Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 12 playbooks
Breakdown
Bench out of Pro I Form 21 personnel is a three level flood concept designed to attack zone coverage sideline to sideline. The X receiver runs a bench route to the left corner, the flanker on the right runs a matching bench route to the boundary, and the slot Y runs a vertical seam with the HB releasing up the middle on a wheel or seam behind him, creating high low and horizontal stretch on both sides of the field. Primary read progression starts with the flat to corner combo on either boundary depending on the leverage of the corner, then works to the seam vertical route if the safety bites down on the flood side, making this a strong zone beater against Cover 3 and Cover 2 shells.
Defensive Reads
Key the flat defender on the bench route side, if he sits underneath and does not widen, the corner route window opens instantly. Watch the safety depth pre-snap, a single high safety cheating toward the seam route tips off man coverage or Cover 3 rotation. Post-snap, track any user controlled defender dropping into the flat or sitting in the passing lane of the seam, since Madden AI zone drops can be baited but a user lurk will jump the bench route. Cover 4 and Cover 6 shells with two deep safeties shut this down quickly by taking away both bench routes over the top, forcing the quarterback to hold the ball and check down to the HB seam. Watch for linebacker blitzes up the middle, since the seam route from the Y and HB release can be disrupted by a nano blitz if protection is not adjusted with a hot route or chip block.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap identify whether the defense is in a two high or one high shell, since Bench is built to punish single high defenses that rotate a corner into the flat late.
If you see Cover 3, throw off the flood side where the corner sinks under the deep route, hitting the bench route in the void before the flat defender can react.
Against Cover 2, hot route the outside bench route into a corner or fade to climb over the cornerback before the safety can rotate over the top.
Use this on second and medium to long situations where defenses expect a longer developing route concept and are willing to sit in zone.
Pair Bench with Quick Slants or Curls in the same set to keep the defense honest, since both attack underneath zones quickly and set up the deeper bench concept later in a drive.
