Playbooks
Breakdown
Mtn Mesh Spot lines up out of Shotgun Tight Flex Wk with 11 personnel and uses pre-snap motion to shift the formation before the snap. The concept is the classic Spot combo on one side (corner route, flat, and hitch/spot underneath) crossed with a mesh combo on the other side where two receivers cross low across the middle to rub off man defenders, while the backside receiver runs a deep vertical clear-out. This is a versatile man beater and Cover 3 beater in one, with the mesh crossers designed to shake man coverage and the spot concept sitting down in the underneath zone voids against Cover 3. The primary read progression starts with the mesh crossers underneath, then works to the spot/flat combo, with the deep clear-out and corner route as the boundary alert if a defender bites down on the shallow routes.
Defensive Reads
Watch the linebacker depth at the snap, if they sink too deep into their zone drops the mesh crossers will find soft grass underneath for an easy conversion. Key the corner over the deep vertical route, if he stays deep and outside you have room to work the underneath mesh and spot combo without fear of a jump route. Identify press man coverage pre-snap on the crossers, since the mesh concept is designed to create natural picks and separation against tight man technique. Look for a robber or lurk defender sitting in the shallow middle zone, this play struggles against defenses that spy the crossing routes with a linebacker sitting in the mesh window. Recognize Cover 1 or Cover 0 blitz looks, since if the defense brings extra rushers the mesh crossers become high priority hot reads before the pocket collapses.
Usage Tips
Use the pre-snap motion to identify man versus zone before the snap, if the defender follows the motion man across the formation you are getting man coverage and the mesh crossers become your primary target.
Against Cover 3, work the spot route sitting underneath the flat defender and use the mesh combo to occupy the linebackers dropping into their zones.
Hot route the flat route into a quick out if you see a corner blitz or nano blitz off the edge to give your quarterback a fast answer.
This play works best on second and medium to third and short since the mesh and spot routes convert quickly and the deep vertical keeps safeties honest.
Pair this with Mtn Y Cross and Mtn Stick Z Post from the same set to keep the defense guessing between crossing concepts and vertical shots, since all three plays share similar initial route action but attack different levels of the field.
