Additional Shopmaster Tip: The one additional tip I will give is that you don’t always have to move the guys right up to the line and sometimes you don’t have to do it manually but with linebacker and offensive line shifts. I find that if I don’t move a player manually my opponent is less suspecting of a blitz than if I manually move him to a spot. If you do move someone manually practice manually moving someone not blitzing but falling back into a zone closer to give the appearance of a blitz, this way they will never know when you are blitzing or playing zone. Always try to keep your opponent guess, that is a big key to playing defense for myself.
In the Virtual Playbook for Madden NFL 10, we take a look at over 45 different blitz packages that you can take right off the page and into your game. You can attack via the A or B blitz gaps, or by using overload and outside blitz techniques. Let’s take a look at a couple of our favorites.
3–4 Normal—LB Storm 3
The 3–4 Normal—LB Storm 3 by default brings inside pressure from the LILB without having to do anything at all. If we want to get outside pressure, we can get that as well with just one pre-snap adjustment.
All we need to do is hot route the ROLB to blitz. Instead of him blitzing at an angle towards the LT, his blitz angle is straight.
Instead of the LT blocking him, he will block the RE. If you want to make sure this happens, move the RILB closer to the LG.
Typically, the LT blocks the RE. The ROLB is left unblocked, and now has a clear path to the QB.
4–3 Normal—Weak Slant 3
The 4–3 Normal—Weak Slant 3 has the defensive line crashing to the left side of the offensive line, while the MLB and LOLB blitz towards the right side of the offensive line. You are not really going to get a lot of pressure with this setup.
We like to generate pressure by overloading the right side of the offensive line by crashing the defensive line towards the right side. We then shift the defensive line to the left. We hot route the LOLB to blitz and then shift the linebackers to the right. Last, we hot route the RE into a buzz zone. All these steps can be done quickly while in control of the RE.
Once the ball is snapped, we manually rush the RE towards the outside to draw the LT out. Once we see him looking to block us, we release the RE and have him drop back in the curl flat area.
Because he’s keeping the LT occupied, the LT won’t be able to help block the heat coming from the overloaded right side of the offensive line. The LOLB is unblocked and goes after the QB.
For more blitz setups you can use to put immediate heat on the QB, be sure to check out the Virtual Playbook at http://www.maddentips.com
August 24th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Nice!