With Madden 16 right around the corner many of us are now labbing for what we think might be effective on the new game. Nothing gives a player a sense of confidence like starting the game out with an idea of what might be their go-to Madden 16 money play. EA Sports helped us out a bit, or at least they think they did, by releasing several plays picked by the developers that they think are great plays on Madden 16.
Sadly, most of the EA Sports staff plays the game on a grade-school level, and many of these plays have very little potential at all. A couple of them did catch our eye however, and in this article we will break down our thoughts on how to make Pats Y Stutter from Gun Trips Y Iso, in the New England Patriots playbook. Please understand that the following ideas are based on how we think the game will play, and it may end up being completely useless. Try not to hold it against us if it is.
From our understanding they have not returned the ability to make fast hot routes on the offensive side of the ball, so we will be keeping our concepts in this article to one, or in some cases, a maximum of two adjustments. This should help your offense run smoothly and quickly, giving you an advantage over the defense in terms of being able to snap quickly.
Option #1 (Stock-No Adjustments)
According to EA Sports, the concept here is to get your TE on the right matched up one on one with a linebacker and go up for the aggressive catch. If the aggressive catch feature is as over powered as we think it will be, then this could easily be a viable option. That being said, realistically in the world of Madden, most people will base align their coverage which will actually place a cornerback with good coverage skills on your TE. Not to mention basing your offense on using aggressive catch is no talent hack Madden strategy.
Our suggestion for running this play stock would be to look at the crossing route first, it should be open at various points in between zones, and historically destroys man coverage. If that is not open look back to the left and make a high-low read between the slot seam and the hitch. The slot seam got behind zones well on Madden 15, and if coverage plays similar on Madden 16, it most likely will again. This slot seam should also be a great choice against a Cover 2 defense because this is the type of route that you can still lead to the inside to split the safeties. Alternatively the hitch should sit down under the zone nicely against a Cover 3 look from the defense. Finally if no other option presents itself, feel free to try and throw one up to your TE on the stop and go and go after it with the aggressive catch feature.
Option #2 (Flood Right)
- Hot Route the Left Outside WR to a Slant
- Hot Route the TE on the Right to a Comeback
This setup will do a great job of simplifying your reads so you can scan the field right to left. Your first read will be high-low between the comeback route and the crossing route. First and foremost both routes beat man coverage effectively with the correct timing. Against zone coverage you want to read the sideline defender, if he sits back then you want to throw underneath to the crossing route. If the sideline defender comes down to play the flat you will be able to fit the comeback in over his head and toward the sideline as he breaks away from the deep defender.
The slant trailing the play will give us our bail out option if the opponent gets aggressive with their user coverage near the sideline or if they have the field heavily blanketed on the right side. The slant beats man coverage great as well. Against zone, if the sideline routes are covered the slant will open up as it clears the middle linebacker approaching the right hash mark.
You could easily run a similar concept to the left by placing the outside left WR on the comeback and then the WR on the crossing route on a flat. With this setup it would be great to get the right side TE on a slant as well, but that would be a lengthy setup.
Option #3 (Dagger Concept)
- Place the Left Outside WR on an In Route and Smart Route
- Place the RB on an In Route Going Back to the Left Flat
Using a Dagger concept on this play will give us the ability to beat a Cover 3 defense deeper downfield without having to throw to a covered WR and hope for an aggressive catch. The seam will push the zones back allowing the deep in route to come underneath for a good gain. You will want to use a possession catch or a RAC style catch depending on the positioning of the linebacker.
If the defense sits deep in coverage and the area for the deep in route looks congested, you can simply hit your RB out of the backfield under the zones. Just be sure to throw to him when he reaches the area of the left tackle on the field so that he can run inside of whatever flat zone may be on the field.
Finally if nothing presents itself, this setup also acts like a mini-flood of the right side of the field later in the play’s development. You should be able to roll to the right of the formation and make a two man read between the crossing route and the deep in as it clears the right hash mark. Many times you will want to throw the deep in with a high lead bullet pass to lead him upfield into space.
Check out the video below to see more visually:
We hope you enjoyed our speculative Madden 16 money play and hit the lab with it during EA Access which should make the game available August 20th, 2015.
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