Pitchout

[Orange 26]

In my league you can lateral anywhere on the field. So we began using pitchouts to our halfbacks instead of straight handoffs. It's really quite a wonderful thing. The halfback takes the ball in stride, the pitch is pretty easy to teach and execute, and it hits the outside very quickly. If you can pitch in your league and your kids are old enough (mine are 9) I really suggest you do this. But I know some of you are playing in leagues where you cannot pitch or lateral the ball. That got me to thinking. I think you could still do something like a pitchout but you'd just have to make sure the halfback is in front of the qb, ie a forward lateral or more accurately a pass. I'd use a shuffle pass. One of our plays is a fake end around then shuffle pass to the halfback going the other way. It does not need to be a forward pass for us but it ends being one half the time because the halfback usually gets ahead of the qb. I think you could do the same thing with the pitchout, just pitch it forward to the halfback, in essence a forward pass. The key is to have decent separation because if the halfback is close to the qb you may as well handoff. Too far and now you have a difficult pass. 5 yards is about right. It think you can hit the halfback in stride very easily with a shuffle pass where he will be hitting the outside quickly. That sets up a whole slew of plays once the corners have to step up and defend it.

[Vegas Coach 0]

Thanks for the advice and tips! Our league went to allowing pitches for the first time this season. The pitch has to be backwards and also has to be behind the line of scrimmage. We are 6 games into our season and I havent really worked on pitches because I had such a new team I was attending to many other things... however in the last week I have just started working on pitches. Seems the hardest thing to teach is the spacing and timing, but I agree I like the pitch as it gets our RB to the outside quicker. Thanks again.....

[Orange 26]

Thanks for the advice and tips! Our league went to allowing pitches for the first time this season. The pitch has to be backwards and also has to be behind the line of scrimmage. We are 6 games into our season and I havent really worked on pitches because I had such a new team I was attending to many other things... however in the last week I have just started working on pitches. Seems the hardest thing to teach is the spacing and timing, but I agree I like the pitch as it gets our RB to the outside quicker. Thanks again.....

Here is the technique:

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-To-Play-Foot...h-Drill-6184671

Of course that video is tackle football so the qb is a lead blocker, not the same thing in flag. Also, in tackle the runner has to sweep or hit a hole so the pitch is going mostly back. We have them pitch it as the running back is moving forward so typically the pitch is at a 45 degree angle to the qb or sometimes more close to even, with about 5 yards spacing to the outside.

[Vegas Coach 0]

Thanks for the advice and tips! Our league went to allowing pitches for the first time this season. The pitch has to be backwards and also has to be behind the line of scrimmage. We are 6 games into our season and I havent really worked on pitches because I had such a new team I was attending to many other things... however in the last week I have just started working on pitches. Seems the hardest thing to teach is the spacing and timing, but I agree I like the pitch as it gets our RB to the outside quicker. Thanks again.....

Here is the technique:

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-To-Play-Foot...h-Drill-6184671

Of course that video is tackle football so the qb is a lead blocker, not the same thing in flag. Also, in tackle the runner has to sweep or hit a hole so the pitch is going mostly back. We have them pitch it as the running back is moving forward so typically the pitch is at a 45 degree angle to the qb or sometimes more close to even, with about 5 yards spacing to the outside.

Thanks for that... I'll check that vid out when I get home tonight!