5v5 flag football play
Mesh Shallow
A sprint-speed crosser under a ten-yard dig makes one defender wrong no matter what she does. Tell your players: 'Shallow stays shallow, dig stays at ten — depth discipline is the whole play.'
How to run it
- 1
WR3: sprint the shallow at three yards — never drift deeper; your speed across the field IS the route.
- 2
WR1: your dig breaks in at ten, one full level above the shallow — the two of you put one defender in a high-low bind.
- 3
QB: if the underneath defender runs with the shallow, the dig opens behind her; if she sinks, throw the shallow now and let WR3 run.
Who the quarterback reads
- 1. Y
- 2. X
- 3. C
The shallow is first because it's the fastest decision on the field — one glance at the nearest underneath defender tells the QB shallow now, or dig behind her.
The concepts in this play
- Mesh
- Two receivers cross shallow underneath, brushing close so their defenders collide — the traffic springs whoever comes out the other side.
- Crossers
- Receivers running all the way across the field from opposite sides. Hard for a defender to chase in man coverage, easy for the QB to find on the move.
Who should run it
Developing. Teams with a season together, or middle-school age. A couple of reps to lock the spacing in.
Plays like this one
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