Adult 7v7 Flag Football: NFL Mesh Concept

Mesh is an overused word in football. You hear it so much on TV and the internet. Do you (or they) even know what it is? Well, it’s not complicated. The NFL Mesh concept is a combination of routes running across the field in close proximity to one another.

These are good routes to run vs man coverage. Here is what is rarely coached. You must determine who is running interference for the shallow or drag route and who you are targeting. This is all tied into the direction they are running in relation to the basic cross route too.

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When you run the Drive concept, both the shallow cross route and the Basic route are running in the same direction. When you run the Shallow Cross concept, they are coming from different directions.

It’s really that simple. Simple for you, that is. The defense has no idea who you are really trying to get open on both of these “man beater” concepts. Once again, this is why the NFL Mesh concept has a lot of different meanings and you should make it work for your flag football offense.

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If this were a normal Mesh concept, we would have just run the back on a swing, and you can too. For the diagram here, we have added a wrinkle that you will like. Your back is running a wheel so you can look to them as your number one read, then still come back down to the basic cross to shallow read. This is why we have the F helping your quarterback out with protection.

NFL Mesh Concept Adult 7v7 Flag Football Read: 1. Wheel 2. Basic Cross 3. Shallow