Flag Football Prevent Defense

Last week at the NAIA Women’s Flag Football Playoffs there were many examples of situational football. We want to cover them over the next several weeks. There were game changing decisions that altered the outcome of the games. The one we want to focus on today is playing flag football prevent defense.

There were critical examples in Atlanta of teams needing to keep the ball out of the end zone on the last play. The flag football field is shorter. This means your opponent throwing the ball into the end zone at the end of a game is a real threat. It is maybe more real than on an 11 man field.

Related: Flag Football PlayGrids Too!

There are some real differences in how you can approach this. With flag football prevent defense you are going to rush either one or no players. However the premise of keeping the ball in front of you and out of the end zone remains the same. This is also the time of the game where you want to keep that athletic quarterback in front of you.

The version of flag football prevent defense we propose here is not quite as complex as with tackle football. The 11v11 version requires that you put a body on the front and behind the receiver in the end zone. This prevent defense will give you tips on how to disrupt the receivers at the line of scrimmage. We think this a key element in this game situation.

Free Releases Are Not Your Friend With Flag Football Prevent Defenses

FirstDown PlayBook is not a fan of allowing free releases even for flag football prevent defenses. Your defender who lines up over the snapper should disrupt the snapper regardless of if they are rushing the QB or not. The same goes for any other receiver on the line of scrimmage.

The obvious end goal here is to have the ball land anywhere but in a receivers hands. The deep defenders must be taught how to bat the ball down to the ground. Flag football prevent defense can be a tough play to execute. It requires timing and playing the ball in the air. We saw several examples in Atlanta of defenders not playing the ball in the air well enough. This could prove devastating in this situation.

Finally, if the ball is thrown short all defenders must sprint to corral the receiver. Every defender in the end zone must defend the goal line and every underneath defender must be coming from the opposite side. Getting that flag pulled before your opponent crosses the goal line is the only thing that matters here.