2-Minute Drill (also called the Two-Minute Drill or 2 Min Drill game) is a free daily football game where you call the plays at the end of a real NFL game. It's played on its official site, 2mindrillgame.com. This guide explains how it works and how to call plays that grade well.

It is fan-made: its About page says it is "not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by" the NFL, its teams, its players or the NFL Players Association.

How a daily works

Everyone gets the same real late-game spot each day, taken from the 2023 to 2025 seasons, playoffs included. You get the real score, clock, down, distance, field position and timeouts, with both real teams and the 22 players who were actually on the field. There are three kinds of spots:

  • Two-minute drill: you're behind and need a score.
  • Protecting a lead: you're ahead and need to run it out.
  • Tied games or the end of a half.

After the daily, you can practice on more than 1,200 real spots.

Calling plays

  • Pass: each receiver starts on a route that fits the situation. Tap a receiver to change his route, then tap his name to throw to him. Each shows its catch rate, yards per throw, first-down rate and interception rate.
  • Run: pick the back or quarterback and a hole (outside, off tackle, inside, or up the middle). QB sneaks and keepers are available.
  • Clock: choose hurry-up, huddle or milking the play clock, or call a timeout. Spikes, kneel-downs, field goals, punts and onside kicks appear when they matter.
  • Defense: when the other team has the ball, you call the defense too.

Each snap draws a real NFL play of your call from a similar situation, out of about 138,000 real snaps.

How calls are graded

Every call is graded on win chance: the game simulates the rest of the game thousands of times for every option and compares your call with the best one. The result of the play doesn't change the grade.

  • Green: best call, or within half a point of win chance.
  • Yellow: within 2 points.
  • Orange: within 5 points.
  • Red: more than 5 points worse.

At the end you get a percentile against 4,000 simulated play-callers, your rank for the day, and the head coach your calls most resemble.

Play-calling tips (from the game's own rules)

  1. Read the defensive look. The game says blitzes are vulnerable to quick throws and screens, loaded boxes to play action and deep shots, and soft shells to runs and underneath throws.
  2. Use the clock rules. The clock stops on incompletions, timeouts, the two-minute warning, and plays out of bounds late in the half and game. When behind, routes to the sideline save time.
  3. Don't chase results. Grades are based on the decision, not the outcome. A good call that fails still grades green.
  4. Avoid the one big miss. The site notes that a single big mistake, like going for it where every coach kicks, costs a lot.
  5. Calling it like the league lands you near the middle. To beat the average you need sharper calls, not wild ones.

More football and sports games on HopArcade

If you want to run the whole team, try Retro Bowl, a retro football game you can play free on HopArcade. For more, browse our sports games, including Basketball Stars and Head Soccer 2023.

FAQ

Is 2 Minute Drill an official NFL game? No. It's an independent, fan-made game and is not affiliated with the NFL.

Can I play it on HopArcade? No, play it on 2mindrillgame.com. On HopArcade, try Retro Bowl.

Where does the data come from? Public NFL data from nflverse and FTN Data (CC BY-SA 4.0), according to the About page.