I read the passing guide that was posted by Legionaire. He has some good points, but I prefer to do things a little different. The first thing I did when I started playing Madden 2000 was go straight to the practice mode. The reasons are quite simple I wanted to study each and every play to (a)get an idea of what that plays objective is (b)determine what that plays strenghts and weaknesses are against various coverages and fronts and (c)most importantly execute the play over and over again in practice, so when game time rolls around I'll have confidence in calling that play in any given situation.

For starters, it's not enough to just pick up the controllers and start throwing the ball all over the field without any real idea of what the play is designed to do. You'll be disappointed everytime. Like the real NFL this game is a SIMULATION. Pilot's use flight simulators to obviously become better pilots and according to "American Football Coach Magazine" some coaches use football video games to work on clock managment. When coaches design plays for their teams they have specific reasons and situations in mind for each play. They ask questions like; What's the down and distance? Will they blitz or play zone? How can I isolate their slowest linebacker on my fastest wide receiver? Coaches don't draw up plays and say here you go try this it looks good. They are carefully thougth out in design, purpose, and executed relentlessly in practice. Since Madden 2000 is a SIMULATION of the NFL, we are the coaches. We need to understand the ENTIRE offense and defense as do NFL coaches.

It's very important when breaking down all player assignments in a specific play, you must determine what that play is designed for and who is the play primarily designed to get the ball to. On the practice field take note of all the player assignments. Most pro style passing offenses are broken down into 5 categories: 3, 5, and 7 step drops; playaction and screens. Knowing these little details will help you in determing the plays purpose. A pass play requiring a 3 step drop is designed to get the ball out quickly on a slant or quick out. Playaction passes are primarily designed to fake out or hold linebackers and safeties for just a split second allowing a reciever to get open behind their coverage. A perfect example of this was the week 1 Dallas at Washington game. In overtime on a 3rd and short situation Dallas lined up in the I formation with two tightends. This is a predominately run formation and since 3rd and short is a normal run situation the Cowboys used these two elements to "Bait The Hook". On this play Troy Aikman used a playaction fake to draw up both Redskin safeties allowing Raghib Ismail to get wide open down field for the game winning score. As you can see from this example knowing what type of pass play to run and when to run it is very important.

Now lets look at a play that can be found in most team playbooks in Madden 2000. For my example lets analyze the play "Pro Form Normal Curls". In this play the X, Y, and Z receivers all run 8 to 10 yard curl routes. The quarterback takes a five step drop while the halfback's route is to the flat, the fullback is kept in as an extra blocker. This plays purpose in my opinion is good for 1st and 10 to 2nd and medium to 3rd and 6 type situations.

Now that I have a general idea of the plays purpose and all the player assignments, next I determine who is the primary receiver and what are the idea coverages the play works best against. Looking back at the player assignments the X receiver's 10 yard curl route would be the logical choice for the primary receiver. Why the X and not the Z, Y, or HB? It's quite simple, curl and hooking type patterns are very effective vs zone and man coverages. However linebackers and short zone defenders usually get pretty good depth in their zone drops if there is no one threatening the short coverage underneath. This is the primary purpose of the halfback running the flat route, to attack the underneath coverage creating a void for X's curl route. Since there is no underneath threat holding the short zone defenders on the other side it would be somewhat difficult to get the ball to the Y or Z receiver. Against cover 2 the flat route route forces the corner (who is assigned to the flat) to roll up to take away the halfback. Since the safety is defending deep this usually leaves a nice void in the zone for the curl route. The same logic applies to other coverages such as cover 3 cloud and sky. Also the flat route is a good route to throw to if the defense blitzes.

As you can see from this example knowing the purpose of each player's assignment is crucial in football. All great NFL quarterbacks like Brett Favre, Steve Young, Dan Marino and others know exactly what every player is supposed to do and why he's supposed to do it. Once you understand why and what a player is doing on the field you'll be more successful at passing the ball on the Madden and All-Pro levels without having to adjust the AI to increase QB accuracy and such.