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Flag Pulling When pulling flags, the defensive player must remember six things: 1. Keep their eyes on the ball carrier`s belly button. The ball carrier will try to "juke" the flag puller with quick movements from the head, arms, legs, and hips, but their belly isn`t going anywhere so the player should always focus on the runner’s belly. 42 2. The defensive player must be relaxed and loose, never tense. Keep bent knees and be ready to lunge in any direction. 3. The flag puller must be the aggressor. He should never back down from the ball carrier and should wait for the runner to come to him. 4. The player should never plant one foot and reach for the flag. He should always keep a shuffle with his feet and be prepared to lunge if the runner quickly changes directions. 5. The flag puller should always use two hands when going after flags. This is the best technique and it doubles the chance of a successful flag pull. 6. The flag puller should never yank a flag off. Instead, the player should squeeze the flag and let the ball carrier run out of their own flags. This reduces the chance of missing flags.Flag Pulling Drills Drill 1 ‐ This is a good flag pulling and vision drill. Set up a 10 x10 yard square. Put all your players in the middle of the square. When you give the signal, each player must pull the other players flags while dodging others trying to pull their own flag. Last player standing wins. This is FUN! Drill 2 ‐ This is a great drill for taking angles and pulling flags. Set up a 15 x 15 yard triangle with cones. Have two sets of lines, one on each bottom corner. One side is the ball carrier, the other the flag puller. When you give the signal, the ball carrier should sprint towards the point of the triangle while the flag puller cuts the ball carrier off before they reach either top cone.