Most Madden 09 players have easily figured out different ways to beat man to man defenses at this point in the season. However, zone defenses remain tougher than ever to beat consistently. The key to finding a weakness in every zone defense is being able to create a combination of routes that compliment each other to get receivers open. For instance, the Gun Bunch HB Str Stick is a play that already provides an overload on one side of the field. What we're going to do in this example is demonstrate how you can use this type of overload to find a hole in your opponent's zone on every play. Take a look at the following images below to learn more in this SportsGamer exclusive tip.
Quick Setup
Step 1 - Hot route the (Y) running back to perform a streak (360 - Y + receiver's icon + d-pad up / PS3 - Triangle + receiver's icon + d-pad up).
Step 2 - (optional) Shift your line protection to the right (360 - LT + right on d-pad / PS3 - L2 + right on d-pad)
Play Breakdown
Cover 3 zone defenses are by far the most popular choice for gamers that don't like playing man to man. In this image, our opponent has exited the huddle having called the Dime Normal Cover 3.
Here's a quick look at what the offensive assignments look like on the field before we have made any pre-snap adjustments.
The first change we make is hot routing the running back to perform a streak. The reason we streak the running back is not only to provide us with a quick read over the middle, but also to force the safeties to drop deeper down the field as we look to hit an open receiver underneath.
The last step of shifting the offensive line to the right is optional. However, we like to use this step because it allows us to slightly roll to our right after the snap to make the throws on the field easier.
As soon as our quarterback takes the snap we begin moving slightly to our right to remain well protected behind our offensive line.
