QB when he gets older

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That's because you're a control freak like I am! I think it's just because we know what our kids can do and what we want, so it's hard to trust someone enough to give them that control. What you do is kind of what I did last year and I really liked it b/c I had the best handle on what each of the kids could do and how I wanted to attack offensively & defensively.

This year I'm going to TRY and pass off some of the responsibility, just because I also coach 2 soccer teams and might have to miss a football game or two. My plan is to have a DC and also have a parent who is helping me by watching the other team's D and what they're doing.

Haha I'm somewhat of a control freak.But your definitely right.I'm all about playing the kids to the best of there ability.I know what they can do because of things we do in practice.So thats why I prefer to make the calls and make things work.This season may be different because of having my old assistant coach come work with me.He may run the defense but i'm not sure yet.We will see.I'm just ready for the season to get started and get the fun going though.Luckily I have my QB coming back from last season.The best pure QB I have ever had.He's a lefty and can toss the ball the length of the field easily while reading field.I taught him to read half of the field left to right.He picked it up so easily and is going to be an awesome QB when he gets older

I understand the total control thing, but here's my perspective. I let all of the dad's help coach during practice. That way they see first hand what we're doing, and they also see first hand who has speed, catching ability, throwing ability, etc. When it comes to gametime I make all of the decisions, but I know I have everyone's buy in because they've seen everything in practice. That way during the game if certain kids touch the ball more than others, they understand why (although I try to get every kid ball touches). Having those extra pairs of eyes help me out immensely because I have a tendency sometimes to get tunnel vision and only concentrate on what my players are doing rather than what the other team is doing.

It's working for me so far. Everything is a work in progress so it's nice to hear everyone's methods and why they like it. That's why this forum is so great.

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Texas Coach

I totally see your point of view.Trust me we keep count of all the touches each kid gets...We usually have a coaching staff of at least 3 and we have had up to 5 coaches.So we all know what to expect of the kids and each other.

I definitely see were your coming from though.

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New season new problem.

This spring season I've got 2 kids playing QB on our team. One of them started out doing really well at the beginning of the season, but has really digressed the last couple of games. The first 2 games he was excited, and really leading the team, telling people where to go, what to do, a real vocal leader). The last couple of games he seems to have shut down, and I'm not sure why. He is the more accurate of the 2, and I have been pushing him to make sure not to throw interceptions (I tell him to keep looking for an open reciever and not just throw it up for grabs), and to make quicker decisions on his throws (there have been several instances where we had guys open streaking down the field and he would not throw it to them, and intead kept looking for a shorter reciever to get open). He also makes poor decisions when blitzed.

My fear is that I have scared him into not throwing the ball and just letting it fly every now and then.

My second QB has a little bit stronger arm, but his footwork is not nearly as good as the other kid, and he is not as acurrate, but he doesn't get as panicked at the blitz.

Should I back off of them a little and tell them to just go for it, or should I keep trying to coach them to be careful and protect the ball. I am torn here.

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Texas,

I have 2 QB's also...My first QB is amazing.Kid can do everything you want from a QB.However sometimes he gets a little wild and will make bad decisions.He sounds like your QB a little...Basically what I do to control is have him make sure he knows the primary WR is on the play and who his check down WR is on the play.If he knows where those 2 are then he will be fine.Again I usually do this after he has thrown an INT or he is a little rattled.It usually calms him down and gets things back into place for him...

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