Playbooks

Bench

Shotgun·Deuce Close·12
BenchPass Play
Play diagram for Bench from Shotgun Deuce Close in Madden 27

Quick Reference

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Breakdown

Bench is a two man route concept out of Shotgun Deuce Close that isolates both outside receivers on vertical breaking routes off the line, with the two inside tight ends running bench routes (out cuts) at a shallow depth underneath. Both outside routes stem upfield and break outward toward the sideline near the numbers, stretching the field horizontally while the tight ends occupy the flat and hook zones. This is a zone beater at its core, designed to flood one side or work high low reads against zone drops, with the primary progression starting at the outside vertical breaking routes before working down to the bench routes underneath if the top of the coverage squeezes.

Defensive Reads

Read the safeties pre-snap, two high shells invite the outside vertical routes to work against soft zone coverage Watch the flat defenders at the snap, if they sink too deep the bench routes underneath will be wide open for an easy completion Man coverage with no help over the top is vulnerable since the outside receivers can stack their defenders vertically before breaking Cover 2 with aggressive corners jumping the flat routes can jump the bench concept, so be ready to climb the vertical stem instead Blitz heavy fronts with man coverage behind them will get exposed if the quarterback gets time, since both levels of the route combo create natural pick opportunities

Usage Tips

Use pre-snap motion or a hard count to bait linebackers into showing their drop zones before the snap

Attack Cover 3 and Cover 4 shells since the high low combo on each side stresses the flat defender and the deep third defender at the same time

If the corner sits deep and outside, hot route the outside receiver to break earlier or convert to a comeback to beat aggressive zone drops

Pair this call with Bench X Dig or RPO Read Y Jab Flat in your play sequencing so the defense has to respect both the vertical stretch and the quick underneath game

Best used on second and medium to second and long where zone coverage is more likely and you need a chunk gain over the middle or toward the sideline

Other Plays in Deuce Close