Running the Route
The route is designed to be run at a depth of 5-6 yards. It is mandatory that it at least crosses the center, and often can be caught on the opposite side of the field. Here is the route shown vs. both man and zone and some coaching points:
1. First step is directly up field. Vs. press man stutter step and get inside position.
2. Rub underneath any play side receivers inside of you.
3. Initially aim for the heels of the defensive linemen
4. Cross center. Aim for 5-6 yards on opposite hash.
5. Read man or zone : Vs. zone settle in window facing QB past the center-line (usually past the tackle). Get shoulders square to QB, catch the ball and get directly up field. Vs. man staircase the route (shown above, push up field a step or two) and then break flat across again and keep running. No stair casing when running mesh.
Reading man or zone: After your initial step, eye the defenders on the opposite side of the center line. Two questions: who are they looking at? and what does their drop look like?
If they are looking at the receivers releasing to their side and turning their shoulders to run with those receivers, it is probably man (on mesh look if they are following the opposite receiver).
If they are dropping back square and looking at either the QB or at you, it is probably zone. Expect to settle. Even if it is zone and there is nothing but open space, keep running; we'd rather hit a moving receiver than a stationary one.
Now, onto the concepts themselves.
Drive/Shallow-in
The first is the "drive" concept, here is a diagram below:
This is the most versatile of all the shallow-cross routes. The in route is run at 14-15 yards and the corner is a 14 yard route. Against man the read is shallow->in->corner (RB dump off). Against zone it is a hi-lo: corner (or wheel), in, to shallow. The shallow and sometimes a quick flat are good options built in against blitz (the read is always inside to out).
Hi/Lo
The hi/lo shallow concepts are shown below:
The in route is at 15 yards as is the post route. The front side corner is run at 15 and is only thrown vs. certain man looks. The base read is in->shallow->RB dump-off. Versus quarters coverage look through the In to the Post route. The idea is that if the safety jumps the In you can hit the post up top behind him. Typically the weak safety (to in/post side) is watched on the early part of the drop, and if he comes up (blitz!) the post becomes the #1 read. The pass on the right is read the exact same, just some of the responsibilities are switched.
Mesh
Two receivers cross over the middle getting a rub, which is very effective versus man. Sometimes it also can be a horizontal stretch against zones with four underneath men. In our system the Z receiver runs a curl at 12 yards over the center. What happens then is it floods the underneath zones with four defenders to cover five receivers So it is a very effective man and zone play. At least one of the two receivers threatening the flats will run a wheel route which gives you a deep option.
The QB will get a pre-snap read for the wheel route, basically checking to see if a LB has him in man and/or if the deep defender to that side might squeeze down with no immediate deep threat. The read is then right to left, X-Z-Y, or shallow, in, shallow. The shallows will look to settle vs. zone but they need to get a little wider here. For the mesh the Y sets the top of the mesh at 6 yards and X comes underneath at 5 (It is best if they can cross going full speed). If all is covered vs. zone the ball can be dropped off to the flat to the RB or tight end.
Choice
The single receiver side is the late read and the middle-read is the primary. The play is intended as a spring to a slot receiver or RB in the seam with the ability to read on the fly.
The QB reads MOFO or MOFC and looks to attack the deep middle against open coverage and break flat across underneath a deep middle safety. The receiver can also break it off against blitzes and/or wide coverage. The read is post-read->shallow->comeback/flat read. So if they squeeze the post-read the shallow is next and then the QB works the comeback and the flat off a hi/lo read. In the second diagram the seam just clears out or breaks off his route if there is a blitz.
