Mesh

Pre-snap, check for single high safety alignment, that tells you the corner route on the right has one on one coverage with no deep help, which is the biggest explosive play window in this concept. Watch the cornerback depth on the outside receiver running the corner route, if he is playing tight man with no cushion the vertical stem can beat him for a big gain before he flips his hips. Post-snap, key the middle linebacker or nickel defender assigned to the shallow crossers, if he sits and jams the mesh point instead of chasing, that signals zone coverage and you should look to the backfield release or dig instead. User controlled defenders sitting in the shallow hook zone can lurk and undercut the mesh crossers, so if you see a defender manually dropping to that spot, hold the ball an extra beat and let the dig or corner route develop. Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with underneath zone defenders tend to shut down the crossers by squeezing the mesh point, forcing you to rely on the corner route beating the deep half defender or checking down to the backfield release.