Unconventional Plays that work

[ultimatum77]

Another recent one I've used it the SIngleback trips 3wr hb slam (in the default balanced playbook). Late in the game it's good to use to run the ball and also motion wr's or Heavy TE (if you sub him in) for extra run blocking you can get 5-7 yards easy and run the clock.

Idk if I remember talking about this one but I-form single (1wr) PA is great if you have a scrambling qb. All the WRs/TEs/HBs have routes running to the right of the field while you can scramble to the left and pick up 20 yards or even take it to the house. I've taken it to the house using Mariota on a 80 yard run on all-madden just by allowing 5-10 seconds for the routes to develop and taking off. I then truck sticked the safety and went the distance lol. Just be sure you are close to the sideline incase you fumble as qb's tend to fumble more often if they try to run/truck stick opposing defenders.

[158.3]

Hello, guys,
especially ultimatum77 !

Many of the things, you wrote, sound to me like a science fiction
Trying to play on all-madden too, but probably i am just a lame duck in the hands...
I have 2 simple questions for start:

1. On defense playcalling screen there is tab upper left, named "Man Lock" with 2 buttons W (on) & R (off).
Pushing either of them, i have feeling , that nothing happens (i.e. the both options are deactivated)...does anyone use them at all ?
2.When on defence in the 1st second after snap you can choose "commit to the run/pass" with Left Shift+Arrows.
Imho even after right decision (mainly on 3rd downs and long with commiting to pass) i can't see any difference in gameplay...
What's your opinion ? Does it make sense to play around with this ?

[jose21crisis]

Hello, guys,
especially ultimatum77 !

Many of the things, you wrote, sound to me like a science fiction
Trying to play on all-madden too, but probably i am just a lame duck in the hands...
I have 2 simple questions for start:

1. On defense playcalling screen there is tab upper left, named "Man Lock" with 2 buttons W (on) & R (off).
Pushing either of them, i have feeling , that nothing happens (i.e. the both options are deactivated)...does anyone use them at all ?
2.When on defence in the 1st second after snap you can choose "commit to the run/pass" with Left Shift+Arrows.
Imho even after right decision (mainly on 3rd downs and long with commiting to pass) i can't see any difference in gameplay...
What's your opinion ? Does it make sense to play around with this ?

1. Man Lock does have an effect. With it ON, defenders follow their assigned defender in man pre-snap. With it OFF, they don't follow the receiver and will probably switch assignments if needed.
2. Commit to the pass when the D does a PA pass, your players won't follow the fake. Commit to the run against a Counter gets your guys moving faster to the ball carrier.

[ultimatum77]

Hello, guys,
especially ultimatum77 !

Many of the things, you wrote, sound to me like a science fiction
Trying to play on all-madden too, but probably i am just a lame duck in the hands...
I have 2 simple questions for start:

1. On defense playcalling screen there is tab upper left, named "Man Lock" with 2 buttons W (on) & R (off).
Pushing either of them, i have feeling , that nothing happens (i.e. the both options are deactivated)...does anyone use them at all ?
2.When on defence in the 1st second after snap you can choose "commit to the run/pass" with Left Shift+Arrows.
Imho even after right decision (mainly on 3rd downs and long with commiting to pass) i can't see any difference in gameplay...
What's your opinion ? Does it make sense to play around with this ?

I never really use those options but when I have I think like jose21 said for the manlock you can also use the playmaker button and arrow keys along with some other buttons to shade a particular WR like if you had Julio Jones you would want to roll/shade coverage to double him on deep routes. I've only used those options maybe 2-3 times in my whole time playing madden so I don't really know. I usually just stick to the press receivers, DL shifts, stack the box, LB shift movements when playing my base defenses.

I have a certain set of favorite defensive plays that work and I usually stick to those. I get pretty blitz heavy unless I'm playing a qb like Brady or Rodgers who have a high awareness rating. In that case I usually stick to cover 3 coverages and average 3-4 picks per game while mixing in some zone blitzes/random blitzes in the game. I have actually mentally mapped out the sort of coverages I should use based on the qb and play tendencies of the CPU on All-madden default sliders. Certain qb's like Peyton Manning (before he retired), Brady, Rodgers, Ryan, and especially Luck (notice the trend is pocket passers) are easy to get picks off of if you call a base 3-4 or 3-4 over cover 3 (btw this is using the balanced D defensive playbook (my personal favorite)). The weakness in this defense is when you deal with scrambling qb's they are a real pain because they look through their reads then take off or the move well in the pocket which can lead to defenses breaking down (sort of like what Mahomes does in real life). To combat this I usually have my DT on player lock control (I manually control him) and pre-snap use playmaker audible for him to play a mid zone/standing like a MLB so in case the qb starts to run I can contain him to a 3-4 yard gain. The other key you need is speed in the secondary because if they get the ball to a seam in the coverage well its usually over for you if they run after catch....haha. However the most they can put up on you if you have this coverage with good defensive play calling is usually 14 points and at most 21. Not stellar defense but also not too bad in today's age of air attack offense.

[ultimatum77]

Apologies for the long post 158.3 lol. All you need to know is to look for tendencies to play All-madden default sliders effectively. Sort of weird but I naturally tend to look for patterns in everything in life lol so once you figure out the pattern/tendency you basically have the computer in checkmate. Especially when it comes to play timings like when is the optimal time to take off with the qb once a play action fake and the routes develop? You can take off right away and get 10 yards or you can wait till the routes develop 85% of the way and then take off for a 20-30 yard gain just by delaying a bit longer in the pocket. It sounds weird like madden analytics but it is true if you have played the game for over 19 years you tend to notice it.

[158.3]

I play the game for an year and half. So excuse my incompetence.
2 more short questions.
You wrote somewhere on the forum about hard pump fake. Which buttons are responsible for this move ?
Second - is it possibly to assign any particular defender to cover given offensive player ?
In other words - if i want to assign my MLB to double cover the best opposite WR (together with CB by default) how to do this ?
As far as iam aware, there's no way.

[rambolz]

1. Man Lock does have an effect. With it ON, defenders follow their assigned defender in man pre-snap. With it OFF, they don't follow the receiver and will probably switch assignments if needed.

For three years I have been wondering what the purpose of that option is and never noticed anything different whether it's off or on. Thank you for this post

[jose21crisis]

I play the game for an year and half. So excuse my incompetence.
2 more short questions.
You wrote somewhere on the forum about hard pump fake. Which buttons are responsible for this move ?
Second - is it possibly to assign any particular defender to cover given offensive player ?
In other words - if i want to assign my MLB to double cover the best opposite WR (together with CB by default) how to do this ?
As far as iam aware, there's no way.

ut77 knows more about pump fakes than I do, but I know a bit about the 2nd. You can't default to double coverage over a certain receiver unless you use one of the "Double Z" or "Double Wide" plays. A tactic you could try is using the "Defensive Assignments". There you can specify a defender to always line up against a certain receiver on every play that man is called. I use it when my CB1 or CB2 is good as a slot corner. What you could do is use "Defensive Assignments" to line up your best CB against the opponent's best WR, your SS against the oponent's TE and the ROLB against the HB. With that, you should be able to call "Double Z", then use pre-snap adjustments to align your defenders with their assigned man, which will move the SS to the box covering the TE, the ROLB to the middle of the formation to cover the HB, and CB1 and the closest defender in a man assignment (Hopefully the MLB) to the WR1. You could try that, see how it goes.

[ultimatum77]

I play the game for an year and half. So excuse my incompetence.
2 more short questions.
You wrote somewhere on the forum about hard pump fake. Which buttons are responsible for this move ?
Second - is it possibly to assign any particular defender to cover given offensive player ?
In other words - if i want to assign my MLB to double cover the best opposite WR (together with CB by default) how to do this ?
As far as iam aware, there's no way.

Sure man no problem. All keys I am referencing are on the stock pc keyboard madden configuration with the left shift key only edited as my playmaker/highlight stick.

For the regular pump fake just press the G button/letter on your keyboard. For a hard pump fake press an arrow key along with the G button/letter simultaneously (depending on what direction you want to pump fake it such as left for a pump fake left, right for a pump fake right and up arrow for a generic "deep" pump fake). I find the pump fake after I roll out of the pocket is the most effective especially on play action where I roll to the opposite side of the fake run. Another good time to pump fake is directly after the snap hitting the G button then throwing a dart throw to your WR in the endzone. That little pump fake (you can use hard or regular but it's most effective when you do a hard pump fake)....will stall the DB enough to cram a pass into a tight window. This works especially well on curl routes if the db is good but not great and you run towards the sideline with a pumpfake to move him off your wr and throw back across your body to the WR curl (best if the WR is on the same side of the field you are scrambling towards but I've even completed "prayer throws" across my body to the opposite side curl WR route (weird I know but sometimes it works).

Jose21 answered your second question well, all I would add is to get to the defensive assignments click escape key on the keyboard and go to the "strategies button click it>drop down menu shows defensive assignments then scroll through the particular player and defensive position you want to assign by right clicking on the name of the offensive player and selecting your DB/LB/S on that particular player.

[ultimatum77]

Forgot to add for man-to-man coverage if you want a particular linebacker or safety to cover a particular WR/HB you can player lock/control the player then hit the playmaker/highlight stick key (left shift key for my configuration setup) and arrow key simultaneously before the snap to assign to a particular player. I believe the same thing is applicable when I played with a gamecube and xbox gamepad using the playmaker/C-stick pressing down and the regular motion/movement stick as left/right/down to assign a player to a particular person. You can also double team a player using this option as well even if they are already assigned a person in man coverage.