Flag Football Tip # 9 - Defensive Communication

I hope you all had a good weekend and enjoyed the NFL preseason games. I did and already the season is shaping up to be one of high drama. I will speak on the story lines later in the week. Today i want to talk about a very important aspect of defense - communication.


You watch any sporting event and the players will huddle and discuss in seconds what is going on. I always thought when I was younger how is it humanly possible to share information so fast during a game. I could not see any long discussion or pointing in the direction of the other team just a quick huddle and then reset for the next play. I found out once I started to play organized sports that players develop there own lingo for every action on the field. I found that this helped to quickly get me in position and give direction on what action I am to perform.


In flag football this is vital that your team develops its own lingo or lets say audibles to make sure the defense is on the same page. A typical flag football offense can be very complex, most offenses really on misdirection in there play calling. So a quiet defense is a beat defense. There should be communication going on before and after the play. There should be established audibles to blitz or drop back into a different play. The defense should be able to communicate before a play to mix up the look - its important to do this in flag football. Having a talking, unpredictable defense is the key to winning. Follow the tip to a very fast and winning defense.

Here is a video i found to display the difference between good defense and poor defense. Ignore the song in the background but focus on the team that is clearly more together than the other, plus one team using proper flag pulling technique - where the other is doing it all wrong. Enjoy