Fake Reverse (5v5 flag football play)
It starts exactly like the Reverse. The QB hands to H running right, and Z comes back behind the play for the second handoff. This time H pulls the ball away and keeps running right, into the side of the field the defense just left to chase the reverse.
New to these terms? Reverse · Spread · Handoff · Sideline · Go · Drag · No-run zone · full glossary
When to call Fake Reverse
Only after you have run the real Reverse and the defense has seen it. Call it when defenders start turning and running the other way as soon as Z comes back.
Who gets the ball
- Q hands to H running right, the same way as on the Reverse.
- Z comes back behind the play and reaches for the ball. H shows it to Z, then pulls it back and keeps it.
- H keeps running right to the sideline Z just left, and turns up the field.
- Z keeps running left after the fake, as if carrying the ball. X runs deep and C drags left to pull defenders the same way.
Coaching points
- The fake has to look like the real exchange. H holds the ball out with the hand farther from the defense, then tucks it at the last moment.
- Z sells it by running full speed to the left after the fake, hands in front like the ball is there. Tell Z that a great fake counts as much as a catch.
- Run it from the same alignment as Reverse, with the same count, so the defense cannot tell the two apart before the snap.
- H must not slow down for the fake. The meeting with Z happens while H is still running right.
- Keep it out of the no-run zones. Under NFL FLAG style rules, a play snapped inside 5 yards of midfield or the goal line must end in a pass, and this one is a run.
Common mistakes
- Calling it before the defense has ever seen the Reverse. Nobody chases a fake they have not been fooled by.
- H stops to make the fake and the right side defender catches up. Keep the feet moving.
- Z runs into H at the exchange. Z aims to pass 1 yard behind H, not at H.
What to call next
If the defense stays home on the right side, go back to the real Reverse. If they start dropping deep, run Sweep Right.