So many times games are won or lost based on how well a football team executes in situational football. What play call do you go to when you need a tough 2-3 yards? What’s your go-to passing concepts that will help you get that big catch you need? What’s your play call when you need a big play or a touchdown? Can you execute your offense in two minutes or less situations? There are a couple different game situations that you need answers for. Here are the best situational football plays that will help you win more game.
The Best Situational Football Plays to Win More Games
Situation Football Plays for Shortage
Our go-to football play for shortage is our Beast Formation Power. This is a simple play that will allow you to outnumber the defense at the point of attack (backfield is unbalanced), while giving your beast player a direct snap. Snapping it right to your back will give you an extra blocker at the point of attack. We run Power out of two different beast formations. The first formation is Beast Right / Left. The second formation is our Diesel Heavy Right / Left formation.
Beast Formation Power
The Power play (this can also be considered duo- which is power without a puller) we unbalanced the backfield which will allow you to outnumber the defense to the play-side. We also love coming out of the huddle fast, getting set and running this play. This doesn’t give the defense time to shift. The best part about this play is that the ball carrier gets the ball snapped right to him and he’s able to get downhill very quickly.
Diesel Heavy Formation- Power
I love going tackle-over and running power with two receivers to the play-side. This does two things- it gives us a 3-man blocking surface, with a H back and a T lead blocking. This gives us 5 blockers at the point of attack, while the tow receivers will put a defender out of the box. If the defense doesn’t respect the two receivers we have an option to throw a now screen out there. Honestly, even if they don’t match, you can still run it down their throat. This is a nasty formation that most defense don’t align properly against. Below are a few clips of our Diesel Formation Power / Duo. We don’t pull the backside guard because we already have extra players aligned at the point of attack.
Download: Beast Formation Playbook
Situation Football Plays for Long Down and Distances
We have several different plays that we like for long down and distances / in situations when we have to pass. Our two go-to concepts are our Slot-fade Passing Concept and our Flood Passing Concept. These passing plays are both what we consider ‘any coverage betters’. This means they are great against man to man or zone coverage. What’s great about these concepts is it puts the concept side safety in conflict- which is great for when teams go two safeties on us.
Slot-Fade Concept
The Slot-fade is a great concept against single safety or two safeties. It floods the concept side of the field with two vertical threats. So the safety or the safety on that side (against a two safety look) is put in conflict and can’t cover both. The fade is very difficult to defend on the youth football level so that’s never a bad throwing option. If the middle of the field is open, the seam is the QB’s first read. If the middle of the field is closed (one middle safety) then the first read for the QB is fade. This is a great play because you have 3 receiving options, while still having a 7 man pass protection.
Here’s a look at our Slot-fade.
Flood Concept
The Flood Concept is a very good concept. It’s great against any coverage, but it’s particularly great against zone. This concept floods one side of the field with a high, mid, and lower route. One of the 3 routes will be open. However, the deep out by the inside receiver (4) will almost always be open. If you’re able to complete that, it’ll be a nice gain of yardage for you. You also have the option to keep the TE in to block. If you are going to slide protect, like shown here, you then could probably have the TE run an over (as drawn) or even send him vertical.
Situation Football Play of ‘when you need to score quickly’ or have to throw
The Slip Screen is one of the nastiest plays in football. It’s great against blitzes and it’s great for when the defense is playing heavy pass coverage. This play does take some practice, but it’s well worth the investment. We do run the Slip Screen two ways- one to our Running Back and one out of a spread formation to our TE (as showed). I like spreading the field and going empty because it really gives the defense a look that a deep pass is coming. This will force them to back off and it will give your TE room to slip out. Below is our TE Slip Screen as drawn up.
Our Running Back Slip Screen video below gives great insight into how to install and execute the Slip Screen. The video features a whiteboard breakdown along with actual game film. Definitely check the video out.
It’s important to have situational football plays, but it’s also important to practice executing those plays so that when you get into that situation in a game your kids can execute. So many football games come down to who can execute the best in situational football. Below are some different situational football things you need to practice- outside of having the plays.
Situational Football Coaching Tip
- Practice your two-minute/ hurry up offense. Make sure your kids and coaches can execute it properly.
- Practice how to punt properly- in regard to snap execution, blocking, punt direction, and coverage.
- Practice an onside kick, get really good at it- you’ll probably need it at some point.
These are the best situational football plays to win more games. You will need plays for these different situations. Make time in practice to rep your situational football execution.