Playbooks

Playbook

Shotgun Mix

Other

3Formations

35Sets

390Plays

Overview

Shotgun Mix is a specialty playbook built on one idea: you never leave the gun. 378 of its 390 plays (97%) come out of Shotgun across 32 different sets, which is about as concentrated as a playbook gets in Madden. The remaining 12 plays are situational tools only: 9 out of a single Goal Line Offense set and 3 Hail Mary plays across 2 sets. There is no under center dropback game, no I Form power series, no Singleton or Pistol package to fall back on. Everything you do lives at 5 yards deep with your eyes already downfield.

What you get in exchange for that narrowness is set depth. 32 Shotgun sets spread across 23, 11, 10, 12, 20 and 13 personnel means you can show the same alignment shell with completely different bodies on the field, which is where Shotgun Mix actually wins games. The concept list is broader than most gun-heavy books: Power Run, Counter, Toss and Dive give you a real inside and outside run game (FB Dive out of a heavy gun look is exactly the kind of play opponents do not prepare for from a Shotgun book), while Play Action, Spot, Flat, Motion and Cover 3 Beater route families cover the passing tree. 22 Shallow Sail is the template for how this book attacks: heavy personnel, a shallow crosser to beat man, a sail route to sit down against zone.

Choose Shotgun Mix over a balanced book when you want every single snap to start from the same base look and you would rather learn 32 Shotgun sets cold than split reps across four or five formation families. The payoff is pre-snap tempo. You can no huddle out of a Shotgun set into another Shotgun set with different personnel, keep your audible package tight because every audible is a gun audible, and never telegraph run or pass by alignment depth. Goal Post out of Hail Mary and the 9 play Goal Line Offense set are your only two escape hatches, so budget them for end of half and inside the 3.

Scheme Fit

Shotgun Mix wants a quarterback comfortable reading from the gun on every snap, ideally with enough mobility to escape interior pressure since there is no under center pocket to retreat into, plus high Throw On The Run and Play Action ratings to make the Motion and Play Action concepts real. The 23, 20, 12 and 13 personnel groupings ask for a fullback or blocking tight end with strong Impact Blocking and Run Block ratings, and a back with acceptable Catching and Route Running so your 2 RB looks can threaten Flat concepts instead of just running Dive. Pick this book if you are a tempo and no huddle player who prefers mastering 32 sets inside a single formation family over rotating through five formations, and if you are willing to live with a 9 play Goal Line Offense set as your entire short yardage identity.

Example Plays from this Playbook

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Strengths

Formation disguise at a level other books cannot match: with 32 Shotgun sets across 23, 11, 10, 12, 20 and 13 personnel, you can run Power Run and Counter out of heavy looks and four wide Spot concepts from a nearly identical quarterback alignment, so opponents get no depth or backfield tell.
A legitimate Shotgun run game (Power, Power Run, Counter, Toss, Dive) including FB Dive, which means the standard answer of dropping a safety and playing pass against a gun heavy book gets punished on the ground.
Audible package efficiency: because 97% of the book is Shotgun, every audible slot you fill is a gun play, so no huddle tempo never forces you into an unfamiliar alignment or a wasted formation flip.
Motion and Play Action concepts paired with 2 RB and 3 TE groupings (23, 20 and 13 personnel) let you shift and motion into unbalanced looks, then hot route the extra tight end to a flat or seat route to attack the vacated area.
Cover 3 Beater and Spot concepts are built in rather than improvised, so you have answers to the most common user zone shell without needing to hot route your way out of a bad call.

Weaknesses

With only 3 formations total and 97% of the plays in Shotgun, an opponent who has seen one series knows your quarterback depth every snap and can set his user defender depth and blitz timing accordingly.
No under center football at all: no true play action from a seven step drop, no I Form or Strong power series, so goal line and short yardage rely entirely on the single 9 play Goal Line Offense set.
The run game, while real, is all Shotgun mesh point runs (Power, Counter, Toss, Dive), which are slower to the hole and easier to blow up with interior nano pressure than under center gap runs.
Hail Mary is only 3 plays across 2 sets, so your end of game desperation package is thin and predictable once an opponent has seen Goal Post.
Heavy personnel sets in a gun only book invite opponents to press and cheat coverage to the field, since your 23 and 13 groupings cannot threaten with vertical width the way a 4 receiver look can.

Usage Tips

Build your audible package entirely from Shotgun sets and make sure it spans personnel: one 11 set for base first down, one 10 set for third and long Spot and Flat concepts, and one 12 or 13 set for short yardage Power Run and Counter, so you can flip looks without leaving the gun.

On second and short to medium, reach for the heavy Shotgun looks out of 23, 12 or 13 personnel and run Power, Counter or FB Dive; opponents conditioned to expect pass from a 97% Shotgun book will be light in the box.

Save Play Action for after you have committed to the Shotgun run game for a drive or two, then use it from the same 12 or 20 personnel Shotgun set you have been pounding to pull the user safety down.

Use the 9 play Goal Line Offense set strictly inside the 3 yard line and on fourth and inches, because it is your only non Shotgun snap and burning it early shows an opponent your entire short yardage answer.

Keep Goal Post and the Hail Mary sets in the package only for end of half or end of game situations with no timeouts; with just 3 plays there, you get one clean look before it is scouted.