Ok, AFR because I'm an Aggie and it's about football.

This is my 3rd year coaching 5 on 5 flag football.. 6-8 year olds first year and now 9 to 11.

Last year, we only lost 1 regular season game. Looking back, we had 11 year old athletes. 4 of them. They were fast and they made plays despite our poor coaching.

This year. we are younger. No 11 year olds. Kids are slow.

So,

What defensive scheme should I teach? What works? Faster kids in corner and safety, 1 blitzer, and 2 ends?

Man to man? Zone?

For you armchair coaches, share your knowledge.

TIA!

Defense For Dummies by Gary Donnell would be a great place to start.

Not sure about 5 on 5 but I play 8 on 8 in a city league in Austin and no defense we've tried has worked. So good luck.

Send'em through the tunnel of truth

give each D lineman one of these and tell them to push really hard.

Put your two fastest guys on the line and blitzkrieg the QB. Put your remaining 3 into a zone thirds coverage configuration. And pray.

D*** boys...

Step 1. Ask the idiots in the Zoo how to coach football
Step 2. ????
Step 3. Profit

I haven't done this but I learned a lot about the basics of football by reading John Madden's books. Mainly, his "One Knee Equals Two Feet" book. Grab a copy at a library and read it this week.

From there, you can get a copy of Defensive Football Strategies from Amazon. I haven't read that, but I have its Offensive counterpart and it is a collection of articles by college coaches. I don't know how up to date it is but for your purpose, it should be fine. Obviously, both of these sources will deal with actual football rather than flag, but you should be able to get some ideas.

Coach basics (skills), conditioning, and fun and you will be giving the kids your best service.

And the lawyer comes to rescue. I take back everything I said bad about lawyers. Ok almost everything.

Put children in cage. Feed nothing but raw red meat marinated in Wild Turkey. Poke with pointy sticks. Only let them out to practice football. When practicing football ensure that they are chained to heavy objects.

When, and only when, they are completely crazy and perpetually aggressive toward all other life forms you're ready to field a successful defense. Let me know how the first game goes.

Tampa 2.

Put your best athlete at safety put your the kid who has no reaction skills and absolutely no understanding about the game at the blitz spot (in 5 on 5 usually 10 yards back from the los). Just teach him to go after the quarter back when the ball is snapped. Crowd everyone else around the line and teach the outside guys to stay home when the play is away. Teach the nose to follow the ball wherever it goes.

Coached 5 on 5 for 5 years. Went undefeated the last three years with this scheme. Practice fun flag pulling games constantly.

See the red areas at either end of the field? Those are called the no-run zones because you're not allowed to call running plays once your offense reaches them.

The nose needs to be your second best athlete. Teach the three on the line to back peddle three steps before reacting.

My son plays in a 6 on 6 for 6-8 yr olds. We use man most the time due to the kids skill level but if the team likes to pass I use one safety and rush the qb every play. Scares the hell out of the qb. Usually will just throw it up to get rid of it and then try for the interception

Just have the kids call out a player they are responsible for. IE "I got #4." Have them play man. The guy who is the 5th man out plays center field and mirrors the qb. Keep it simple and let them have fun.

The man on man works until you run up against superior athletes or an older team. Teaching your corners to stay home kills the reverse.

Stick with zone defense. If they are slow, they will get burned man to man. Most qbs at that level will not be throwing so hard they can hit open areas in a zone on a regular basis. If they can, the ball is probably coming too fast for most ten year olds to catch it on a regular basis.

Have a kid with decent quickness to rush the qb. You won't get many sacks, but it will cause the qb to throw while on the move.

Don't play man to man. Kids worry about their man and turn their back to the qb. The. The offense can run all day on you.

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Put your best athlete at safety put your the kid who has no reaction skills and absolutely no understanding about the game at the blitz spot (in 5 on 5 usually 10 yards back from the los). Just teach him to go after the quarter back when the ball is snapped. Crowd everyone else around the line and teach the outside guys to stay home when the play is away. Teach the nose to follow the ball wherever it goes.

Coached 5 on 5 for 5 years. Went undefeated the last three years with this scheme. Practice fun flag pulling games constantly.

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I like it!

Texags football experts...assemble!

My beer flag football team went from awful to average when we stopped grabbing at the flags and instead wrapped one arm around a guy's waist to slow him down and them grabbing the flag with the other hand. That way if you miss grabbing the flag the first time, you had more chances. That's about all I can offer; it was a beer league.

Confusion is your friend. For example, roll a zone to one side of the field and man up one receiver on the otherside from time to time.

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Confusion is your friend. For example, roll a zone to one side of the field and man up one receiver on the otherside from time to time.

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This. For sure. Perhaps even apply pressure with one of you more fast kids. I know we won a league one year we'd play with two rushers and if the qb could throw and depending which arm he threw with we would pressure him to where he was always having to throw against his body. The not rushing d end would play along the line and string the qb toward the boundary. They were too dumb to ever figure it out. Then we'd man up outside and have one linebacker playing spy pretty much was the most athletic guy on our team(he played college ball) and he'd usually pick the ball, bat it, or just pressure a misthrow because the qb running for his life trying to throw across his body 85% of the time. Pressure from one side and roll coverages to play side which would be the direction your pushing the qb.

Show tapes of tech's defense and then say, Don't do this.

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Confusion is your friend. For example, roll a zone to one side of the field and man up one receiver on the otherside from time to time.

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This. For sure. Perhaps even apply pressure with one of you more fast kids. I know we won a league one year we'd play with two rushers and if the qb could throw and depending which arm he threw with we would pressure him to where he was always having to throw against his body. The not rushing d end would play along the line and string the qb toward the boundary. They were too dumb to ever figure it out. Then we'd man up outside and have one linebacker playing spy pretty much was the most athletic guy on our team(he played college ball) and he'd usually pick the ball, bat it, or just pressure a misthrow because the qb running for his life trying to throw across his body 85% of the time. Pressure from one side and roll coverages to play side which would be the direction your pushing the qb.

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This is good advice. It is a good example of not rushing with your best athlete. Let them be a ball hawk in the secondary. Usually your rusher very rarely gets sacks, but he will push the QB out of the pocket, rush him, and make him make an awkward throw.

I ref and coach games in Kinder up to 6th grade. In the first 2 weeks of this year, I haven't seen a single sack in any game I have been a part of. At that age, the QB will panic and throw a jump ball before giving up a sack. We also play in a league where the QB can't run.

The most successful teams are the Air Raid type teams that throw short, quick passes and get YAC. The teams trying to drop back and hit deep passes usually lose.

EDITED: Added the QB can not run, makes a big difference

QB cannot run. But can be a receiver after a hand off.

Do you use a permanent QB, SS, and NG or do you rotate?