The Monstrous Madden Playbook Offense Volume I Matt Heinzen This book and its author have no affiliation with the National Football League, John Madden, or the Madden NFL 2003 or Madden NFL 2004 video games or their publisher, EA Sports. The author has taken care in preparation of this book, but makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility for any errors contained within. No liability is assumed for any damages resulting through direct or indirect use of this book’s contents. Copyright c 2003 by Matt Heinzen All rights pertaining to distribution or duplication for purposes other than per- sonal use are reserved until October 15, 2008. At this time the author voluntarily removes all restrictions regarding distribution and duplication of this book, al- though any modified version must be marked as such while retaining the original author’s name, the original copyright date and this notice. Visit my Madden NFL Playbook web sites at monsterden.net/madden2003/ and monsterden.net/madden2004/ and my forums at monsterden.net/maddentalk/. Contents 1 Introduction 1 Offensive Philosophy ........................... 1 Creating New Formations ......................... 3 Creating New Plays ............................ 6 Specialty Plays .............................. 6 Using This Book Effectively ....................... 7 Abbreviations ............................... 8 2 Diamond Wing 9 Delay Sweep ............................... 10 Flurry ................................... 13 Counter Sweep .............................. 15 Inside Trap ................................ 17 Lightnings ................................. 19 Power Counter .............................. 21 3 Tsunami 25 Backslide ................................. 26 Intersection ................................ 29 Deep Drag ................................. 32 Quick Ins ................................. 34 Strong Left ................................ 36 Spread Attack ............................... 39 Quick Look ................................ 41 Laser .................................... 44 Splitter ................................... 46 iv CONTENTS 4 3 Gun 49 Twin Flares ................................ 50 Flood Left SE Iso ............................. 52 Pitchfork .................................. 55 Cyclone .................................. 57 Circle Left ................................. 59 Fissure ................................... 62 5 Singleback 3WR 65 Maverick ................................. 66 Stinger ................................... 69 HB Plunge ................................. 71 WR Zigs .................................. 73 Counter Trap ............................... 75 Leveler .................................. 77 6 Slingshot 81 Deep Outs ................................. 82 Vectors ................................... 85 Undercuts ................................. 87 Comebacks ................................ 90 Crossing Slants .............................. 92 Flicker ................................... 95 Squares .................................. 98 Streaks ................................... 100 Daggers .................................. 103 7 Bomber 107 Jetstream ................................. 108 Bubble Screen ............................... 111 Cutter ................................... 113 Double Rub ................................ 116 Crossroads ................................. 118 Downtown ................................. 121 8 Strong T 125 HB Off Tackle ............................... 126 FB Plunge ................................. 128 CONTENTS v Blitzkrieg ................................. 129 Whip Sweep ................................ 132 HB Plunge ................................. 134 Whiplash ................................. 135 9 4 Wide 139 Quick Slants ................................ 140 Undertow ................................. 143 HB Sprint ................................. 145 Outs .................................... 147 Snapback ................................. 149 Deep Twister ............................... 152 10 Crossbow 155 Flood Left ................................. 156 Quick Sting ................................ 158 Reflex ................................... 160 Shear ................................... 162 Uncoiled .................................. 165 Speed Pitch ................................ 167 11 4 Left 169 Jailbreak Option .............................. 170 Blaze ................................... 173 Cross Levels ................................ 175 Warp .................................... 177 Outside Trailer .............................. 180 Division .................................. 182 Quick Reference Chart 185 vi CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introducing the Monstrous Madden Playbook This book contains many of my most effective offensive formations and plays. Readers familiar with my web site will recognize these formations as the ones from my Monstrous Madden 2003 Playbook online. Don’t let this put you off, now that Madden NFL 2003 is old news and Madden NFL 2004 is the latest edition in the series (at the time of this book’s release). Football is football, and in simulations as realistic as the latest releases of Madden any play that works in one version will probably be pretty good in other versions. Of course the gameplay mechanics are tweaked with each season’s release, so there are differences. For this reason every play has been re-analyzed for Madden 2004, with changes made as necessary to get the best possible performance. Offensive Philosophy This offensive playbook features a radical, attacking style intended to create con- fusion and matchup problems for the opposing defense. Passing plays in particular feature multiple receivers instead of strong protection, seeking to overwhelm the defensive backfield. It is not intended for bombing away with deep passes; try this and a savvy de- fensive coordinator will maul your quarterback with blitzes. Rather, most passing plays are designed with sequences of quick read progressions with the intent of hitting the first open receiver for quick 5–15 yard completions, with the possibil- ity to break short catches into big plays. In a sense, this offense is the West Coast 2 Introduction passing game taken to the extreme. Effective running plays are also included, though fewer in number, and only from a few formations. This may make running less effective against human oppo- nents who may be able to predict and disrupt particular running plays better than the CPU, although the new Playmaker feature in Madden NFL 2004 gives play- ers a lot of flexibility without the need for a large number of plays. The running plays that are included are mostly run from tighter formations (mainly Diamond Wing, Strong T and Crossbow) than most of the passing plays. The running plays from the bigger formations feature a good mix of direct power and sophisticated trap blocking schemes, while runs from the lighter, more pass-oriented formations tend to use quicker handoffs straight up the middle to catch defenses by surprise. Many of the formations are passing only (although quarterback sneaks, draws and scrambles are always possible from any formation), some because they do not have a running back in the backfield at all, but most because the Madden playbook editor does not allow running plays to be created with the quarterback in a shotgun position, regardless of the location of the running back(s). Though upcoming editions of the Monstrous Madden Playbook feature greater balance, in this playbook speed is generally favored over power. Tight ends and fullbacks play fairly small roles, while three and four receiver sets, as well as two halfback sets are common. A blazing fast receiving core is always nice, but good hands may be more important because this offense is designed to move methodi- cally down the field using short, reliable gains. You want a quarterback that is at least decent (of course, who doesn’t?), but excellence is not required for success because the emphasis is on creating openings through sophisticated route combi- nations to allow for easy throws. Good accuracy, smart decision making and the ability to quickly scan and assess a defense trumps a cannon arm here. The most important position may be the halfback. Speed and good hands are essential here because the halfback is asked to catch as much as run. Blocking ability is not quite so important because I favor having an outlet pass to draw linebacker or slot cornerback coverage rather than have the back sit in the pocket and block in most plays. Finally, this playbook requires practice. Against humans you can actually do a decent job just picking up the playbook and using it, as long as your opponent uses a traditional Nickel or Dime package to counter the multiple wide receiver sets. You’ll get time to throw and receivers will always get open later if not sooner. However, once your opponent starts bringing heavy blitzes your offense may grind to a halt, resulting in sacks and interceptions, unless you know how to make safe reads and quick throws to counter the blitz. This requires practice, learning which Creating New Formations 3 routes get open the most and what the proper progressions are. Most of these details are described for each play, but practice is the only way to prepare for game speed. Creating New Formations Before we get down to making plays we first have to create the formations the plays are run out of. Even if the only custom plays you put in your playbook are