PATRIOT ACT: VOLUME 2
INTRODUCTION:
Welcome to The Patriot Act: Volume 2 Offensive Guide. This guide covers some of the most popular ways to beat 91 zone defenders on a consistent basis. In fact each and every video in this guide is recorded against 99 zone and 99 play recognition, so it should be fairly future proof as well, baring any phantom patches.
Inside the guide we will go over Gun Bunch, Gun Trips TE, and a few money plays from the 3WR passing sets as well. After that we will move on to display two run heavy sets for our friends that enjoy running the ball more than passing it. This should give you guys a very complete offense to compete with, as well as an ideal offense for modes like weekend league that require a much slower and precise play style.
So lets jump into it and start learning some of the most popular passing concepts in Madden 18. Thanks for checking out the guide!
GUN BUNCH
There is no doubt that Gun Bunch is one of the most over covered formation in all of the Madden world for the last several years. To say its good is a gross understatement. For many of you this will just be a refresher of what you already know, but I urge you to continue watching, because even if you can pick up one wrinkle to add into the bunch you already run, it can be incredibly helpful.
Watch the intro below, and then move into the basic setups. Once you have a good grasp on how each of the basic setups work, move onto the concepts section to get an idea how to add depth to the offense you are running. When you are done, bunch will be a formation you will be able to spend entire games in most of the time.
In this group of tabs we will go over the basic setups for the offense. These setups are what make the foundation for the offense and you should be able to run any single one of them without looking at the guide before taking them into a game. Once you have these setups committed to memory move on to the concepts sections to add wrinkles and depth to your offense. In this group we will cover;
- Pats Sail
- Inside Cross
- Pats Curl Flat
- 518 Hook
- PA Post
- Run Game
Simply click the corresponding tab to learn a particular setup. We will have the written setup in there, but it is VERY important to watch the videos as well.
This play is one that I would consider a staple of the offense. The backside post route makes this play considerably more flexible on the bunch side than many others.
Setup:
- Max Protect
- Drag TE
- Motion Right Outside WR to the Right a Few Steps
- Snap While He is Still in Motion (See Video)
Video:
This play is our second “base play” that you can come to the line in because it is not in our audibles, or at least the ones recommended in the intro video. This play is unique because of the route ran by the Runningback that gets under any cloud flats.
Setup:
- Drag the TE
- Fade the Outside Right WR
- Snap Ball
Video:
This will be our first setup that is designed to get the ball deeper downfield. This setup is great to audible into on a second and short when you can afford to take a shot, or on a third and long when you don’t have a choice but to push the ball downfield.
Setup:
- Max Protect
- Fade the Outside Right WR
- Snap Ball
Video:
This setup is unique in the fact that we have a post that will be a 91 zone FS over the middle of the field. This is great to mix in against heavy cover 3 or cover 2 invert opponents because most people aren’t expecting their seven million coin secondary to give up a post ever.
Setup:
- Max Protect
- Streak Middle Bunch WR
- Drag the TE
- Motion the Right Outside WR to the Right
- Snap While Still in Motion
Video:
This setup is one of the most popular setups from bunch in all of the community. We are looking to dink and dunk for the most part here, but we do have the post option should they forget to get a deep zone over the middle.
Setup:
- Drag the TE
- Drag the Right Outside WR
- Motion the Right Outside WR to the Left
- Snap While Still in Motion in Left Slot
Video:
This tab will briefly discuss the run game from Gun Bunch. There will be no actually video of using the runs, just discussion of what runs work well. Obviously you want to run when the box count gives you the numbers advantage, or draw when the defense is rushing base 3 and 4 man rushes.
Runs Used:
- HB Draw
- HB Base
- Counter Y
- HB Slip Screen
Video:
This section will go over some of the concepts that you can incorporate into your bunch offense to give it a level of depth that will add extra frustration to your opponents defensive experience. These concepts force the opponent to think about extra things and make adjustments that will help open up the rest of the offense. In this section we will go over;
- Playmaker Concept
- Bomb Concept
- Short Side C Route Concept
- Mixing Concepts Together
Simply click on the tab for the concept you would like to learn.
The playmaker concept is one of the more popular concepts in the Bunch formation, and why you still see plenty of pro players running this offense. Through the use of a hitch and max protect we get a route on the field that is exceptionally frustrating to cover. The goal of using this concept is to entice our opponent to get those glitchy cloud flats off the field in favor of hard flats to open up the deep corner in other setups for our offense. Another common way people try to defend it to sit on the playmaker with their user and play the guessing game, either is fine for us, because if they keep their user 3 yards from the line of scrimmage it opens up a large chunk of the field.
Setup:
- Max Protect
- Hitch the Outside Right WR
- Make Sure All Other Routes Go Deeper Than The Hitch
Video:
The bomb concept is a route combination that allows us to have the ability to bomb Cover 3 deep. Please keep in mind that this is a read, not a guarantee. It will NOT be there every single time you snap the ball against cover 3, so the best way to learn the read is to run it a million times in practice mode until you are very confident what the cornerback looks like when you will be able to throw it.
Setup:
- Fade the Middle Bunch WR
- Baby Out the Outside Right WR
- Motion the Outside Right WR to the Right
- Snap While Still in Motion After a Few Steps
Video:
The short side “C Route” concept is great against cover 2 defenses, and it can be used against cover 3 as well if your opponent doesn’t shade at all (heads up, most people shade their cover 3’s down and then up to get clouds on the field, and then outside to take away things like this).
Setup:
- Call a Play With the Solo WR on a C Route on the Short Side of the Field
Video:
This section doesn’t give a new concept to work with, however talks about combining concepts together to add a new level of depth to your offense, and create more headaches for the defense. All jokes aside, while this video doesn’t teach a specific combination or setup, the message it delivers is probably the most important one in the guide…..WATCH IT!
Setup:
- Multiple (See Video)
Video:
GUN TRIPS TE
Gun Trips TE is another formation that has been popular over the years on Madden. This formation gives us access to an Inside Zone, a way to beat the cloud flat down the sideline, and an even better playmaker concept that Gun Bunch. The biggest draw back to this set compared to Gun Bunch is the pass protection because both eligible extra blockers are aligned on the same side of the formation.
Watch the intro below, and then move into the setups. When you are done, Trips TE will be a formation you will be able to compliment your Gun Bunch with very easily.
In this group of tabs we will go over the basic setups for the offense. These setups are what make the foundation for the offense and you should be able to run any single one of them without looking at the guide before taking them into a game. In this group we will cover;
- PA Shot
- PA Shot Mesh
- PA Shot Max
- Curl Flat
- PA Slot Corner
- Run Game
Simply click the corresponding tab to learn a particular setup. We will have the written setup in there, but it is VERY important to watch the videos as well.
This play is easily the most used play in the formation. Hence the three different setups. This setup is the “in a perfect world” setup where we will send out all of our receivers. A perfect world scenario rarely exists outside of regs, so make sure to learn the extra wrinkle setups as well.
Setup:
- Fade TE
- Drag Inside WR
- Snap Ball
Video:
This setup creates an underneath mesh concept that can entice your opponent to want to put hard flats on the field. This adjustment by them will open up more of the field, and if they don’t make the adjustment, we can just keep hitting drags.
Setup:
- Drag the TE
- Drag the Inside WR
- Adjust the Outside WR as Needed (Optional-See Video)
- Snap Ball
Video:
This is our max protect setup from Trips TE. Unlike other max protect setups that use the playmaker as a check down, he is our primary in this setup. You have two “just in case they messed up” routes you can glance at quickly, but if they didn’t get to playmakering that hitch. The alignment of this formation gives the WR much more room to work with after the catch.
Setup:
- Hitch the Inside WR
- Snap Ball
Video:
This setup plays heavily off of the PA Shot Max setup. Many people attempt to user the playmaker hitch, if they do this play allows us to have a quick option on the other side of the field to the Runningback.
Setup:
- Hitch the Inside WR
- Comeback the Outside WR
- Snap Ball
Video:
This play is our deep threat from the formation against 91 zone. The post route on this play does a magnificent job of getting behind the clouds and in front of the deeps. This is a great play to call on a second and short because if you don’t end up getting it off you can live to fight another day on third down.
Setup:
- Fade the TE
- Motion the Inside WR to the Right
- Snap While Still in Motion After He Clears the TE
Video:
This tab will briefly discuss the run game from Gun Trips TE. There will be no actually video of using the runs, just discussion of what runs work well. Obviously you want to run when the box count gives you the numbers advantage, or draw when the defense is rushing base 3 and 4 man rushes. The main run from this set will be Inside Zone.
Runs Used:
- Inside Zone
- HB Draw
Extras
In this group of tabs we will go over some adds in plays for the scheme as well as the two running based sets. This was originally supposed to be a third formation, but the formations as a whole were largely “meh”, the two plays discussed were responsible for drawing us to want to add in a third formation to begin with, so we just included the two plays instead. In this group we will cover;
- Patriots Drag
- Pats Y Out
- Ace Overload
- Ace Slot
Simply click the corresponding tab to learn a particular setup. We will have the written setup in there, but it is VERY important to watch the videos as well. Please note, for the two run heavy formations, the video is covering the entire formation, so no written setups will be available.
This play gives a really great route to our RB that will be hard for defenses to adjust to. One of the great things about this play as well is that it doesn’t require many adjustments, so we can essentially quick snap it (as quickly as auto motion lets us anyway).
Setup:
- Adjust Right Outside WR as Needed (See Video)
- Snap Ball
Video:
This setup gives us another look to beat the clouds down the deep sideline. It is important to be able to accomplish the same goal from a different look, especially when your opponent starts to catch on to some of the other setups.
Setup:
- Block the Runningback
- Drag the Slot WR
- Adjust the Outside Right WR as Needed (Optional-See Video)
- Snap Ball
Video:
This is our first of two run heavy sets that we like to mix into the offense. This formation was always interesting because of the stretch from a tackle over look, but the lack of other good plays in the audibles always took it down a peg. Now that we have custom audibles, this formation is seriously hell to defend for your opponent assuming you have some concept of run stick to get the most from the stretch.
Video:
This section goes over our second run heavy formation. The main difference with this one aside from the extra tackle in overload is that we have a dive. This formation may also be slightly better for the playmaker because its a WR and not a TE like in overload.
Video:
A SHORT THANK YOU
Because We Care!We would like to thank you for picking up The Patriot Act: Volume 2 Offensive Guide. This guide was created more as an update (or replacement guide) for those that purchased our first guide of the year The Bayou Spread. Unfortunately the zones were patched prior to there being many options with 91 zone, so at first glance after the patch it seemed as though The Bayou Spread was still good to go. The reality however once better zone defenders started showing up is that the zone patch made most of that guide ineffective.
So long story short, we left that guide on sale far longer than we should have, and this guide is our way of apologizing for that. If you bought The Bayou Spread, you will have received this guide for free. If you are a new customer, we greatly appreciate you as well. We hope that you like what you see in the guide and can use the material to achieve a higher level of success on Madden 18.
