It’s the best time of year! The new Madden is out, and we can stop playing with bootleg rosters and janky schedules. As always, there aren’t a ton of changes this year, so take a look at last year’s article, and then we’ll go over a few changes in Packers Madden strategy for the 2022 season.

Offensive Strategy

  • This year’s adjacent playbooks are the Dolphins, 49ers, Rams, Vikings, Broncos, Bears, Falcons, Browns, Jets, and maybe Patriots who are reportedly going to try to run their own version of the offense using an ex-defensive coordinator to call plays.
  • This year’s offense, with Adam Stenavich as OC, will likely have a lot more gap running and just running in general. In the franchise I’m running, I’ve ended most games with a run/pass ratio around 50/50 and several with fewer than 200 pass yards.
  • The big question is how to use both Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. So far, I’ve made Jones the started RB and Dillon the starting FB and then made Dillon the 3DRB and power back. It’s certainly not perfect, but they end up with about the same number of touches.
  • The next question is who to make the starting slot WR. You can make it easy and put Lazard and Watkins on the outside and Cobb inside, but it’s more realistic that Cobb will only be the slot on passing downs and Lazard on run downs with Doubs outside. The only way to really manage this distinction is to use formation subs and pick and choose formations based on down and distance.
  • There are several players who could use a ratings change. AJ Dillon’s speed score is probably low, and his receiver ratings are embarrassing. Doubs’ isn’t even rated as a top 5 WR on the team. Jones has a respectable speed rating but it’s hard to translate his real life burst to the game mechanics. Lazard also has a respectable speed rating, but we may end up wanting to change this if his reported weight loss translates into more speed on the field.

Defensive Strategy

  • Defensive playbook is hard because the only real differentiation is in formations and fronts and the Madden people seem to pay close to no attention to the Fangio’s trees actual formation usage. The Packers’ playbook does have the double A-gap, 2-4,  and 3-3 “penny” (called Cub in the game) nickel formations but there is no BOSS front which could be the team’s most used pressure front. The closest thing Madden has to a BOSS front is nickel triple. Use this with Quay on the LOS.
  • The Packers use a lot of Cover 3 Buzz, Cover 4, Cover 6, and Cover 1 (man).
  • They rarely blitz, and when they do it’s usually 5 rushers on a third and long.
  • I’m using the Penny front a lot with Quay as one of the edges as my base front. This lets you use a lot of unique pressures, stop the run, get more interior d linemen on the field, and rush the edge with a guy who can legitimately drop into coverage.
  • I increased Quay’s finesse moves grade and that was it for the defensive players. The interior d linemen are probably too low to a man, but I’ll wait and see how the ratings adjust during the season on that. I’ve never witnessed a Packers team with a truly dominant front so I don’t want to create one until we witness it in real life.

Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan currently living in Utah. You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.

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