3 Reasons Your Offense Isn’t Playing Fast

We all understand the value of team speed and how it can help your football team. Anyone who watched the college national championship game on Monday saw that. However, we normally think of speed as a physical trait that our team either has or doesn’t and that is the end of the story. Maybe, maybe not.

We urge our players to “hustle” “play hard” and “go full speed”. Effort is very important and we will always be coaching that as long as we wear a whistle but there might be other reasons why your team may not be playing as fast as they can. Yes, this means you too, tackle coaches. Here are 3 reasons your offense may not be playing fast and how you can fix it.

Hard To Play Fast When Your Offense Doesn’t Know Their Assignments

It is hard to do anything fast when you don’t know what you are doing. There are some players who will play fast even though they don’t know their assignment, but not many. Most players will tip toe through the play hoping that they are right or hoping that they are not exposed for not knowing. This is why coaching matters.

We as coaches are teachers and above all else we must teach our kids what to do. We have to hold ourselves accountable for what they know and what they don’t. We must find out how they learn.

 We also must evaluate how much we are trying to teach them. If it is too much then we must cut back. As a coach it is your job to find out the answer to all of this. Anyone can yell at the kid. A good coach will find out how to teach him.

Does Your Offense Have Too Many Adjustments?

As coaches, we sometimes look for the perfect answer to every defense or offense. Let’s face it. Sometimes the opposition makes a call that is perfect for what you have dialed up. It happens. No big deal. Let it go and move on. Here is what you should not do. Give your kids an adjustment to every possible thing the defense might do to you.

By the time your players have figured it out the play is over and they have “felt” their way through the play instead of running it full speed. On defense I know you must have an adjustment to every formation the offense can line up in. However, if you are smart, you will prepare for what they do the most and have one check for anything different from that. Your players will end up making you right more often than not if they are playing fast.

Do Your Players See The Big Picture?

The more your players can understand the big picture the better, especially your quarterback. Now don’t get us wrong, this is only after he or she knows their assignment first. Let’s take this flag football play that you see above. In some ways it is more important for a flag football offense to play fast than it is with tackle football.

Check Out This 6v6 Flag Football Curl Wheel Follow Concept

Flag football offers a coach little to no blocking on an offensive play. Your edge is obtained with misdirection and…you got it…SPEED. This play is predicated on everyone doing THEIR  job and doing it FAST. If everyone jogs through their assignment then the defense will have an easy day of it because there is little deception.

However, if every player is flying around full speed then there are three or four different things the defense must defend. Now THEY play SLOW because they are not sure and maybe even confused. So, take our advice and step back during your next practice and look at nothing else except how fast your team is playing.