Chalk Talk
Interactive quizzes on formations, fronts, coverages, concepts and blocking — drawn on the same field as the Play Designer.
Taking a quiz
Open Chalk Talk
Pick a topic, level and length
Answer on the field
Learn from the answer
Save and review
Topics
Gaps & holes
Tap a gap by letter and side (strong/weak), tap a hole by number, name a marked hole, call the strength, or tap the player who forms the edge of a gap. Hole numbers always follow your team’s convention from Settings → Play Designer.
Fronts & techniques
Tap the 3 technique (or 5, 4i, 7/6i, 9…), name the technique of a highlighted defender, name the front, or find the Mike, Sam, Will, nose or free safety. Techniques are computed from where each defender lines up on your actual linemen.
Coverages & soft spots
Read the pre-snap shell, name the coverage from its drops, tap the defender who owns a zone or is in man on a receiver, and tap the soft spots in a coverage against a play — e.g. the hole between the corner and safety in Cover 2.
Route concepts & reads
Tap the primary read, tap the receiver running the corner on Smash, pick where the ball is most likely going against a coverage, or pick which concept’s first read attacks a soft spot.
Blocking
Who the highlighted lineman blocks on Power vs a 4-3 Over, what his block is called (Down, Combo, Pull-Kick…), who pulls, who kicks out the end man, and who the QB reads on the Read Option.
Levels
- Rookie — common formations drawn to the right, common fronts (4-3 Over/Under, 3-4 Okie, Nickel) and Cover 1/2/3, player and defender names shown, one soft spot to find.
- Varsity — more formations, left and right versions, more fronts and coverages, two soft spots.
- Coordinator — every formation, front and coverage (including unbalanced, 46 Bear and Cover 6), names hidden until you answer, three soft spots.
Where the soft spots are
Soft spots are worked out from where each zone defender drops (his landmark and depth) and from man-coverage leverage. It is a chalkboard model — every defender gets to his spot, no pattern-match adjustments.
- Cover 2
- The sideline hole between the squatting corner and the half-field safety (about 15–22 yd), the deep middle between the safeties, and the curl/flat windows between the hook and flat defenders.
- Cover 3
- The curl/flat seam, the seams between the deep thirds, the grass under a bailing corner (hitch / speed out), and a flat the defender has to run to.
- Cover 4
- No deep holes — the soft spots are underneath: the flats, the curl/flat windows and the grass under the corners.
- Cover 6
- The Cover 2 side has the corner/safety sideline hole; the quarters side is soft underneath.
- Cover 1
- No help over the top outside (one-on-one), crossers behind the robber, and routes breaking away from each defender’s leverage.
- Cover 0
- No deep safety at all, one-on-one outside, crossers and the hot throw where the blitz came from.
- 2-Man
- The deep middle between the safeties, crossers and leverage routes underneath, and QB scramble lanes.
Quizzes on your own plays
Quizzes on your staff’s saved plays are paused while we teach Chalk Talk to read plays you’ve flipped or changed. For now, every question uses plays from the base library, still named with your team’s terminology.
Progress
Saved attempts show under My history. Staff with the Coach, Admin or Owner role also see a staff leaderboard. Everyone else sees only their own progress.