Use This Perfect Man Beater

Hey Coach,

The Florida State Seminoles put together an incredible offense this past season due to their ability to manipulate defensive alignment and matchups.

Today we’re going to discuss a specific play that the Noles were able to dial up to defeat man coverage and get a wide-open pass catcher!

This play is discussed more in our newest release: 101 Plays from the FSU Offense

Trips Mesh “Traffic”

Illustration or diagram depicting the play with mesh traffic against man coverage. The back is included in the concept with a flat route from a flipped alignment pre-snap, causing confusion for defenders and creating traffic in the middle. The QB buys time and hits the wide-open running back on the run, resulting in a huge gain.

This play is the perfect man answer and is getting more attention from playcallers across the country.

Mesh has always been a great answer to man coverage but defenses have evolved and found ways to help themselves stop it.

What mesh “traffic” does is include the back in the concept on a flat route from a flipped alignment pre-snap. By having the back in this alignment, defenses do not expect an immediate threat to the flat route to the field.

Additionally, the defender who is covering the back has a much harder journey to get to his man across the field due to the traffic.

Based on the defense’s pre-snap alignment, it’s clear that they are in cover zero and bringing the house.

The tell is that there are no defenders deep and the line of scrimmage is crowded. FSU also expects this since they’re running this play on 4th and short.

At the snap, the defense has no one to run with the back along with the rub routes causing a lot of traffic in the middle. This allows for the QB to buy some time to hit a wide-open running back on the run resulting in a huge gain.