Mailbag: The Mesh Concept, OLB/ILB differences and Cover 3

Answering your questions on coverages, concepts, positions and everything in between.

With it being the dead period of the offseason, I figured I’d try a different style of post than I typically would do during the season or around the draft. I put out a tweet asking for questions for a mailbag post. These questions can range from anything between a coverage breakdown to thoughts on an individual player or anything in between. Here’s the first batch of questions you guys submitted. If you like this style of post, let me know and submit more questions either in the comments section or on twitter.

The Mesh Concept

Our first question comes from Colin Dunphy on Twitter:

Colin Dunphy @Colin_WFTnews

@MarkBullockNFL Can you talk about how Mesh works for Carson and how teams will try to defend it? Maybe pattern match? Thanks

The mesh concept has become one of the most popular and common concepts around the NFL. There’s lots of variations of it, but at its core the foundation of the concept consists of two shallow crossing routes from either side of the field that cross so tightly that the receivers nearly touch. In fact, the Eagles under Chip Kelly used to teach the receivers to reach out and slap hands as they crossed each other to ensure they were crossing as tight as possible. 

It’s critical the receivers cross as closely as possible because the point of the mesh concept is for those shallow crossers to create traffic for trailing defenders and help the receivers separate against man coverage. This core principle is most often combined with a third receiver running slightly deeper before either breaking over the middle on a deeper crossing route, or sitting over the middle in a hole between zone coverages. On top of that, most NFL teams will run mesh with a wheel or rail route from the running back out of the backfield. 

Here’s an example of mesh combined with a basic cross and a wheel from an old Kyle Shanahan playbook. You can see how the two shallow crossers work in opposite directions to create traffic for trailing defenders. The wheel route is a very popular variation for many teams because if they get man coverage, the back will likely be matched up on a linebacker that has to avoid all that traffic in the middle before having to turn and run down the field with the back. 

Another variation looks like this:

This is probably the most popular variation in the NFL today. The basic cross becomes a deep hook behind the shallow crossers, sitting down in a gap in zone coverage with the ability to break back outside if needed. This is popular because teams tend to combat mesh by trying to play zone coverage when they expect it. This takes away the risk of being beaten by the wheel route and the crossers as the underneath zone defenders just pass them off. Having a receiver work to the middle and sit down in between zone defenders gives the quarterback a security blanket.

So with a basic understanding of mesh, we can move on to Colin’s questions. For Carson Wentz, mesh will be the same as it is for most quarterbacks around the league. The read won’t change, it’ll just be the language of calling the formation and play that will be new for him. But Washington runs mesh the same way that everyone else does and so Wentz should be very familiar with the concept. Scott Turner loves to run multiple variations of mesh from a wide range of formations and personnel groups to keep the defense honest. The beauty of all that window dressing is that while the formation and personnel will look different, the read will remain the same for Wentz.

As for how defenses will try to defend it. Colin suggests pattern-matching, which is certainly an option. But I think most teams will prefer to try and identify when Washington uses mesh most, like on third and short for example, and play some relatively basic zone coverages to counter the threat of the man-beaters that mesh offers. Alternatively, man coverage teams might opt to stick to man coverage but have a safety play as a hole defender in the middle. That hole defender can then sit and read the routes, cutting off the first shallow cross and allowing the trailing corner to peel off and replace him in the middle. That corner can then fall off into a good position to cut off the second shallow cross. It’s a lot of passing off, which requires great communication, but man coverage teams are used to shallow crossers and have to have ways to defend them otherwise their corners will always be outleveraged.  

Difference between ILB and OLB

The second question comes from Ivan Lambert: 

Ivan Lambert @IvanLambert18

@MarkBullockNFL Hi Mark, Could you break down for us, the difference teams look for in an ILB and an OLB? Skill set, weight, etc. Thanks

This is a particularly relevant question for Washington Commanders fans given how Jamin Davis struggled inside and how Cole Holcomb is expected to move inside next season. I will likely have more detailed posts on both Holcomb and Davis going into next season, but I wanted to give a quick overview of the differences between the outside linebacker (OLB) and inside linebacker (ILB) spots, specifically in Washington’s base 4-3 defense. 

In the 4-3 front, the ILB or Mike (middle) linebacker sits in the middle of the defense between two OLBs, the Sam (strong side) and Will (weak side). The Sam will line up on the strong side of the offensive formation, which is typically the same side as the tight end, while the Will aligns on the other side. The skill sets required to fill these roles differ depending on the system and can change significantly from snap to snap depending on what front and coverage the defense is using on any given play.

For a simplified version, the Mike typically needs to be a bit bigger and able to take on blockers because most run schemes will set their targets to him. That means on every run play, the offense will have a specific player assigned to block him. It could be a center climbing up to reach on him on an outside zone, a guard working off a combination block up to him or a tackle blocking down. The run could go right up the middle towards him or to either side. So the Mike has to be able to take on blockers and fill his gap, but also needs to be athletic enough to run to either side of the formation if the run goes outside.

Meanwhile, not every run scheme necessarily has a specific blocker assigned to the outside linebacker, specifically the Will linebacker. For example, on an outside run scheme to the strong side, the offense might not assign a blocker to the Will linebacker because the ball is being run away from him to the other side of the field, with the intent to get the edge and up the sideline. That means even if the running back isn’t able to get the edge and has to cut his run back, there’s still a lot of ground for the Will linebacker to make up and thus the offense might deem him not as critical to block as others. So in an ideal world, the Will linebacker is a little lighter and more athletic than the Mike. They might not have to take on quite so many blocks and deal with the bigger offensive lineman inside, but they will need more range and the ability to chase down runs to the opposite side of the field. This is the type of role that suits Jamin Davis’ skill set, which is why I’ve always felt he would become a Will linebacker in the NFL.

Cover 3

Next up, Ajay Mathur asked for a breakdown of Cover 3:

Ajay Mathur @AjayMat10

@MarkBullockNFL Cover 3 please.

Cover 3 is one of the most basic and yet most common coverages around the NFL today. It was made hugely popular by the Seahawks and the legion of boom in the early 2010s, but it goes back much further than that. At its core, Cover 3 is a three-deep, four-underneath zone coverage that breaks the deep part of the field up into three zones while the underneath part of the field is broken up into four sections. It will typically look something like this.

This is the most common and basic version of Cover 3. The free safety sits in the deep middle of the field while the two outside corners sink back to complete the deep three defenders. Meanwhile, the linebackers, nickel corner and remaining safety all spread out to form the four underneath zones consisting of two curl-flat defenders and two hook-curl defenders. 

Once you get that basic concept of three-deep, four-under then you can experiment with how you get there. There’s lots of different variations that teams use to help disguise things but keep the same core principles of the coverage intact. Cover 3 Buzz is a common variation, which has the strong safety aligned deep initially before stepping up into a hook-curl zone after the snap. Cover 3 Sky is another variation where the strong safety plays one of the deep outside thirds, leaving a corner to sit in the flat zone underneath. 

I actually did a deep dive into Cover 3, its variations and its strengths and weakness last offseason, To read that piece, click here!

Explosive plays or long drives

The final question asks about what’s more important for the Commanders offense, explosive plays or longer drives.

MindAfterMathPhD @MindAfterMath

@MarkBullockNFL What do you think is more important for a Turner/Wentz system, long drives with pound it out football or the big plays that can open things up, but are also more risky?

The NFL is all about explosive plays now. The best offenses in the league over the last few seasons have all been built off of creating explosive plays. Being able to hit on a deep shot down the field that results in either a touchdown or a big chunk of yards is hugely important. Washington is no different in that regard. Scott Turner runs his version of the Air Coryell system his father ran in the league for a number of years. 

His version might be a little different, though he hasn’t necessarily had a quarterback capable of attacking down the field consistently, but the offense has air in the name for a reason. It’s traditionally a vertical passing attack which looks for receivers to attack down the field and stretch teams vertically. Either the quarterback finds a shot down the field for an explosive play or the defense takes it away and leaves a big gap underneath for a checkdown to pick up plenty of yards after the catch.

Now, Ron Rivera will always stress the importance of having a balanced attack and a strong, reliable running game that can pound the rock and pick up consistent yards to stay ahead of the chains. This was the common style of play in the league for decades as it’s much safer. From a defensive coordinators perspective, finding ways to fit the run and ensure every gap is accounted for is critical. Any coordinator worth his position has to be able to get his defense to fit the run otherwise, at least in theory, the offense has no reason to pass the ball because they can just steadily pick up solid gains with every run without much risk of a turnover. 

However, from an offensive perspective, that style of play has become such a conservative way of playing and is almost more risky. The ability to sustain consistent 10-15 play drives while running the ball and staying ahead of the chains is hard. Inevitably, an offensive lineman will miss a block or a tight end will get called for a holding penalty, which will back up the offense and put them into second or third-and-long situations, which are very hard to overcome. The Commanders showed incredible discipline during their four game win-streak last season by playing this way and sustaining those long drives without setbacks. However it only lasted four games. It’s much easier to scheme up some shots down the field and try to hit maybe three or four explosive plays a game that result in touchdowns rather than having to have each player be perfect while running the ball for three-to-five yards per carry each play on a 15-play, 70-yard drive. 

That is, of course, providing you have the quarterback to hit those explosive plays. Washington didn’t have that last year with Taylor Heinicke, who often struggled to drive the ball down the field despite having receivers like Terry McLaurin running by coverage. Carson Wentz is a significant upgrade in that regard. He can be a bit streaky, but give him enough opportunities to drive the ball down the field and he’ll hit some of them. Those explosive plays can change games in a flash and that will ultimately be more important to the Commanders this season.