In case you and I haven’t met yet, I’m Manu – your Madden gameplay mentor. I promise I won’t bore you with useless info about me. I just need to share a quick story that holds a valuable lesson for you. When I was on the hunt 9 years back for the best offensive playbook I didn’t have the slightest clue as to what to select. I all I could hear was the angel on my shoulder. “Well the Eagles are my favorite team so let me choose the Eagles book.” Please please please don’t use the same reasoning that I used to.
I didn’t realize it at the time but, I completely wasted 3 years of my Madden time living under a rock. Thank god I discovered something pivotal at the end of those 3 years that altered my view of Madden forever. I promise I’ll share that life-changing gift with you after I give you the inside scoop.
Here Are Your Top 5 Best Offensive Playbooks In Madden 23:
- Patriots
- Colts
- 49ers
- Bills
- Rams
1. Patriots
The Patriots offensive playbook contains the 3 best offensive formations: Gun bunch, Gun trips TE, AND Gun Y Off Trips Pats.
The Gun Y Off Trips Pats, also known as u-trips, is only found in this playbook.
Then it has a top 3 Gun trips TE with a very good run in quick base. Also, it has all the necessary crossers and corner routes required to run a high-level offense.
This playbook is a super custom (a playbook where you add your own formations) and dream come true for versatile pass-heavy players.
2. Colts
Their gun bunch offset may be the best offensive scheme in the game. The Colts playbook has great plays like speed dig, pa read, and mesh post. It’s the best to play though… man oh man.
Over at The Madden Academy, I break down a money play called (Bunch Trail) Bunch Trail absolutely slaughters man coverage abusers (some even question their existence after playing Bunch Trail).
Defensive perspective: “WHY THE HELL DOES NOTHING WORK VS THIS DAMN PLAY??” And well, even though they may not question their existence playing it… its an ultra-lethal play to say the least.
Overall, competitive players are crowning Colts bunch scheme as “the super custom for bunch users.” If you are looking for a historically strong formation in Madden to run and love to pass, make sure to check out this book.
3. 49ers
I did not forget about you run-heavy guys either. The 49ers easily have the best offensive playbook for those who are looking to slow the game down and control the clock.
Make sure to check out strong close, i-form close, i-form slot close, and single back wing flex close. These formations have very effective runs like stretch and dive.
The reason these runs are better than other runs is that they develop fast. Other runs in Madden have slow handoffs so more time for the defense to shed.
4. Bills
I was the biggest influencer (Manu) behind the Trips TE meta (Next Gen) in Madden 18-21. So I am biased but Trips TE (especially in Bills) is still one of the best formations in the game.
Over at The Madden Academy (Strategy Site), I break down why Trips TE became meta and why it’ll always be meta. It’s essential you select formations with the best routes and I go into great detail on what the best routes even are.
For purposes of the Bills playbook, the “Wr short post” is a really unique play in Trips TE. This will be the first time Trips TE has ever had a short post route from the “x” wide receiver.
I teach my students that you need to seek out posts when selecting a playbook because they slither by man and roast zone. Some of this may sound like a foreign language to you right now but keep reading till the end and everything will be crystal clear.
5. Rams
The Rams playbook may be the most complete offensive playbook in the game. Their single back is loaded with 15 formations including a few formations that are usually good like Y trips, duece close, and wing flex close.
Then it still has one of the better gun bunches in the game. Now at the start, I promised you a life-changing gift. Make sure you keep reading as the true fun for you starts now.
Your Next Step To Becoming A Competitive Player Even If You Work 70-Hour Weeks Or Barely Know The Controls
(Skipping This Will Set Your Madden Game Back 20 Years)
You and I (Manu) have a lot in common. Let me share a quick backstory that’ll make your Madden life 10x easier moving forward. Like you, 12 years ago I was searching around for some help on the game.
I was made to believe learning money plays was the best way to become competitive. I mean shit, all you saw on Youtube was “UNSTOPPABLE 1 PLAY TOUCHDOWN GLITCH VS. EVERY COVERAGE.”
It wasn’t until I met my mentor “AthleticCedes” that my entire view of Madden shifted. This guy was winning cold hard cash off the game.
And I the time I was pretty good if I do say so myself (Madden 25). I was consistently ranked top 5 on the head-to-head leaderboards for 3 years.
From my shortsighted view then, I thought I was the best player ever. Then in Madden 25, I matched up with the gamertag “AthleticCedes”
He was different from everyone else I’d ever matched up with. And when I say different, I mean I had to be playing with the second coming of Madden Jesus
What Your Game Will Look Like If You Learn The 12 Fundamentals From A Credible Competitive Player
His reads were superhuman. 20/20 laser vision like a fictional superhero from a movie.
His receivers parted like the 7 seas rendering my user useless as each receiver was perfectly spaced out (great route combinations). His pocket presence is impeccable. Enough time back there for a calm relaxing family picnic.
His defensive schemes were so beautifully engineered and disguised that a prophet from 2050 couldn’t predict what he was doing next. His defenders came in multiples. All his DB’s stalked my WR’s like a crazy ex-girlfriend.
His user defender moved so eloquently and freely that it could have passed for a figure skater in the Olympics. His adjustments were so precisely timed and lockdown that he might as well have been living in my head.
Yeah… the guy was pretty good. I didn’t set the record for my most points lost by or anything. Confused and bewildered, I just had to speak to this guy one on one. How can someone be that good? I wanted to be that good.
I needed to have those 45 minutes of fame where the game starts and every exterior thought unrelated to Madden vanished like a ghost.
How do I reach that 45 minutes of the zone? The one that transports me to a seemingly different dimension where I am just untouchable?
What if it was possible to erase the personal hardships of reality and be transcended into a mode of invincibility?
Why Listening To Random Youtubers Is Handicapping Your Madden Game
Luckily, Athletic accepted my party invite so we could chat. What he told me overrode all 4 years of previous knowledge that I accumulated from all my favorite Madden Youtubers.
I realized everything I had ever learned from any Madden Youtuber was as useless as Shaquille O’Neal at the free throw line.
“Manu get to the fucking point!!” Sorry guys, I have ADHD.
Anyways, he told me there was an entire undercover world of competitive players. So more guys like him with the superhuman reads, play calls, and adjustments.
But what was most alarming, none of those competitive players he mentioned did Youtube so I had no one credible to learn from. Even worse, the few competitive players I later found were teaching the game the same damn way everyone on Youtube did.
The difference was the competitive players knew that the money plays were not their secret to success…
However, the last thing they wanted to do was reveal their strategic fundamental secrets to the public. They knew it was the fundamentals separating them from the rest of the world.
So releasing e-book money plays was the feasible option because they still got paid without releasing their secrets to success. They were afraid of getting passed up. Plus, the money plays change every month.
So if I were to have bought 4 e-books per year for the next 10 years to keep pace with the everchanging metas, it would have cost me $1000 to not even strategically learn the game.
Will they sometimes give you a quick boost in confidence for a couple of games? Sure. But to me, buying e-books to fix a problem with losing games would be like leaning on hardcore drugs to overcome the loss of a best friend.
You may get a short high but at what cost? Does it actually solve your problem or does it mask it? I may have gotten a couple more wins with an e-book but what would’ve happened when I played another AthleticCedes?
I knew ebooks would completely impair my ability to think for myself so I wasn’t going to step foot down that treacherous path. AthleticCedes wasn’t going to teach me step-by-step how to master the fundamentals either…
The Strategic Fundamentals You Need To Brutally Expose Money Play Spammers
However, he got me headed in the right direction and from him, I learned what I needed to know :
Basic knowledge of each zone defender’s responsibilities.
Conceptually understanding how to attack every coverage.
Building a solid base scheme to start games with on defense.
Correctly reading defenses before and after snaps to determine my upcoming play calls.
Pocket presence mastery to buy more time.
On-the-fly adjustments.
And best believe there was much, much, more. I knew it would not be easy trying to figure everything out on my own but I was still a young kid at the time with loads of free time.
My plan was to throw myself into the fire and just start playing money games vs. everyone. Fast forward a decade or so.
This is not to brag or boast but to show you have I have the proven track record to coach you up to be the next big competitive player, but I became a well-respected 3x professional champion.
Pioneer and Inventor of 5 of the hottest offensive and defensive schemes including Trips TE.
Featured On EA’s Livestream in front of over 60,000 viewers.
Co-Star of the CW’s (popular TV network) documentary for Madden.
Mentor of over 210 beginners and Madden vets including now mega-superstars like Chibatti Mitch (the world’s biggest Madden streamer) and several of the world’s top players
It’s Time For You To Take Action Now And Get My $95 Madden 101 Course For Free
The best part is I documented my entire journey step-by-step for you.
So you no longer have to guess and be unsure. It’s time to learn what it takes for you to transform into that Madden killer that is locked inside of you.
So you can finally experience those transitions into “invincibility mode” to escape the stress of real life. For those 1 or 2 hours of downtime per night, your thoughts on the world around you are cut off.
And it’s just you focused on kicking the absolute dog shit out of that braindead money-play spammer who used to kick your shit in. Imagine how satisfying it would be to do that on a nightly basis every time.
Now it’s your choice. You can attempt to figure out everything on your own, and continue to guess at what actually works.
Don’t ignore this guaranteed to-work camp with a treasure trove of knowledge. My step-by-step strategic fundamental systems work for most beginner-level players and players who work 70-hour a week on their Madden 23 game.
Your time is valuable so why attempt to figure out everything on your own? Get yourself over the hump by enrolling now over at The Madden Academy.
See you on the inside.
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