Playbooks

Mesh Wheel

Shotgun·U Off Trips·12

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Breakdown

Mesh Wheel out of Shotgun U Off Trips is a man beater built around the classic mesh concept crossing underneath with a wheel route breaking out of the traffic to attack the sideline vertically. The mesh combo from the trips side creates natural rubs that hang up man defenders while the wheel route, typically run by the back or a shallow crosser converting upfield, exploits any linebacker or safety who tries to trail through the pick. Blocking is a standard shotgun pass slide with the running back often releasing into the wheel, so the primary read progression is mesh crossers underneath first, then peek to the wheel if a linebacker gets picked or a safety bites on the shallow traffic.

Defensive Reads

Identify if the defense is showing man coverage with tight press alignment on the outside corners, since mesh concepts thrive against man because of natural rubs. Watch the middle linebacker depth at the snap, if he sits shallow and flows hard toward the mesh traffic, the wheel route behind him will be wide open against man or zone match. Key any user controlled defender lurking underneath, if a human user drops into a shallow zone or spies the mesh area, expect them to jump the crossers and you should look immediately to the wheel. Cover 2 and Cover 4 shells with disciplined deep safeties can shut this down since the safety over the trips side can sink and rob the wheel route before it turns upfield. Watch for Cover 0 or all out blitz packages that overload the trips side, since the mesh routes take time to develop and your quarterback needs a quick answer if the protection breaks down.

Usage Tips

Use this play on second and medium to second and long when defenses are still willing to play man coverage before they start sitting in zone shells.

Check the safety alignment before the snap, if you see two high safeties rotate down late or a single high safety cheat toward the trips side, expect man match and prioritize the wheel route early.

Hot route the backside receiver into a quick out or slant if the defense shows Cover 0 or a heavy blitz look, since the mesh takeslonger to develop and you need an outlet against pressure.

Pair this play with PA Jet Cross or Post Wheel Shallow in the same set so the defense has to respect both the mesh traffic and the play action rollout threat, which slows down linebacker reactions to the wheel.

Once you complete the wheel a few times, sequence into RPO Alert Bubble or RPO Read Flat to keep linebackers honest and prevent them from sitting on the flat and jumping the wheel route.

Other Plays in U Off Trips