Creating a Broader Application for the Mesh Concept & its Similarities to Curl-Flat

The curl-flat concept has set landmarks on the field that it attacks. Five yards deep beyond the numbers, 10 yards deep just outside of the hash marks, as well as 5 yards deep in the middle of the field. These landmarks stretch the field horizontally. Tweaking these landmarks allows for the timing of the routes to change into a progression-style read for the quarterback. Changing the landmarks also gives the defense a different look, so they will be more susceptible to jump the underneath routes. 

The new landmarks are at the same horizontal points, however the depth varies. The route in the middle of the field changes from 5 yards to 10 yards. The depth of the hash mark routes decreases from 10 yards to 5 yards. The figure below illustrates the new land marks on top, with the curl-flat land marks used as a reference below.

The new landmarks look similar to the air raid mesh concept, so we shall call this new concept “mesh”. Like curl-flat, these landmarks stretch a defense that deploys four or less underneath defenders such as cover three and cover four.  Below are three examples of the most basic applications of this concept. Each play the quarterback should read right to left, this way the square in cut will come into his vision instead of away from his vision.  

In most cases, the play can read either left to right, or right to left. As long as the read involves an outside-in progression, the direction does not matter. 

The “mesh” concept, unlike curl-flat, can attack cover two. The strength of the formation places the middle linebacker in a high-low read. The progression of the play does not change. In the figures above, the weak side linebacker must account for the hitches. Once the quarterback sees this, he can move his eyes to the left to find the middle line backer.

The route of the left split end in the above figures, or the “X” receiver in most offenses, can be tinkered with. As he will be the last read in the progression, it is unlikely that the quarterback will have enough time to get to his 5^th read on the play. Tagging him with a post route is useful against a cheating safety.

Curl-flat combinations often struggle against man coverage. Another advantage to this “mesh” concept is the ability to separate from man coverage with drag routes. Below are three examples of the concept with drag routes. These routes are now starting to look like the traditional mesh concept used in many spread offenses. Each play below, the quarterback should read right to left. The top right diagram could read either way.

The routes are different, but the landmarks remain the same.

The possibilities of route combinations are endless. The versatility that this concept provides against any coverage is invaluable. The reads do not change, as the quarterback will progress through until he finds the open man. The versatility of useable formations and consistency of the reads makes the concept simple enough to use on a week to week basis as a ball control type of play.