Playbooks
Mesh HB Wheel is a man beater built around a classic mesh concept underneath, with the running back leaking out to the flat and turning it into a wheel route up the sideline. The mesh crossers create natural rubs that hang up man defenders and linebackers in trail technique, while the wheel from the backfield exploits any linebacker or safety who tries to carry it late or gets picked off in the traffic. The primary read progression starts with the shallow mesh crossers working left to right, then progresses to the HB wheel as the deep shot if a linebacker bites on the underneath crossers or gets rubbed off by the mesh traffic.
Watch the middle linebacker depth at the snap, if he sits shallow or blitzes there is nobody to wall off the HB wheel down the sideline Man coverage with no safety help over the top gets shredded by the mesh rub, look for the corner or nickel defender trailing the crossers to get picked Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with a flat defender sitting outside can jump the wheel route early, so this play loses value against teams that key the HB out of the backfield Nano blitzes or all out pressure with man coverage behind it are the best matchup for this play since the rub concept beats man technique instantly and the wheel exploits blown assignments If the defense shows a deep half safety rotating over the slot or flanker side post snap, expect a lurking defender to sit on the crossing routes and you should be ready to bail out to the wheel as the checkdown answer
Check the pre-snap alignment of the linebackers, if they are sitting shallow or showing blitz look to attack the wheel immediately since nobody will have depth to carry the HB
Use this play on early downs against man coverage teams that like to press or show Cover 1, the mesh traffic makes it very hard for man defenders to stay attached through the rub
If you see Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells with deep zone defenders sitting on the sideline, hot route the wheel route to a corner or bend it inside to avoid the flat defender sitting on top of it
Pair this call with Mtn HB Slip Screen earlier in a series to bait linebackers into flowing hard downhill on run fakes, then come back to Mesh HB Wheel to hit the wheel wide open when they overplay the backfield action
On third and medium, user the crosser closest to the sideline first to draw the eyes of a linebacker spy, then peek to the wheel if your user rep freezes the defender in no mans land