Run a sweep to the wide side of the field, for example lets say your going to the right side. Start out sprinting and push the black button (R2 on PS2?) to change hands with the ball. Now when your getting close to the defender let go of turbo and tap the spin button while aiming to the right side. You will get that reverse spin animation that gets you past your defender. Also if there is a blocker and a defender, instead of having to cut left a bit to set up the block just give them this reverse spin. Lab it up and see if it works for ya. I’d imagine this works best with guys with high agility. I use LT so it may not work for every RB.

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the 2008 Kickoff Weekend national primetime television schedule on Monday.

For the fifth consecutive season, the defending Super Bowl champion will open the season by hosting the NFL Thursday night season kickoff. The 2008 regular season officially opens on Thursday, Sept. 4 when the New York Giants host the Washington Redskins at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

The kickoff will be 90 minutes earlier than the start time of the traditional season opener due to the Republican National Convention.

The Week 1 Sunday night primetime contest will feature a rematch of of Super Bowl XLI, with the Chicago Bears at the Indianapolis Colts at 8:15 p.m. ET. It will mark the Colts’ first game in their new home, Lucas Oil Stadium.

The first Monday night of the 2008 season will feature a doubleheader for the third consecutive season. In two matchups of division rivals on Sept. 8, the Green Bay Packers will host the Minnesota Vikings at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the Denver Broncos at the Oakland Raiders at 10:15 p.m. ET. Both games will be televised on ESPN.

The announcement of these national primetime TV games was made by Goodell at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.

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The Hit Stick has been in Madden for a few years now, but it only allowed the user in control of the defender to make bone crushing high hits. In Madden 08, EA has given us Hit Stick 2.0.  What is Hit Stick 2.0?  Hit Stick 2.0 allows the user to not only tackle the ball carrier high, but also tackle the ball carrier with a cut (low) tackle.

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If you’re player can drop back to QB contain, then you should be able to execute this simple strategy. What you do is move the DE or the LB to other side of the center then set them to a contain. You should notice they are in a contain to the opposite side of the field they are usually on.

In the case of a DE, just move the cursor off of him and he will reset position. Now you have a DE running a sick blitz angle that will take him straight to the A gap or have him run right into the guard instead of the tackle.

In the case of a LB, they will attack the opposite side of the line they usually would. This adds another angle you can consider when trying to make your blitzes in addition to shift LB left, right, down, spread etc.

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Mike Nolan thinks there are reasons beyond safety for the proposal that could lead to an NFL ban on hair hanging from the back of helmets

“The nameplate is on his back; the number is on his back,” the San Francisco 49ers coach said Sunday, the day before the NFL’s meetings officially begin. “That’s what we want the fans to see. Not his hair.”

This might be a year when fans actually take interest in what owners do at these gatherings. Many meetings are filled with arcane proposals, like changing the positioning of offensive linemen’s arms during blocks. This season, at least, there is some meat among the suggestions.

Or at least some hair.

The idea of banning long hair — players would be allowed to tuck it under their helmets — was proposed by the Chiefs. Kansas City’s Larry Johnson tackled Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu by the hair after an interception in a 2006 game.

Whether the measure will pass is problematic: The Chiefs bring a proposal for a rules change most years, and almost all of them fail to get the 24 votes needed from the 32 teams.

The other rules proposals come from the competition committee, which has more clout. Among them:

» Changing the playoff seeding so that a wild-card team could get home-field advantage in a first round game if it has a better regular-season record than a division winner.

“I like it because it makes teams play out the season,” said Detroit Lions president Matt Millen, a member of the competition committee.

Last year, two wild-card teams with better records went on the road and both won: the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants in Tampa and Jacksonville in Pittsburgh. The Bucs benched regulars for the final game and finished 9-7 to 10-6 for New York, which didn’t need its home field, where it finished 3-5. The Giants won their last 10 road games, including three playoff games.

» Ending the forceout rule on receptions and interceptions. Currently, the play stands if a player is forced out of bounds making a catch. If changed, a player must get both feet down in bounds under all circumstances.

» Eliminating the 5-yard “incidental facemask” penalty. Grabbing the facemask and turning it would lead to an automatic 15-yard penalty.

» Instant replay on field-goal attempts. This was proposed in part because of a game last season in which Cleveland’s game-tying field goal against Baltimore appeared to hit the crossbar and bounced back on the field. It was eventually ruled to have hit the support stanchion behind the crossbar and was good. The Browns went on to win in overtime.

On the business side, there will be discussions on a variety of issues, including the impending labor talks. Some owners have predicted the league will opt out of the labor contract in November, the date for reopening the deal. But despite rhetoric from the union and some owners, league officials note all that will do is set the stage for new negotiations — with no other potential ramifications until 2010, a season without a salary cap if no new deal can be worked out.

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The Setup

4-6 Bear Hero Stunt

1. Crash the defensive line outside (XBOX - White button + R3 + up / PS2 - L1 + R3 + up)

2. Playmaker the right defensive end to play in the flats

3. Pinch the linebackers (XBOX - Black Button + down / PS2 - R1 + down)

4. Playmaker the linebackers to blitz (XBOX - Black button + R3 + down / PS2 - R1 + R3 + down)

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Once the ball is snapped, if you’re controlling the D-Line, you can hit up on the right analog stick and the D-Linemen will disengage from his block instantly. Now, you will also commit to the pass when doing this, so I would recommend trying it only in passing situations. If you have good stick, you can commit to the run first, and then hit up on the right analog stick on the D-linemen will disengage immediately as well.
To utilize this, call some kind of  Defense on 3rd and long and leave only 1 linemen rushing. Control him, break as many blocks as needed, and apply the manual pressure. I, while breaking 3-4 blocks on the play, have sacked a QB with 1 rusher in only a couple seconds using this method

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The 0-1-2 System

The 0-1-2 System is used to teach quarterbacks on all levels how to read pass coverage structure. This same system can also be applied to Madden. By using this system, we are able to read the coverage based on the number of safeties playing the deep middle of the field.

0 (zero) coverage means there is no safety playing the deep middle of the field.  This coverage fits in the zero coverage family. With no safeties playing the deep middle, we anticipate some type of blitz being called. There are only a handful of Cover 0 defenses in Madden where there is no blitz being called such as Double Wide and Double Slot. Those two defenses are Cover 0 defenses, but without the blitz.

1 (one) coverage means that there is a safety playing the deep middle of the field.  This is known as man free coverage. This coverage fits in the one safety family. Much like the 0 coverage family, there is a good chance that some type of blitz is called. Cover 1 and Cover 3 both fall is this category.

2 (two) coverage means that there are two safeties playing the deep halves. There are two types of this type of coverage, man (Cover 2 Man ) and zone (Cover 2) . Cover 2 Man coverage is most used among Madden players because the pass coverage is solid all over the field. Quarters (Cover 4) or a mixture of Cover 2 and Quarters coverages also fall into this category.

Being able to pre-read the pass coverage before the ball is snapped is very important. By knowing what the pass coverage is before the snap, we have a better idea of where the ball needs to go and can make the proper adjustments to maximize the success of the play being called. We also can audible to another play if we don’t feel comfortable with the original play called based on our pre-snap coverage reads.  Being able to pre-read the pass coverage before the snap is only half the battle, we still need to be able to read the pass coverages after the ball is snapped. By watching what the safeties do as soon as the ball is snapped, we can get better a idea of what type of pass coverage is called.

Zero Safeties Coverage Family

During our pre-snap reads or after the ball is snapped, if we see no safeties playing the deep middle of the field, we anticipate that Cover 0 coverage has been called. As we have already stated before, where we see Cover 0 coverage, we expect some type of blitz being called, unless our opponent gives us a reason to think otherwise. Most Cover 0 blitz schemes send more than 2 extra pass rushers.

One Safety Coverage Family

If we see one safety move up and one stay stationary before the ball is snapped, it normally tells us the defense is playing some type of Cover 1 (Man Free) coverage. If zone coverage is called, one safety will rotate over the middle, it’s Cover 3. The coverages may look alike, since the safety plays over the top. However, the underneath pass coverage is different. If the defenders follow the receivers, then it’s man coverage. If the defenders drop straight  back, play the flats, or buzz out, then it’s zone coverage. There are several Cover 1 man defenses that bring at least 1 extra pass rusher. Most of the zone blitz concepts implement some type of Cover 3 coverage. Cover 3 is the most used zone coverage in Madden.

Two-Safeties Coverage Family

Of the coverage coverage families, the Two-Safety Coverage family is the most used. Both safeties split out wide and cover the deep halves of the field. The pass coverage underneath is either man or zone coverage. Most players in Madden, use man coverage underneath as their base defense. 4-3 Normal 2 Man Under, and Quarter Normal 2 Man Under QB Spy are two examples of the Cover 2 Man Coverage.  The reason Cover 2 Zone is not used much is because of the lack of pass rush.

Cover 4 also falls under the Two-Safeties Coverage Family. Instead of the safeties splitting out wide like they would in Cover 2, they cover 1/4 of the field between the hashes and between the yardage numbers. The two outside corners drop back and coverage is between the yardage numbers and the side line.

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The Setup for 4-3 Normal Storm Blitz Play

• Call fake blitz (Y + left on left analog).
• Playmaker LB to diff. zones or DEs to contain if needed.
• User FS to rob TE and support run.
• Pass commit on snap.

This play is designed to create interceptions and sacks against base under center sets (2 RB 1 TE). It also has very sound gap integrity against the run. At first glance, this play actually looks very unsound, or at least it used to in my eyes. But this play is a monster, and if anyone can help me improve it, that would be great. I’ve tried line shifts and crashes and playmakering one of the DEs to contain but none seem truly necessary as of now because it is killing people who try to pass under center on me.

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Deep Attack

Deep Attack can be found in the Shotgun » Trips formation and is in Ravens and other play books. This is a good play for 3rd and 10 when you need some yards. It works well verses The Blitz, Man to Man, and Zone Defenses. Learn how your opponent is defending and we will tell you how beat the defense.

The Blitz: You will soon begin to laugh at Engage Eight(All out Blitz) if you don’t already do. Hit (A) - the closest slot receiver on the SLANT. Being in Shot Gun you will have time to throw a wide open pass to the slot receiver listed as (A). If the Safety is too close to (A), (Y) will be open just to the left. You can also motion one of the left receivers to the right side and audible into a Slant hot route. That is the best way to beat the blitz. Also if you motion someone to the right and send them on a hot route bomb, they sometimes will be wide open for a bomb. If they are still getting in and sacking you, hot route the RB to stay in and block.

Man to Man:
Look for the mismatches and take advantage. You can roll out to the right with the QB and wait for the slot receiver to get open on the slant. As you are looking at him, the middle slot receiver is also coming across the middle. If they are not getting open, you can check down to the RB and toss it out to him on the right. The Left receiver (X) is running a Go route and if he is only getting one on one coverage, take your chance with a bomb now and then.

Zone Defense: When the D is coming out in a Zone and you have room, Deep Attack can be a big play. Roll out to the right and look for (A) or (Y) to find a hole in the Zone. Sit in the pocket and wait for (A) or (Y), toss it out to the RB if he is not covered. Now what about those two outside guys? Don’t they have anything to say about this? Yes. Fake the roll out right by coming back into the pocket and or then rolling out left. Look for (X) to get passed the Zone and throw him and bomb. (Cannon QB’s work best.) Also while you are on the left side and looking at (X), (B) - your #1 receiver, will be coming across on the Deep Post. Aim high and throw a pass to him. Most times a good #1 receiver will get behind the D and or jump in front to make the huge gain.

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