DCICF Vanillaz · 4v4 flag playbook
Screen & Switch
Sixteen plays built on what your league allows and man defense hates: legal screens, a QB nobody covers after the first catch, and receivers who can line up anywhere, including in the backfield. Section A moves the ball. Section B punishes teams that start trading assignments. Section C uses motion. Section D is for the 1-yard line, where the field shrinks and defenders start grabbing jerseys.
- 3 catchers + QB vs 4
- No rush · 5-second clock
- Screens legal
- Forward pass past the line, then laterals
- No center · line up anywhere
- Start at the 30 · 1st down at the 20
Wristband
What you see from the defense, and what to call next
They sit on your in-breakers
Safety creeping down
They switch on screens
They chase motion
Ball on the 1
They grab jerseys
Your team (QB, X, Y, Z)
Defender. Small letter = the man he's guarding. S = safety, R = rat
Route
Screen: get there, stop, arms in
Forward pass
Pitch (lateral)
Jersey hold
Section A
Screen game vs. man
Man defense has three soft spots. Every defender chases his man and never looks behind him, nobody is assigned to the QB, and one safety has to cover the whole deep field. Each play below hits at least one of them, and each has a second branch for the adjustment the defense makes after it gets burned.
Section B
When they start switching
After a team gets screened a few times, they start trading men when routes cross. A switch takes a split second of talking, and for that moment both defenders are moving the wrong way. These plays show them a screen they want to switch on, then go where the switch leaves a hole. Watch for these tells first.
His man stops following
The screener's defender stops running with him and turns to watch your cutter. He's getting ready to jump the cutter.
Call B2 Slip
They jump your drag
The inside hook's defender comes off his man to take the drag in Wall.
Call A3 Wall Out
"Switch!" on crossers
If you hear it when your shallow routes cross, they'll trade men at the crossing point.
Call B1 Mesh Return
One short, one deep
Two defenders on a stack lined up one shallow-inside and one deep-outside are splitting it in-and-out instead of playing man.
Call B3 Follow
He jumps inside early
The defender on your outside man cheats inside at the start because he's guessing in-breaker.
Call A4 Pick Wheel
Section C
Motion and base plays
In 4-on-4 man, a receiver in motion drags his defender across the whole formation, and every defender he passes has to decide on the spot whether to take him. Jet, Yo-Yo and Motion to Stack turn that decision against them. Flood and Spot are plain pass plays for when you need yards without a screen. Motion plays assume your league allows one player moving sideways or backward when the QB grabs the ball.
Section D
Goal line and jersey grabbers
At the 1 the safety stops playing deep and sits in the middle as a rat, so your in-breakers run straight into him, and defenders grab jerseys because there's nowhere to run. The first throw still has to be caught past the line, which here means anywhere past the 1, including the one-yard strip in front of the goal line. A catch past the goal line is a touchdown, so these four plays start receivers where they can't be grabbed, attack the pylons, and give the rat two things to cover.
Anti-hold toolkit
When they grab jerseys
Holding is illegal, but you can't count on the call. Build the goal-line plan so grabbing doesn't help them.
Line up out of reach
Defenders can't cross the line before the QB grabs the ball. A receiver who starts 4 to 5 yards back can't be grabbed at the start, and he reaches the goal line at full speed.
D1 Launch · D3 Deep Wall · A1 Sidecar
Stack it
In a stack only the front man can be pressed. Make him the screen, so holding him only takes their own guy out of the play.
D2 Shift to Tower
A hold is a free screen
A defender holding a jersey has one hand and both eyes on that receiver. Throw away from the held man and have him keep running his path. The holder comes with him and is out of the play.
D2 Shift to Tower · D1 Launch
Keep your feet moving
Don't stop and don't shove. A defender stretched out behind a running receiver is easy for a ref to see. A tangle at the line looks like nothing, and a push-off gets called on you.
Ask before the series
Before your goal-line plays, have your captain ask the ref to watch the receivers at the start of the play. At the 1, refs mostly watch the ball and the goal line.
Throw to the man nobody holds
Nobody covers the QB. After the first catch, a pitch back to him beats any amount of grabbing.
A2 Boomerang
Check three things with your league before game day: whether receivers can start in the backfield (Sidecar, Launch, Deep Wall and Tower need it), whether motion and shifts are allowed (Jet, Yo-Yo, Motion to Stack and Shift to Tower need them), and how the refs want screens set. The safe version is to get to your spot first, stop, keep your arms in, and let the defender run into you. Goal-line depths assume a 10-yard end zone. If yours is shorter, cut the corner routes down to fit.