One long overdue addition to Madden 20 is new Hail Mary plays. EA Sports has used the same generic Hail Mary plays for a decade with all of the wide receivers running straight down field with no real plan.
The NFL is a complex league and coaches are paid lots of money to put their players in the best position to win. The 3 new Hail Mary plays in Madden 20 are much more reflective of plays that would actually be called on Sundays.
While we aren’t allowed to show any screenshots or videos of the game, we can describe the new plays to you.
Play #1: Hail Mary
The first play is closest to the old Hail Mary’s in Madden. You have 3 wide receivers on the right side of the field running streak routes.
The running back stays in to block while the one receiver on the left runs a very deep post route to join the other 3 players on the right side of the field.
Play #2: Goal Post
This is probably the coolest of the new additions. You have 2 receivers on each side of the formation with your running back staying in to block.
All your receivers run to the deep middle part of the field for a jumbled deep throw where you hope that one of your receivers catches it cleanly or a defender attempts to knock the ball to the ground and it instead lands in one of the other wide receivers’ arms.
For clarity, all of the routes on this play are basically angled streaks. The players make no cuts or moves, they just all run at an angle straight toward the deep middle of the field.
Play #3: Shot Save Clock
The final Hail Mary play has 3 wide receivers to the right side of the field with one wide receiver on the left. Your running back is in the backfield but runs a delayed option route.
Your 1 wide receiver on the left side of the field runs a simple streak route.
On the right side of the field, things are more complicated. The outside most wide receiver runs a 15 yard corner route. The inside most wide receiver runs a 5 yard out route while the receiver between them runs an incredibly deep 25 yard corner route.
You’d call this last play if you might want to throw it deep, but you also might want to take what the defense gives you and get out of bounds quickly.
The play looks to be loosely based on the Minneapolis Miracle from a couple years ago.
More Noteworthy Information
You will not be able to use motion on any of the 3 Hail Mary plays but you will be able to use hot routes. You also will not be allowed to audible out of the play once you pick it (even to one of the other Hail Mary plays).
The plays “Shot Save Clock” and “Goal Post” have multiple unique routes that cannot be found in any other play in Madden 20.
It is still way too early to tell, but there might be some creative Madden players out there who could use the default play with a few hot routes and turn these into money plays.
Are you excited about the new Hail Mary plays in Madden 20? Share your opinion in the comments section!