How do you stop Mesh in 7v7 flag football?
In 7v7 flag football you stop Mesh by putting a defender on the crossing point and still keeping two deep, which is the first format where you can do both. Seven defenders against five eligible receivers means the man who sits on the mesh is genuinely spare, so the vertical route behind it does not go uncovered. That single fact is what makes this the easiest size at which to defend the most-run concept in the sport.
Nobody is standing here. Your DB is the closest defender to this spot and he is 8 yards away from it when the ball arrives. That is not a beaten defender, it is an empty one, and no amount of effort closes that gap after the throw.
Why the sweep keeps working in 7v7
You can defend the mesh and the route behind it at once
At five a side, killing the crossers costs you your deep help and the offense throws over the top. With seven defenders you spend one on the mesh point and still have two behind everything, so the counter that beats the smaller defense simply does not work against this one.
Five eligible receivers means the mesh is usually a three-man concept
At this size Mesh is normally run with a sit route between the crossers, so one defender in the middle is dealing with three things arriving rather than two. He is not covering a man, he is covering the first thing that appears, and he needs telling that.
The crossing point is further from the quarterback
Wider formations mean the crossers meet further out and later, which gives your mesh defender time to adjust his depth. A player who is a yard wrong at 5v5 has missed it; here he can correct as it develops.
It is the most-run concept in flag football, and it beats man coverage by design
Two receivers cross at close range at different depths, their defenders have to navigate around each other, and somebody comes out free. It is not a trick and it is not illegal. It is the single most reliable way to beat man coverage at any level, which is why every playbook has it.
The crossing point is the whole play, so defend the crossing point
Everything that makes Mesh work happens in one square yard. A defender who is already inside that spot, rather than arriving at it behind his man, turns the concept into two ordinary shallow routes. Position beats pursuit here more clearly than anywhere else on this shelf.
Somebody has to be allowed to sit in the middle and do nothing else
The cheapest answer is one defender who does not chase anybody and stands where the crossers meet. He is not covering a man, he is covering an idea, and that instruction has to be given explicitly or he will drift toward the ball like everybody else.
The same concept, covered
Same offense, same alignment, same defenders. One man's landmark is the whole difference.
- What happenedOpen7v7: the defense plays it wrong and the receiver is uncovered.
Your DB goes where the play tells him to go rather than where the ball is going. By the time he reads it the throw is already gone.
- The fixCovered7v7: the same defender takes the receiver's landing spot instead.
He takes the spot the concept is throwing to, and gets there before the ball. Nothing about his speed changed.
Cover the spot, not the man. At this age a defender who chases a receiver arrives behind him every time. A defender who stands on the spot the play is throwing to makes the quarterback find somewhere else, which is usually nowhere.
Three answers, and what each one costs
Sit a linebacker on the mesh point
Where it excelsBoth crossers run into somebody who was already standing there, and your two deep defenders are untouched. The most complete answer available at any size on this shelf.
Exposed · the middle underneathHe is not covering the sit route that usually comes with it, so a receiver stopping just behind the crossers has nobody on him. The concept has a third option and this answer only takes away two.
Match it in zone with five underneath
Where it excelsNobody chases anybody, the crossers are handed between five defenders, and the sit route is somebody's responsibility by definition rather than by instruction.
Exposed · the flatFive underneath defenders spread across the width means the outside of the field is thin, and the quick throw away from the mesh is available every time you call it.
Man coverage with a switch at the crossing
Where it excelsTightest of the three and it takes away the sit route as well, because every receiver has somebody attached to him rather than a zone to find.
Exposed · the combinationThe switch lets the offense choose which defender ends up where, and with five receivers there are enough crossing combinations to find the mismatch they want.
Sit a linebacker on the mesh, and give the sit route to somebody by name
Use the spare body this format gives you and park it where the concept happens, keeping both deep defenders where they are. Then close the one hole that leaves by naming who has the receiver that stops behind the crossers. That is a one-sentence addition and it is the difference between taking away two thirds of the concept and all of it.
What a good offense does about it
They add a wheel route out of the mesh
A crosser who turns up the sideline is the counter to everybody looking inside. Your deep defenders are still there, which is the advantage of this format, but the outside one has to be told that a receiver coming from the middle is his the moment he turns.
Your mesh defender is too deep
He ends up behind the crossers and in front of nothing. The crossing happens at four to six yards, so that is where he stands, and he should be able to touch both receivers as they pass rather than watch them go underneath.
When this is the wrong fix
When sitting on the mesh opens the rest of the field
A defender parked in the middle is a defender not doing his normal job, and Mesh is usually run with something deeper behind it for exactly that reason. If they are taking the top off while you guard the crossers, you are defending the wrong half of the play.
When they run it from a bunch
Receivers starting close together get to the crossing point before your defenders can position themselves, so the plan of being there first stops being available. Against bunch, zone is the more honest answer.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the football playmaker, collect them in the football playbook maker, and print printable play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw it for your own team
Open the designer at 7v7, put your defenders where this page says, and print it so everybody shows up on Saturday knowing the same thing.
Open the free play designerRelated questions
How do you stop Mesh in 7v7 flag football?
What is the sit route in a Mesh concept?
How deep should my mesh defender stand?
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Coach Ray Carroll
Coaches 5v5 flag football from kindergarten through 7th grade in San Mateo and San Carlos, California, and built RC Football to design, teach and print the plays his own teams run.