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Kodiakid

No Huddle Playbook

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Interesting playbook. I really like the simplicity of it. In our league all passes have to be forward of the LOS.

A few questions:

1. What age range have you been running this?

2 What Defenses do you generally run against ? Any special blitizing rules in your league?

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Thanks! That's kind of the beauty of it. Just be simple and get really good at simple things. If you want to play fast, you have to keep it simple.

Started in 8u and ran it in 10u as well. My friend that coached a 13u team ran it with great success as well. You could substitute the bubble with hitches; bubble-go with hitch and go. The QB would just need to be taught to throw to the outside shoulder and the WR to turn outside after the catch.

We mostly see the 2-1-2 but have still been effective against the 1-3-1. Some teams would play man and only play man for one play (we would usually score). The blitzing rule is anyone can blitz as long as they start the play 7yds from the LOS.

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kodiakid, im in u12

Thanks! That's kind of the beauty of it. Just be simple and get really good at simple things. If you want to play fast, you have to keep it simple.

Started in 8u and ran it in 10u as well. My friend that coached a 13u team ran it with great success as well. You could substitute the bubble with hitches; bubble-go with hitch and go. The QB would just need to be taught to throw to the outside shoulder and the WR to turn outside after the catch.

We mostly see the 2-1-2 but have still been effective against the 1-3-1. Some teams would play man and only play man for one play (we would usually score). The blitzing rule is anyone can blitz as long as they start the play 7yds from the LOS.

Thanks! That's kind of the beauty of it. Just be simple and get really good at simple things. If you want to play fast, you have to keep it simple.

Started in 8u and ran it in 10u as well. My friend that coached a 13u team ran it with great success as well. You could substitute the bubble with hitches; bubble-go with hitch and go. The QB would just need to be taught to throw to the outside shoulder and the WR to turn outside after the catch.

We mostly see the 2-1-2 but have still been effective against the 1-3-1. Some teams would play man and only play man for one play (we would usually score). The blitzing rule is anyone can blitz as long as they start the play 7yds from the LOS.

i9 do you think plays will work in that league, how do you know when to throw certain plays. Is you team stacked with good athletes. i got some average kids and a couple playmakers but want to get everyone the ball. How do you run your play sequence , what are you looking for , Can the sour and saint louis be a pitch instead of stretch hand off? when do you know when to run what plays? g

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I am also in i9 U12. We have used the pitch rather than the stretch and it works great. I have a very unique set of personnel leading to a VERY slow team. Only 2 kids who can run fast and 4 who are jogging in place :). Unfortunatlely those same 4 are not good throwers and cant complete any passes with accuracy. So they are C or WR. The hitches get blown up when the kids play wide and we can't beat most teams man for man on hitch and go due to our slowness.

The O would absolutely work if I had 2 more kids with a little quickness/ speed or 2 of my slow kids could switch to QB. I currently substitute the hitches with the twins back formation and run crossing routes with the slot running an out and the WR doing a slant under. I also jump into trips and do the 2 old wash plays which are easy and very effective against both man and the 2-3 or 2-1-2. We can move the ball but other teams just put a spy on the 2 kids with speed and then our overall slowness leads to few breakaways and plenty of 4 and outs just shy of the 1st down marker. Literally an extra 5 -10 yards per possession would make it work for us.

I will add that the kids love running the no huddle - it's fun and does allow us to run 2 extra series a half.

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kodiakid, im in u12

Thanks! That's kind of the beauty of it. Just be simple and get really good at simple things. If you want to play fast, you have to keep it simple.

Started in 8u and ran it in 10u as well. My friend that coached a 13u team ran it with great success as well. You could substitute the bubble with hitches; bubble-go with hitch and go. The QB would just need to be taught to throw to the outside shoulder and the WR to turn outside after the catch.

We mostly see the 2-1-2 but have still been effective against the 1-3-1. Some teams would play man and only play man for one play (we would usually score). The blitzing rule is anyone can blitz as long as they start the play 7yds from the LOS.

Thanks! That's kind of the beauty of it. Just be simple and get really good at simple things. If you want to play fast, you have to keep it simple.

Started in 8u and ran it in 10u as well. My friend that coached a 13u team ran it with great success as well. You could substitute the bubble with hitches; bubble-go with hitch and go. The QB would just need to be taught to throw to the outside shoulder and the WR to turn outside after the catch.

We mostly see the 2-1-2 but have still been effective against the 1-3-1. Some teams would play man and only play man for one play (we would usually score). The blitzing rule is anyone can blitz as long as they start the play 7yds from the LOS.

i9 do you think plays will work in that league, how do you know when to throw certain plays. Is you team stacked with good athletes. i got some average kids and a couple playmakers but want to get everyone the ball. How do you run your play sequence , what are you looking for , Can the sour and saint louis be a pitch instead of stretch hand off? when do you know when to run what plays? g

HOWZIT! Yes, we play in i9 as well. I have 2 speedsters and one kid that can throw decent. The rest are what I would call run of the mill athletes for their age. I spread out to begin with to see if they will follow my WRs. If they do run it in the middle. If they don't, just throw it to them. Sure you could pitch it I just like handing it off because it's less risky and one less thing I have to practice. It's really just a run/throw where they are not. If you go wide I go to the middle. If you stay close I go wide.

Tempo is really key here. We try to play so fast that the other team has no time to adjust. There have been times in games where I don't really have a reason for calling a certain play, I've just kind of gone by instinct. Others where I will notice the back defenders coming up too quickly and go with play action.

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I am also in i9 U12. We have used the pitch rather than the stretch and it works great. I have a very unique set of personnel leading to a VERY slow team. Only 2 kids who can run fast and 4 who are jogging in place :). Unfortunatlely those same 4 are not good throwers and cant complete any passes with accuracy. So they are C or WR. The hitches get blown up when the kids play wide and we can't beat most teams man for man on hitch and go due to our slowness.

The O would absolutely work if I had 2 more kids with a little quickness/ speed or 2 of my slow kids could switch to QB. I currently substitute the hitches with the twins back formation and run crossing routes with the slot running an out and the WR doing a slant under. I also jump into trips and do the 2 old wash plays which are easy and very effective against both man and the 2-3 or 2-1-2. We can move the ball but other teams just put a spy on the 2 kids with speed and then our overall slowness leads to few breakaways and plenty of 4 and outs just shy of the 1st down marker. Literally an extra 5 -10 yards per possession would make it work for us.

I will add that the kids love running the no huddle - it's fun and does allow us to run 2 extra series a half.

Yes it is very nice to have what I have. However I have seen my slower kids be effective in this offense. Keys would be practice a few things and get really good at them. The bubble/hitch must be turned outside. This forces the defense to stay outside opening up the middle for us.

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Great Playbook, very much thinking about incorporating your plays into my playbook! Love the simplicity to it considering I only have a few more practices before season starts. A few questions:

When you start from no huddle do you call for Spread to begin with, watch to see how defense sets and then call your play ( i.e. 2-1-2 with CB following WR ) when you call your razor or laser? Do you look to see if the blitzer reveals which lane they are coming from before you decide whether you are going Razor or Laser? We have a QB with a massive cannon but is very heavy on his feet. We have 2 burners and 3 average to slow rest of the team. With a QB with a massive arm would you change any of your play calling? I noticed there is no Play Action in any of your 4 running plays? Do you ever incorporate that after running , say Lazer 2x in a row and watching the defense start to move in?

Are you using hand signals to audible since everyone is on the ball each play? I am not sure from the I9 Rules since we are in YMCA , but we have option to go for 2 points from 10 yard line ( run / pass) or 1 point from 5 ( pass only) . How do you think about those conversions and are you usually running your "Y Shovel"? What is your alternative to that should the defense finally figure that play out?

How often will you run your FLOOD play? With a strong arm qb, i could see that being a play to run over and over again until they start to gamble on defense by cheating a safety ? Then you can come back with a Sour or a St. Louis with a straight shot to the goal line.

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Great Playbook, very much thinking about incorporating your plays into my playbook! Love the simplicity to it considering I only have a few more practices before season starts. A few questions:

When you start from no huddle do you call for Spread to begin with, watch to see how defense sets and then call your play ( i.e. 2-1-2 with CB following WR ) when you call your razor or laser?

We start out from base then spread. If they follow, run inside.

Do you look to see if the blitzer reveals which lane they are coming from before you decide whether you are going Razor or Laser?

Great question! Most teams come from our right (right handed QB) to force us left. But I try not to over think it. Either way my RB is one-on-one with the rusher and needs to make a move. A good rusher will slow down when they see run. We prepare for worst case scenarios.

We have a QB with a massive cannon but is very heavy on his feet. We have 2 burners and 3 average to slow rest of the team. With a QB with a massive arm would you change any of your play calling?

My QB over the years just needed to be accurate. Even with a great QB I would need WRs that are sure handed, get into their routes, and disciplined to stay on their tracks. If I had all that, I would probably put in more passing concepts, smash, post/speed-out, and shallow all worked well.

I noticed there is no Play Action in any of your 4 running plays? Do you ever incorporate that after running , say Lazer 2x in a row and watching the defense start to move in?

Well I do have the Saint Louis - Pinwheel :D . Yes. You could easily have a St louis or Sour attached to the flood concept. I also have 4 verts which I just tag, laser verts. Even with the tag, almost always someone bites on the run.

Are you using hand signals to audible since everyone is on the ball each play?

We only get one practice per week so I just say the play out loud, but not so loud the other coach can hear (offensive coach is allowed on the field, defense is not). We go so fast I'm not concerned about other teams trying to figure out our calls then relaying to their coach. If they are worried about our play names, then we are winning. Be simple and fast. I did have hand signals one year and it worked well but just saying the name was easier. We do have an "over" call to switch sides we are going too.

I am not sure from the I9 Rules since we are in YMCA , but we have option to go for 2 points from 10 yard line ( run / pass) or 1 point from 5 ( pass only) . How do you think about those conversions and are you usually running your "Y Shovel"? What is your alternative to that should the defense finally figure that play out?

Same for us. Yes y-shovel is my goto play when going for one. If they figure it out, y-shovel-ghost. I only go for 2 if I have too or I want to try something different.

How often will you run your FLOOD play? With a strong arm qb, i could see that being a play to run over and over again until they start to gamble on defense by cheating a safety ? Then you can come back with a Sour or a St. Louis with a straight shot to the goal line.

Great idea! I love to run the flood play on 2nd and short. If no throws are there my QB just throws it away and we still have a manageable 3rd/4th down coming up. Other than that, anytime I see a 2-1-2 defense and their front 3 are good players I know I will run the flood quite a bit.

Answers inline above. Good luck coach!

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Kodiakid,

Thanks for sharing your playbook. I am implementing it with my 7-8 yo team and I think it will work very well. My question is on which plays(s) do you use the Tight formation? It seems like the Sour/Saint Louis could work well if the corners follow X and Z in. Also you mention you had the least points allowed on defense and you give some good defensive drills and pointers. Could you share your defensive setups and where you play your stronger and weaker players?

Thanks,

Tim

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Kodiakid,

Thanks for sharing your playbook. I am implementing it with my 7-8 yo team and I think it will work very well. My question is on which plays(s) do you use the Tight formation? It seems like the Sour/Saint Louis could work well if the corners follow X and Z in. Also you mention you had the least points allowed on defense and you give some good defensive drills and pointers. Could you share your defensive setups and where you play your stronger and weaker players?

Thanks,

Tim

I use the tight formation if I want to run wide or throw a bullet to one of them because the defense doesn't follow them.

For defense we were mostly in a 2-1-2. If the team was mostly running we would have the stronger players up front. If they were a passing team, we would have the better players in the back. In the case where we had to mix it up we would rush from the side of the weaker player to force them to our better players. The up front players are aggressive. If there is only one WR to their side they line up over them just to take away quick throw but they let them go for the deep players to pick up. Our rusher wasn't always our best player but they were one of the faster kids on the team.

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Kodiakid,

I wanted to give an update and endorsement for this playbook. We have ran it for 3 games now in a 7-8 year old league and it is working great. We won the first game 57-0 (I was trying not to run up the score but we had 5 picks and even my weaker players were running for long TDs). The second game we won 33-12 although we were missing 2 of my best 3 players. Last week we played probably the best team in the league. After getting ahead early, we threw 2 pick sixes and got behind by 3 TDs. We got back to within 5 points and then got a pick 6 ourselves with 2 minutes to go to win 41-39! One thing I noticed in that game is the other team adjusted well to our running game. After moving down the field early, they put their best player on the center and he was jumping out on our running plays. Although my RB sometimes got by him, he was slowed down enough that we didn't get too much yardage. I am thinking about adding some wrinkles to counteract that if we play them in the playoffs. For example fake X-Bubble, and run Razor (delayed). What do you think of that idea?

The only play I have added is a long pass play from the Spread formation where the 2 outside receivers go long and stay near the sidelines, QB/RB fake Laser, and the RB goes straight down the middle of the field deep also. The center also runs an out pattern to the right. Most teams play 2 deep so they can't cover all 3 deep patterns. I have a QB with a strong arm and after running the ball a lot the first few series this play usually gets a TD.

Game 4 of 8 is tonight against another team that is undefeated.

Tim

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Thank you Kodiakid - hope you are still around! I have coached several years now. We had one undefeated season and always been competitive, but I know we can be better. Early on, our success was based on downfield passing. We would find a quarterback who could throw it deep, then just have a good WR run under it on the way to a bomb TD. Then once the D was on their heels, we would run the ball at will. My oldest son is in 6th grade. Last year we noticed a lot better coverage downfield, and had to work harder to find the open space, putting more pressure on QBs to make good decisions. One thing I haven't done well is to adjust based on defenses. Mainly because we haven't had to.


I really like your approach specifically because it seems designed to take advantage of space and adjusts play calling based on the defense. I'm now re-thinking things. Was a little confused on a few points in your guide. Not trying to be critical, just want to understand since I am wanting to adopt your approach.


Play Calling/Communication


So are you shouting out plays to people right after the last play? Trying to picture this in action.


Are you shouting play changes at the line of scrimmage based on defensive formations? Feels like I would be over-inserting myself into the game, but maybe I'm picturing it wrong.


First Play


You mention on the first play that you line up in base, then move to spread to see what they do. Does this mean the WRs never really "set" in base? Or do you set and then use motion to move over? Again, I'm having trouble picturing. If they set, I would have to move one at a time to avoid illegal motion penalty.


Scrimmage


How do you scrimmage in practice if everybody on D knows the play you are calling? It's bad enough for us now just the fact that they know the playbook and go-to plays.


3-1-1 Defense


How do you handle this? It's actually been the defense my team runs the most. Generally kills the running game. I'm guessing you would run "Bubble Go" plays, correct? (This is what I am always afraid will happen to us, but we live with the risk.)


Playbook


Does your book include all your plays? I counted 12. Is it implied that all plays have variants in all formations? Do you call out a formation and then the play? (i.e. "Base Sour")


The "Sour" play looks like it's ripe for a play action variant, but didn't see any references to it. Did you ever try it?


Drills/Practice


Any tips on keeping things "up tempo"? I definitely feel my team's practices could use a bit more speed and energy.


=====


Again, really like your approach. Wish I could watch a game film just to see it first hand. I'm nervious about changing things up just because we've kind of got a comfort level and we're always one of the better teams, but I also know that you never get better with that attitude. Thank you!

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Hi Wazu,

I am not the author of the plays, but I did run this offense last spring with success- an undefeated season in 7-8 yo league, so I wanted to try and help with my experiences.

Play calling: I did call out the plays at the line of scrimmage, but not so loud that the opposing coach could hear. At times if I thought the other team might know the play names I would tell my team the play by running out to the WR and whispering it and doing the same with the other players. This happened more in the playoffs where teams were seeing us a second time. I had to decide was it more important to keep the play a secret or to play fast.

First play: We are allowed to move around as long as we are set at the snap, so we would line up in base, then move the WRs to spread. The problem I had with this was having a difficult time completing the hitch pass if the defensive corners did not move out. Even on this short pass it seemed about a 50/50 chance the receiver would not hang on to the ball.

Scrimmage: Either I would tell the defenders to play honest as if they did not know the play or I would huddle or whisper the play to the offensive players. If I was working on the no-huddle/tempo aspect as opposed to learning the plays then I would be more concerned that we were running the right play quickly and not care if the defense stopped the play.

3-1-1 Defense: We never saw this defense last season. All teams played a 3-2 or 2-3 or similar (2-1-2). After seeing our plays they would put their best defender at nose making the razor/laser more difficult. Because of this I added some plays where we faked one play and ran another- e.g. fake laser run Z-bubble.

Drills/Practice: I used the drills in the No-huddle manual but then spent time running no-huddle practice specifically working on tempo. I would script out a bunch of plays and run one play after another and have my assistant set the ball 5 yards forward after each play. It is difficult at the younger ages to keep the kids attention if you do not plan out the practice well.

The other thing I did was add some additional plays from this site during the last half of our regular season after we had played the better teams. I felt like they knew our plays pretty well by the end of one game and would be able to stop them easier the second time around. It did pay off- we were down 2 TDs in the championship with 6 minutes to go and managed to score on 2 of the new plays we added after they were stopping the no-huddle plays.

Tim

Thank you Kodiakid - hope you are still around! I have coached several years now. We had one undefeated season and always been competitive, but I know we can be better. Early on, our success was based on downfield passing. We would find a quarterback who could throw it deep, then just have a good WR run under it on the way to a bomb TD. Then once the D was on their heels, we would run the ball at will. My oldest son is in 6th grade. Last year we noticed a lot better coverage downfield, and had to work harder to find the open space, putting more pressure on QBs to make good decisions. One thing I haven't done well is to adjust based on defenses. Mainly because we haven't had to.
I really like your approach specifically because it seems designed to take advantage of space and adjusts play calling based on the defense. I'm now re-thinking things. Was a little confused on a few points in your guide. Not trying to be critical, just want to understand since I am wanting to adopt your approach.
Play Calling/Communication
So are you shouting out plays to people right after the last play? Trying to picture this in action.
Are you shouting play changes at the line of scrimmage based on defensive formations? Feels like I would be over-inserting myself into the game, but maybe I'm picturing it wrong.
First Play
You mention on the first play that you line up in base, then move to spread to see what they do. Does this mean the WRs never really "set" in base? Or do you set and then use motion to move over? Again, I'm having trouble picturing. If they set, I would have to move one at a time to avoid illegal motion penalty.
Scrimmage
How do you scrimmage in practice if everybody on D knows the play you are calling? It's bad enough for us now just the fact that they know the playbook and go-to plays.
3-1-1 Defense
How do you handle this? It's actually been the defense my team runs the most. Generally kills the running game. I'm guessing you would run "Bubble Go" plays, correct? (This is what I am always afraid will happen to us, but we live with the risk.)
Playbook
Does your book include all your plays? I counted 12. Is it implied that all plays have variants in all formations? Do you call out a formation and then the play? (i.e. "Base Sour")
The "Sour" play looks like it's ripe for a play action variant, but didn't see any references to it. Did you ever try it?
Drills/Practice
Any tips on keeping things "up tempo"? I definitely feel my team's practices could use a bit more speed and energy.
=====
Again, really like your approach. Wish I could watch a game film just to see it first hand. I'm nervious about changing things up just because we've kind of got a comfort level and we're always one of the better teams, but I also know that you never get better with that attitude. Thank you!

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Tim -


First of all - THANK YOU! Great information. Another person with an undefeated season using this playbook - wow! It's to the point now that if we lose even one game I'm going to feel like I must be doing it wrong! :)


Find it interesting that my favorite defensive scheme is so unpopular. I wonder if I'm describing it right as 3-1-1. It's 3 up front zones, one rusher, and one deep safety. It's been rare that I've seen opponents do it, but I didn't think I was completely alone. (Maybe I just need to pay closer attention.)


A couple of follow-up thoughts I've had while getting this all organized -


Bubble Routes


One aspect of this playbook that I'm grappling with is that in our league all forward passes have to be past the line of scrimmage. My thought is to have the "bubble" routes basically just be slightly-backwards laterals. (Ball is dead when dropped.) Welcome any feedback on this. The way Kodiakid describes the actual route the player is jogging backwards already so my guess is it is roughly the same play. We had a similar play in our playbook that tended to work well last year as it takes the QB a second to turn and plant anyway.


Play Calling


Was thinking about play-calling at the line. I'm considering giving all of the plays human/male names that aren't on the team. That way it will just sound like I'm yelling at kids when I'm really calling out plays. "George" "Sammy" "Jose", etc. Just got to use rare enough names that I don't have an actual kid join the team that causes us to have to change the play names. Guess I'm just posting this here as a sanity check. Any reason this would be a dumb idea?


Thanks again for the feedback!

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Hi Wazu,

I am starting to plan for our first practice next week for my new 9-11 team and just saw your post. On the Bubble routes, if the WR is lined up on the LOS and at the snap turns toward the QB and starts backing up, he should be beyond the LOS when the pass arrives. He is backing up in a direction roughly 45 degrees between going straight downfield and straight towards the sideline, so after 2 or 3 backward steps he should be over the LOS. You can run it as a lateral as you described, I would pick one or the other and do it consistently.

I was also thinking about play calling and came up with the idea of numbering the plays 1 thru 5 and just hand signaling. For example, left hand number 1 would be laser, right hand number 1 would be razor. Any play over number 5 I would huddle to call. I am a believer in the fewer plays run correctly are better than more plays, so I hope to not have to huddle often. The male name idea would work, but I think they would figure out after a few series you were calling plays and then it would be no different than the actual play names.

Tim

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This system looks great. Quick question for you guys though: how far are X and Z split out in each of the formations? When line up, how far from the ball are X and Z in Base formation? How about Spread and Tight as well?

Thanks

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This system looks great. Quick question for you guys though: how far are X and Z split out in each of the formations? When line up, how far from the ball are X and Z in Base formation? How about Spread and Tight as well?

Thanks

So far my team has just been practicing. (First game this Saturday). But in my case we are mostly just working out of "base". Our WRs are operating about 5 yards from the sideline. The thought being that this gives them room to make a strong move towards the sideline. I imagine in most situations the CB will want to be somewhere near them to start, even in a zone. Guess we'll find out if this was the right call in a few days.

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Well, for those considering this approach I'd like to report that we incorporated the majority of this into our offense and won our opening day game today 35-8. Our league allows the QB to run, so we did away with lazer/razer, and our wide runs are option plays to either side. Instead of the razer/lazer the QB just takes the snap and runs forward for us anytime they leave the middle open. This makes them plant a defender over center and opens up other areas.

We'll see if it continues to be successful. Loving it so far, though. Much thanks to kodiakid as well as the others who have been responding in this thread. It wasn't easy to dump our playbook and start over with a new philosophy, but I'm so glad we did.

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We lost our first game last week 60-53 to the 1st place team. Obviously we are going to work on defense. But one problem we ran into is the opposing coach very quickly started calling out our plays- he would see me put up 1 finger and call out this is play 1 and then when we ran the play, he called out remember play 1 is an inside run. So in order for them to not learn all of our plays we had to huddle for most of the game. I thought about going to an audible numbering system at halftime, but the kids were not comfortable with it so we will work on it this week in practice. I will simply call out 3 numbers but only one of them is the play, and if somehow the other team figured it out we could switch which number is the play even during the game. One question I would ask for those running this offense is which play do you run for extra points? The other team was much better at converting extra points than us even at the 10 yard (2 point) spot. I run the flood play some and also the Y shovel, but I am thinking about putting in a special play just for extra points, especially 2 point conversions. The Y shovel is usually only good from 5 yards out.

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My team is 2-1 so far using this offensive philosophy. We have crushed 2 opponents, and then lost to a team where we just couldn't do anything on offense. We are in a 9-11 year old league, and my team is made up of all 9 year olds, so we are the youngest. We have some good athletes though and had gone undefeated the prior 2 seasons in the 6-8 year old league. We switched to this system though because we ran 90% of the time in the younger league and needed more passing (we basically just ran crosses and scissors in the younger division). All in all, this is a great offensive system. Thanks to Koolaid for posting it and everybody else that has commented on it.

I tried using playcards like Chip Kelly does in order to send in plays. The kids loved it, but, honestly, it is a pain for me as the coach (and it took a long time to create them using powerpoint and poster board). Finding the card to call the play is a pain, and it took too long. I've kept the cards for some plays, but I signal in the basic ones (Razor, Laser, Bubbles, etc.). I used hand signals instead of numbers so the other teams can't pick up on it as easily.

As for a good extra point play, our most successful play is one I call Laser No Yo-Yo. We line up in Tight, fake the Laser (so it's a play action pass) and then pass to the Y who runs a 7-8 yd out (Y out is the Yo-Yo). It works 90% of the time. The Z runs inside and picks the insider defenders, making it easier for Y to be open on the right side. You could run this for 10 yards as well, just make sure Y runs a 10 yd out.

I've added a couple of plays that were not in the original playbook but work well (I won't talk about the ones that haven't worked). The first is one I call Zebra. It's essentially an end around to Z. We line up in X Over with the Z spread out wide. Z goes in motion, and then the QB calls hut before Z gets to him and hands off to Z. It works well because Z is almost at full speed when getting the hand-off. He's usually able to turn the corner and get outside for a big gain. I also run it to the other side and call it X-Ray (so it's run out of Z Over).

I also run a Zebra Ghost, which is a play-action pass play. We line up in X Over and fake the Zebra. The Y runs a 10 yd out to the right, the X runs a post deep and the RB swings out to right side. It kind of creates a Flood on the right.

In the game that we lost, we just couldn't do anything on offense. We could not run the football because the other team tackled very well and our guys just didn't make anybody miss. We tried some bubbles early and didn't complete them due to poor passes. The defense then adjust to them, and would line up in tight man, then jump the route and tip or deflect any Bubbles that we tried. We then tried the Bubble Go's but just couldn't execute them (WRs dropped a couple of passes and QBs threw some bad balls). However, if we'd have made 1 or 2 of those plays, then we'd have probably won this game. Anyway, do you guys have any thoughts for when the defense takes away the Bubbles and you still can't run. I felt helpless because we couldn't run the football or throw the Bubbles. There wasn't much else for me to do (which is why I created the Zebra/X-Ray).

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Thanks for the suggestions Coach Hebert. I did design a play for extra points somewhat like Laser No Yo-Yo but it is designed for a wide receiver on the out not the Y center as the kids playing the Y position on my team do not have great pass catching abilities. That play worked better on extra points in last week's game, but we still are perfecting it. I also had a play like the Zebra last season but took it out as it just did not work that well and we even got a safety against us once when the runner tried to fake the defender too much. It sounds like you are executing it much better than we did.

If you can't run the ball, it is makes things much harder. We work on the Bubble a lot to make sure we complete it most of the time which can back the defenders off opening up the run. The Bubble-go is hard to complete even if they are wide open because it is a long pass. We have had success with that using a slower receiver that has very good hands. The defenders do not pay much attention to him when they see his lack of speed yet he has had a couple of long touchdowns when he got way behind the defender and made the catch. The other play to try when runs are not working is the Flood, looking to hit one of the two shorter routes. It is a play that can be ran over and over just thrown to the player they don't cover.

We are now 3-1 and tied for 2nd in a 10 team league and play a team we are tied with this week. My QB from last season plays on the other team, so he will know most of our plays (just not when they are coming), so this will be an interesting game.

Let us know how things are going with your team throughout the season.

Tim

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Just wanted to let you guys know that we continue to have success with this offense. We are 5-2 heading in to our last game this weekend. We beat a far more athletic team last weekend (they were a team of all 11 year olds and my entire team is 9). We were giving up 4 inches a man and several steps of speed and quickness. The score was 26-24. The runs and bubbles all worked very well, as did the Zebra (Z end around) and X-Ray (X end around) that we've put in. There are 2 more plays that we've had success with that might help you guys.

First of all, I wasn't crazy about just having the Flood against a solid 2-1-2 zone. If we see a bunch of that, we go with an empty backfield (so X and Y are about 3 yrds apart on the far left, and then RB and Z are the same on the far right). We run either an X Cross or a Z Cross. Essentially, the inside guy goes first and runs across the outside guy, then goes deep along the sideline. The outside guy waits for the inside guy to go across him, and then runs a slant. The two players cross. It has worked very well for us. Most of the time, the slant is open at first, and we get nice gains out of it. Then, the defenders start jumping the slant, and the outside guy is open deep. This works for us like 90% of the time right now.

The second one is a trick play, and the kids love it. We run the Statue of Liberty like Boise St. did against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl (if you have never seen that play, then Google Boise St. statue of liberty, because it's an unbelievable play). We call it Z Bubble Statue of Liberty. We line up in X Over. The QB takes the snap and fakes like he's throwing the Z Bubble. However, the ball is in his left hand (so the fake throw is done without a ball in the right hand). While making the fake throwing motion, the QB puts the ball behind his back and really holds it out. The RB takes a step right while the QB fakes it, then runs for the ball after the QB sticks it out. The RB takes the hand-off (behind the QB's back) and then runs hard to the left. It sounds complicated, but it is not a difficult move for any of the players. The kids love it and it worked or us the one time we ran it (I just put it in).

I hope that helps.

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Thanks again Coach Hebert for those two plays. I designed a similar play to the X/Z cross for a 1-3-1 defense that we were seeing a lot. I like your play better though with the crossing routes.

We ended up 2nd place in the regular season with a 6-2 record and lost in the semifinals of the playoffs. My team had 5 nine year olds none of which had played in that age group before and a 10 year old that never played flag fb before. So against the better teams some of our players were a head shorter than theirs, and that ended up making a difference. I am still a believer in this offense and will be using it in the spring season which starts in Feb down here.

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Whoa! great to hear others have had success with this!

Let me see if I can answer a few of the questions that came up.

For practicing tempo, we just practice fast. Every drill is simple. Do it every practice.

For communication, the coach was allowed on the field so I just said it loud enough where the players could hear but not the other coach. But we played in leagues where the coach wasn't allowed on the field as well. First off, we went fast. I would be herding the kids up to the LOS as fast as possible. Refs would always joke with me before all of our games that they knew they would be getting a workout. Sometimes we would find a rhythm and I would just call out plays for no reason other than to just go fast. If the other team was wasting time trying to cheat our plays, that's when I knew we had them. If you are wasting energy trying to figure out calls, you are not spending time coaching your team.

On those rare occasions where i thought they were picking up our calls, we had a few hand signals to fully take advantage. One signal was for pass plays, which meant to get to the first down marker or endzone before breaking off your route. Another signal meant we were doing double moves, like the bubble-go. Correctly ran by the WR and correct QB footwork, it's an easy throw. WR HAS to sell the fake. QB pump fakes by keeping both hands on ball but just uses shoulder. Now when a QB pump fakes, his weight is on his front foot. So they must hop back to their back foot then throw immediately. If the WR isn't WIDE open, just chuck it out of bounds. One signal meant we were flipping our run play, another meant same side but go wide instead of inside or vice versa. Of course you need one dummy signal. If a play worked really well, I would also have a call to just run the same play again.

When we scrimmage I also just yell out the play. I want our D to know what's coming so my team knows what to do.

If they played a 3-1-1, they are weak on the edge. Run a sour or saint louis. I would try to move defenders around by formations. If i could bring the corners inside, my RBs knew the outside would be open. If the corners stayed wide my RBs knew to press the outside and look for cutback.

If teams put a guy over the center just to chase my RB our adjustment would depend on what else they are doing. If they were still rushing, they are potentially double/triple teaming one guy. Just by alignment though, they are taking away razor and laser. Outside run play/fake inside run to an end-around/fake inside run and throw to center running a "J" route. basically just get some width and head up field.

Hope that helps!

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