Offense - NE Playbook - Shotgun - Split Slot

I'm going to post a series of plays from the NE Patriots playbook in Madden 10 that I believe can be used to attack almost any D and win more games.

I'm going to start in the Shotgun formation and work my way down the different shotgun alignments, choosing the best few plays in each, and giving my hot route changes to make the plays more effective.

I'll try to describe everything, but if something doesn't make sense, post a comment and clarify.

First, I always try to have my formation 3WR, 1TE, 1RB so the defense can't tell what's coming just from the personnel package. I'll list every play by formation - alignment - personnel package to achieve the desired result of every play looking the same when your opponent sees the personnel package.

Shotgun - Split Slot - TE backfield - 689 Hook


The goal of this play is to attack cover 2 or cover 3 deep. Hot route your Y reciever (which should be your TE now) to a verticel route and your LB reciever to block right. This route will take a few seconds, but if your opponent is not blitzing heavy, you'll get a big play down the middle.

If it's cover 2, once A clears the short zone defenders he'll be wide open. B and X force the safeties wide because their routes imply deep pressure before A breaks into the middle.

If it's cover 3, once Y clears the short zone he'll be almost wide open...you will get him wide open if you throw the ball to the right. B takes the right deep zone with him up the sidelines and A pushes the deep middle zone defender to the left leaving a nice hole for Y to catch the ball on the right hand side of his right (why you should push the ball right when throwing it).

Shotgun - Split Slot - TE Backfield - Corner Strike

The goal of this play is to attack man when your opponent likes to blitz a lot or cover 2. I've found most players seem to play more cover 2 in the red zone and this is one of my favorite plays to score with.

If you expect man...especially with a blitz...you can easily throw this route to either flat (LB or Y) for a quick gain. You can also block with LB and hit A over the middle for a bigger gain because you're WR's (X and B) have pulled all the defenders to the sidelines.

If you expect cover 2, just block with LB and watch the right side of the field. Without hot routing A or B the safety on the right side will have to cover both routes and as soon as B breaks out...hit him for an easy big gainer. However, the problem with this route is that against cover 3 you can leave yourself without an open receiver and forced to throw into coverage or take a sack. To prevent this you can send receiver A on a vertical route...this should take the safety with him and open up receiver B even against Cover 3. Or, you can switch receiver A to a drag route and B should still get open against cover 2 (just not as wide open) and you have A as your bail out option against cover 3.

Expert tip: If you run this play a few times, or throw to the WR running the B route a lot during the game, your opponent will Spotlight him and the safety will follow him over making a pass to receiver B difficult to complete. This is great news because now if you hot route A to a vertical route he'll run right by the D for a fairly easy deep completion. You just have to watch for the Safety following B to the right in a cover 2 zone and it's there for the taking.