West Coast Scheme - Singleback Bunch Swap

[SSBlitz]

Hey guys,

I just joined the maddentips forums, but I've been following it long enough to appreciate the collaboration that goes on among the members. Much respect to guys like JerseyJay and Michura, who have motivated me to do a quick breakdown of my own scheme.
A little preface about myself, I abuse practice mode in Madden. So much so that I play it more than games, and prefer it that way. I'll just put on some music, get ripped, and run the same formation for an hour. I like finding formations that have the preset audibles so that I don't have to use any slots.
Here's my contribution to the community. I figure I'll add a twist and include pictures, in case any of you are more visual learners. Let me know what you think, and I might do more.

Singleback Bunch Swap
This formation is found in the West Coast and Seattle Playbooks. The West Coast ideology is to use timing in the passing game to help open up a run game. The formation has a bunch on the strong side of the line and a single wideout on the opposite side. This makes it easy to pre-snap read whether the defense is in Man-to-Man or Zone coverage. The Swap version puts a TE in a three point stance on the line, with two wideouts off the line on either side.
The formation audibles are:
Up - Spacing (The play I call from huddle)
Down - Inside Zone
Right - Seattle
Left - Inside Zone PA

Personnel
I'm a die hard Redskins fan, and have came up with this scheme to use with them. I sub in Mike Sellers (FB with 80 catching) in at the TE spot. I love throwing to him in the middle so he can run over safeties (like this http://ballhype.com/video/the_redski...kenoy_kennedy/ ). Then I sub Chris Cooley in the slot and Devin Thomas (big receiver) at the right side. This makes for a very big bunch that dominates run and downfield blocking. Santana moss is the single wideout for his speed and release on the slant route. This also comes up as 2 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE to the defense, but acts more as a 4 WR set.

Man Defense - Spacing
Spacing just kills man-to-man defense. The only change I make is to hotroute the right-side receiver to a fade. This helps on four levels: 1) He sometimes bumps off the TE's defender. 2) He gets open for an easy throw early. 3) He attacks and stretches the SS back. 4) He's in perfect position for downfield blocking on a TE dump-off. So it looks like this:

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25
This is against basic 2 Man Under defense. No BnR. Too easy. Here is your post snap read, Moss kills the slant route and Sellers is open too.

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25
You'll notice the LB that's covering Portis will clear the middle when he sees CP26 blocking. Sometimes a linebacker stays in zone coverage, but that means the TE will be open (his defender will be on the HB). But without BnR, Thomas will be open too. He cuts around Cooley's defender, and when you see him plant his foot like in this picture, throw the ball to the sideline (hold stick right). It's a very easy catch.

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25
In Bump and Run, your single wideout is still the best option. But if he gets locked up, Sellers is still wide open (I haven't seen him get bumped from the three point stance yet). You'll see #11 getting bumped in the picture. If you hit the FB before he curls, he'll catch in stride and kill a safety.

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25
Flood Right is also pretty good against man, if you want to switch it up and attack down field. The right-side receiver gets his coverage bumped by the other two crossing around him.

[SSBlitz]

Zone Coverage - Inside Zone
This is what we have been setting up for. When the defense gets frustrated of getting beat Mano-y-Mano, they'll switch to Zone. JerseyJay has a good zone busting throw here: http://www.maddentips.com/forums/sho...7&postcount=20 that works perfect for the Seattle play. But our homerun hitter, surprisingly, is Inside Zone. That's right, a run. Zone will keep the defense spread around the field, but we're heavy on run blockers on the right side. Paired with offensive zone blocking, this is too easy. In practice, I get a 30 yard touchdown on this play 50% of the time. You'll see the cornerback line up outside the bunch. Here's the play:

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25
Just get the handoff and lay off the sprint button as you run towards the line of scrimmage. Like this:

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25
Then when you get to the line, cut right and start sprinting. Hopefully you see it like this picture. If you can't get a touchdown from here, something's wrong.

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25

[SSBlitz]

5 Man Front - Quick Pitch
This is another great run against Zone coverage, though it sometimes works against Man too. I especially like it when I see a 5 man front, like in the 4-3 Under. You'll notice in Bunch Swap version of the Quick Pitch, as opposed to the regular Bunch, that the TE (Slot WR) pulls down and lead blocks a lot better. Here's the play, notice the 5th man cheating in.

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25
Sellers just tunes this guy in the chin. Cooley comes back and starts lead blocking. A funny thing about this play: if you don't sprint, he'll keep leading. When you make your cut and start sprinting (around the numbers on the field), he'll pick up the closest defender. As soon as you sprint, he picks up a guy, so keep that in mind with the trigger. Sometimes it's a 5-10 yard gain, this one looks like a TD.

By cdross23, shot with DMC-TZ5 at 2009-08-25

So there it is. I sometimes work in the HB Counter play when the defense starts zone-overloading the right (It auto-subs the FB to automotion). And there's everyone's favorite Power O when the defense starts cheating on the HB Counter.

Another fun thing about this playbook, especially with the Redskins, is that you can run it no huddle. Run it 6 or 7 times, then sub Randel El at far left WR, Davis at TE, Yoder at FB, Betts at HB, and Kelly at right WR. A bit crappier, but their defense will be so winded that it's easy no-huddling another 5 or 6 plays to really kill them.

[J_Good]

Great work especially from a noob . I have been one to practice during my online matches because the only wins that really count are tournament wins IMO. But this year especially i have been doing heavy practice mode sessions on occasion. I am currently working on some of my own personal schemes that will be soon to be put up. A few involve the new shotgun formations that were added into the book this year. Michura practically took the words out of my mouth when he did his far close twins writeup, but the guy is a legend of these forums.

All in all great work, and its nice to see that people aren't just stealing schemes but more are giving their own input.

[classic]

very good write up man keep it the good work

[SSBlitz]

I'm about to fall off the main page, so I have to post again.
I'm not sure if that's frowned upon, but I don't care. This thread is better than all the "which playbook is the best?" and "what are some unstoppable plays?" threads.

[wavygravy2k]

I'm not sure how to watch this video: ballhype.com... It's difficult to tell where to click. I clicked on the big red circle and got a bunch of pop-ups. I clicked on the link and it required a megavideo login.

Maybe it was taken down or something?

[BakaGaijin]

Excellent post. The pictures help a lot. I wonder though about that spacing play. Will it only be effective with the Bunch Swap formation due to the 3 point stance? I have this same play in my PB but is just the regular Singleback Bunch version. I'll give it a shot regardless but was just curious if you knew

[SSBlitz]

Originally Posted by BakaGaijin

Excellent post. The pictures help a lot. I wonder though about that spacing play. Will it only be effective with the Bunch Swap formation due to the 3 point stance? I have this same play in my PB but is just the regular Singleback Bunch version. I'll give it a shot regardless but was just curious if you knew

I haven't tried with the regular singleback bunch version that much, so I'm not 100% of all the differences. What I have noticed is:
1) The TE or FB in the three-point stance hasn't been bumped at the line yet.
2) The Quick Pitch play is slightly different. You'll see the slot receiver (Chris Cooley here), has a longer line to the right instead of going straight up.
3) You can't sub a FB into a WR spot. Since the swap puts a TE on the line, you can put a FB there and then a TE (or two) at the WR spots for a bigger, stronger, bunch.

[GAV]

Very nice. Solid writeup. Easy to follow.

[BakaGaijin]

Originally Posted by SSBlitz

I haven't tried with the regular singleback bunch version that much, so I'm not 100% of all the differences. What I have noticed is:
1) The TE or FB in the three-point stance hasn't been bumped at the line yet.
2) The Quick Pitch play is slightly different. You'll see the slot receiver (Chris Cooley here), has a longer line to the right instead of going straight up.
3) You can't sub a FB into a WR spot. Since the swap puts a TE on the line, you can put a FB there and then a TE (or two) at the WR spots for a bigger, stronger, bunch.

Good stuff man. I've been playing around with this using the regular bunch and here is what I can observe right off the bat:
- The spacing play works just like you describe. I have not had my insider receiver get bumped at all even though he is not in a 3 pt stance. I love how that fade HR distracts the TE's defender allowing him to get out to the flat easier.
- In my PB (DET) there is a BIG package for this formation which puts a FB in at the outside WR spot, TE2 at the slot and TE1 at the regular TE position. Still gives some great blocking on run plays. I use the bears they have 2 pretty decent TEs so it works
- You are right about the quick pitch from regular bunch. I actually dont have a play called quick pitch but it is call toss crack which I think is the same thing. It is a great play if run to the left but sucks balls to the right. Not sure exactly why
- I have found that I can't always count on that man/zone read tip. I had times where the CB was lined up a little outside my right WR but it turned out to be man

Anyway, for those who like this scheme but dont want to use the West Coast PB, most of it works from the regular singleback bunch formation

[SSBlitz]

Originally Posted by BakaGaijin

- I have found that I can't always count on that man/zone read tip. I had times where the CB was lined up a little outside my right WR but it turned out to be man

That's true. I lab this against my cousin a lot, and he knows enough now to Man align or man unalign (Y and right on left stick on Xbox). I guess it would be pretty cheap to not have a counter to the pre-snap reads a compression offense lets you have.

[SSBlitz]

Originally Posted by wavygravy2k

I'm not sure how to watch this video: ballhype.com... It's difficult to tell where to click. I clicked on the big red circle and got a bunch of pop-ups. I clicked on the link and it required a megavideo login.

Maybe it was taken down or something?

Ya, I got that popup too. But if you close the window, you'll see the play button on the video again is green. Click it again and it'll play (good quality too).

[ncskinsfan]

Dude, I incorporated this into my playcalling and it is the truth. Made a guy concede last night 28-0. He had Philly. Good stuff. I started working on some near formation things as well last night. Sub D. Thomas for Randle-El on the left. Audibled to Iso then fly audibled (right stick right) to the fade route. 27 yd score to Thomas in the corner.

[SSBlitz]

Originally Posted by ncskinsfan

. 27 yd score to Thomas in the corner.

Gun Snugs Flip - Bench. Hit Thomas on the post out route. I had 4 TDs with him my last game, three on this play (the other on singleback tight - slot corner)