Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Mesh out of Pistol Tight Slots lines up two receivers to the boundary side and one to the field with the HB releasing out of the backfield on a swing route. The two shallow crossers sit right at the line, running under each other in a classic mesh pick concept while the outside receiver on the boundary side clears vertically and the field side receiver runs a corner route off a hitch to hold the safety. This is a man beater at its core, using the natural rub from the crossing routes to shed tight man coverage, with the HB swing serving as a check down and the corner route as the shot play if the safety bites on the mesh underneath.
Defensive Reads
Watch for a linebacker spying the mesh point pre snap, this often signals the defense expects the crossers and will look to squat and rob the shallow routes. Man coverage with tight press alignment on both crossers is the ideal shell for this play, since the natural pick will spring one receiver open almost immediately. Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with safeties sitting deep can be a problem since the corner route gets taken away and the mesh has to work underneath a linebacker wall. Watch the boundary corner at the snap, if he stays flat footed and does not run with his receiver vertically it usually means a zone drop is coming underneath the mesh. Blitz packages that send extra rushers off the edge with the HB releasing into the swing route are risky against this play since the check down is live immediately, so identify overload blitzes pre snap and get the ball out fast.
Usage Tips
Pre snap, check for man coverage indicators like press corners or a linebacker walked out on the HB, since mesh thrives against man leverage. If you see two high safeties, work the mesh crossers first since the corner route will be capped by the deep half defender. Hot route the field side receiver into a quick out if you see a hard corner blitz coming off the edge, this gets the ball out before the mesh has time to develop. Use this play on third and short to medium since the crossers settle into soft spots against zone if the picks do not fully spring anyone open. Pair this with HB Slip Screen or PA Post Shot from the same set to keep linebackers honest and prevent them from sitting on the shallow crossers after you have shown mesh a few times.
