How do you install the Mesh concept in one 60-minute practice?

The sheet: 60 minutes, 6 blocks

Coaching it in the trenches, block by block

1. Movement warm-up

   Line drills, no ball. Finish with two crossing lanes so the shape is already familiar.

   0:00 8 min
   Set up

   Four cones in a line across twenty yards, a second line ten yards behind it. No balls out yet, because a ball in a warm-up turns it into a catching block nobody planned.

   Run it

   Two lengths of each: jog, high knees, shuffle, backpedal. Then split them into two lines facing each other and have them jog through the gap between the cones, passing shoulder to shoulder. That last piece is the mesh, walked, before anybody has been told what a mesh is.

   Say this

   • “Pass close enough to high five, and do not slow down.”
   • “Eyes up. You are going past him, not into him.”

   Watch for

   Two lines that pass through each other without anybody breaking stride. If the traffic is already smooth here, the install is going to take twenty minutes rather than the sixteen you gave it.

   The mistake

   Letting the warm-up drift to twelve minutes because they are enjoying it. Every minute here comes out of the install, and the install is the reason for this session. Look at your watch at eight and move whatever is happening.
2. Catching block

   Hands away from the chest. Mesh dies on drops, not on spacing.

   0:08 8 min
   Set up

   Pairs five yards apart with a tennis ball each, boxed into a ten yard square. A football for the last two minutes.

   Run it

   Twenty catches each with the tennis ball, then swap to a football for the last two minutes so the hands transfer. The reason this block is here on an install day is that a crossing route is caught on the move with a defender nearby, which is the hardest catch in flag football and the one that decides whether the concept works.

   Say this

   • “Show me your hands before it leaves mine.”
   • “Ten fingers, not two hands.”
   • “Catch it, then look. Not the other way round.”

   Watch for

   Hands up and away from the body before the ball is released. A player who catches with his chest in this block will drop the first mesh ball thrown at him in traffic.

   The mistake

   Skipping this to buy install time. It is the tempting cut and it is the wrong one: the install fails on Saturday as a drop, and everybody blames the concept.

   Go deeper

   Tennis ball drill
3. Install Mesh

   Walk it. Then half speed. Two crossers only, no quarterback yet.

   0:16 16 min
   Set up

   Cones marking the line of scrimmage and a cone at five yards in the middle where the two crossers should pass. No defenders and no ball for the first four minutes.

   Run it

   Walk it first, with only the two crossing receivers. Both run at the middle cone, one passes just in front of the other, and they keep going to the far sideline. Four minutes of that and nothing else. Then add the quarterback and walk it again. Then half speed. Only in the last four minutes does anybody run it at full speed, and by then the picture is already right.

   Say this

   • “Front man goes first. Decide now, not at the cone.”
   • “Shoulder to shoulder, and nobody slows down.”
   • “You are not blocking him. You are just being where you are.”

   Watch for

   The two crossers passing within about a yard of each other, with a clear order to it. That closeness is the entire concept. Four yards apart is two routes in the same area and it beats nobody.

   The mistake

   Running it full speed in minute two because walking it looks too easy. Every team that does this spends the rest of the session untangling two receivers who arrive at the cone together. Walk it. The four minutes you spend feel wasted and they are the reason it works.

   Go deeper

   The Mesh concept
4. Team vs air

   Full speed, nobody defending. Speed up the huddle, not the routes.

   0:32 10 min
   Set up

   Full offense on the ball, no defense at all. A cone where the huddle breaks so the tempo is visible.

   Run it

   Ten reps at game speed against nobody. The routes are already right, so what is being practised here is everything around them: the call in the huddle, the break, getting lined up, and the snap. Half the reps should be run from the huddle and half from a no-huddle call, because the concept is worth more when you can run it twice in a row.

   Say this

   • “Huddle breaks on three. Clap and go.”
   • “Same play, faster. The routes do not change.”

   Watch for

   The gap between the call and the snap shrinking rep by rep. That number is what makes an install usable in a game, and it is the only thing this block is measuring.

   The mistake

   Correcting route depth in this block. The depths were settled in the install and reopening them here turns a tempo block into a second install, which is how a session runs out of time with nothing finished.
5. Mesh against a live look

   Man first, because that is what Mesh is for. Then one series of zone.

   0:42 12 min
   Set up

   A defense of the same size in man coverage, told out loud that they are in man so the offense sees the concept working. Switch them to zone with four minutes left.

   Run it

   Eight reps against man, where the crossing traffic does the work and the quarterback throws to whoever comes clean. Then four minutes against a zone, where the answer is different: the crossers sit down in the gaps rather than running through them. Showing both is what stops a team running Mesh into a zone all season and wondering why it stopped working.

   Say this

   • “Against man you keep running. Against zone you find grass and stop.”
   • “Throw it to the one who came out clean, not the one you planned on.”

   Watch for

   A defender having to go around a receiver, or change direction. If neither defender is inconvenienced, the two crossers are still too far apart and the concept is not actually being run.

   The mistake

   Letting the defense hold or grab to prove a point. In flag nobody may re-route a receiver, and a defense that cheats in practice teaches the offense that Mesh does not work when in fact it was never tested.

   Go deeper

   Best 5v5 play against man
6. Break it down

   Name the concept out loud. They should leave able to say what they installed.

   0:54 6 min
   Set up

   One circle, no equipment, everybody in.

   Run it

   Ask three of them to say what Mesh is in their own words. Take whatever they say. Then give them one thing to hold for Saturday, and say the play name twice so it is in their heads on the drive home. Finish inside six minutes.

   Say this

   • “Somebody tell me what Mesh is. One sentence.”
   • “Saturday, first play, this is the call.”

   Watch for

   A child describing the crossing rather than describing their own route. That is the difference between knowing a job and knowing a concept, and only one of those survives a defense doing something unexpected.

   The mistake

   Adding a second concept here because the session went well. It went well because it was one concept. Next week is where the second one goes.

Why this order

• Catching before the concept

  Mesh is caught on the move with a defender close, which is the hardest catch in flag football. A team that cannot catch standing still will not catch this, and the concept gets blamed for what is actually a hands problem.

• Walk it before you run it

  The whole concept is two receivers passing within a yard of each other in a set order. That is a picture, and a picture is learned at walking pace in four minutes or at full speed in twenty, with a pile of bodies in the middle of it.

• Air before defense

  Team vs air is where the huddle, the break and the snap get fast. Putting a defense out before that turns every rep into a scramble and you learn nothing about either side.

• Man first, then zone

  Mesh exists to beat man coverage, so show it working against man before you show it struggling against zone. A team that meets the hard version first decides the concept does not work.

Where to go next

• Open it in the plannerThis exact plan, editable. Drag drills in, move blocks up or down, then print the sheet.
• Next: Flag Football Practice Plan for the Week Before the First GameOnce Mesh is in, the next session sharpens it rather than adding to it.
• The drill libraryFilter by the problem you have, the space you have and the age you coach. Anything there drops into this plan.

The 60 minutes, block by block

1. 1

   0 to 8 minutes: Movement warm-up

   Line drills, no ball. Finish with two crossing lanes so the shape is already familiar.

2. 2

   8 to 16 minutes: Catching block

   Hands away from the chest. Mesh dies on drops, not on spacing.

3. 3

   16 to 32 minutes: Install Mesh

   Walk it. Then half speed. Two crossers only, no quarterback yet.

4. 4

   32 to 42 minutes: Team vs air

   Full speed, nobody defending. Speed up the huddle, not the routes.

5. 5

   42 to 54 minutes: Mesh against a live look

   Man first, because that is what Mesh is for. Then one series of zone.

6. 6

   54 to 60 minutes: Break it down

   Name the concept out loud. They should leave able to say what they installed.

Adapting it

• Ninety minutes

  Add ten to the live block and five to catching. Do not add a second concept. The extra time buys repetitions of the one thing, which is the entire premise of an install day.

• Seven and eight year olds

  Cut the live block to six minutes and spend the difference walking it. At that age the crossing order is the hard part and it needs more walking than any amount of speed.

• A team that already has Mesh

  Skip the install block to eight minutes and spend the rest on the variations: switch the crossing depths, add a third receiver sitting down behind it, and run it from a second formation.

What to cut when you are running late

• Cut the live block, not the install

  If you lose fifteen minutes to a late start, the twelve-minute live block goes first. An install that never got finished is a wasted hour; an install with no live reps is still an install you can finish on Saturday morning.

• Never cut the walkthrough

  Four minutes of walking is the cheapest part of the session and the reason the rest works. Coaches cut it because it looks too easy, which is exactly why it is effective.

• Do not add a second concept because it went well

  The most common way an install day fails is that it succeeded early and somebody got ambitious in the last fifteen minutes. One concept. Next week is the second.

Take it to your team

Related questions

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• 30-Minute Flag Football Practice Plan for a Rained-Out Field→
• Flag Football Practice Plan for the Week Before the First Game→
• Flag Football Defense Practice Plan (60 Minutes)→
• 90-Minute Situational Football Practice Plan→
• Build your own practice plan→
• The flag football drill library→