Breaking Down Scott Turner's Passing Game, Part 3
Part 3 of a series breaking down some of the core passing concepts in Scott Turner's system and how he likes to disguise them.
This is the third part of a series of posts breaking down Scott Turner’s passing game for the Washington Commanders. If you missed the first part breaking down the Dagger concept, or the second part looking at the Sail concept, be sure to check those out. Today, we’re taking a look at one of the concepts Turner loves to call in short-yardage situations.
Mesh
Mesh has become an increasingly popular concept around the NFL over the last decade since Chip Kelly ran it multiple times a game with his Eagles team. It was of course in the league before that, but Kelly added a twist that is now the most common way it's run. The core of the Mesh concept is having two receivers run shallow crossing routes from opposite sides of the field. Those receivers then cross as close together as possible, with some teams even teaching those receivers to give each other a high five as they pass by one another. This is to make things as hard as possible for trailing defenders. In man coverage, shallow crossers are really hard to cover already, but if by the time the defender has recovered, he then has to suddenly avoid another receiver running in his direction, it makes it even harder.
On top of those two receivers running shallow crossers, most teams will have a third receiver running a zone-beating route as a back up option. This can be a deeper hook route that sits down between zone defenders or perhaps a deeper crossing route which then gives the quarterback a high-low read against zone defenders. The twist that Kelly made popular in the NFL was to also add a wheel route from the running back out of the backfield. If you get man coverage from the defense, then the back will be running a wheel against a less athletic linebacker. If it’s zone then the back will force the defense to widen and open holes inside for the zone-beating receiver.
Here is an example of Mesh from Washington. In this example, Turner works out of a 12 personnel group with one back, two tight ends and two receivers. Both receivers stack tight to the formation on the left while both tight ends align to the right side. Terry McLaurin runs the shallow cross from left to right while Logan Thomas runs the crosser from right to left. Ricky Seals-Jones runs the hook route while J.D. McKissic works the wheel route out of the backfield. The Bills matchup man-to-man with a spare linebacker sitting in the middle of the field to help defend any crossers. McKissic’s wheel route gets taken away, so Taylor Heinicke works back inside to the shallow crossers. With the extra linebacker sitting in the hole, it gets a bit crowded over the middle, but you can see how Thomas manages to get in the way just enough for McLaurin to gain a step or two on his defender. Heinicke pulls the trigger, but unfortunately the defender covering the wheel route spots the danger and peels off to help make the tackle.
Turner has a million different ways to get to Mesh and multiple variations of the concept too. Sometimes he can have the running back run a different route, working with the extra receiver on a different route combination. Sometimes he can have the hook turn into a basic cross or even continue running up the seam. He can even combine Mesh with some of his other favorite concepts. Quite often he’ll run a variation of Mesh combined with the Dagger concept. But like with all the concept’s we’ve seen in this series so far, Turner can disguise Mesh with multiple different formations and motions.
This play comes from the same game in a similar short-yardage situation. This time Turner uses 11 personnel, with one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers and changes the formation from a two by two set to a three by one bunch set. Another change is that the running back doesn’t run a wheel route, but instead works out to the flat as part of a corner-flat combination with the spare receiver. However, the core of the Mesh concept is still there on this play, with two shallow crossers and a deep hook. The Bills opt to play zone coverage this time, so Heinicke ignores the crossers and works the corner-flat combination. Once that’s covered, he comes back inside and finds the deep hook in the middle of the field, sitting between zones.
Turner can even run Mesh out of an empty formation.
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