Gun Bunch

Formation: Gun Bunch

Play: Curl Flat

Setup:

1. Block HB
2. Streak TE
3. Out route B/Circle
4. Drag X/Square

Reads:

1. The out route quickly in the flats
2. The Streak route down the seam vs a vacated middle of the field
3. Deep Corner route vs a cover 2 look
4. Backside drag

Overview:

In the video, I ran this play flipped just to give you a look at what I like to do from bunch and that you can run the same setup flipped if you mirror it. You are going to want to immediately look at the out route and take it if it is there. If not, then you start to work your eyes upfield and look inside toward the tight end. The money route is our deep corner vs cover 2, but you don’t want to stare it down and miss wide open reads earlier in the progression.

Play: Pa Post

Setup:

1. Drag TE

Reads:

1. Drag to the tight end right away
2. High low in the flats between the C route to the left WR and the Drag
3. Backside high low between the slant and the angled route to the slot

Overview:

This is probably the most popular play in madden 18, and with good reason. The play action will help protect you from any blitzes your opponent sends, and then you have a pressure release and multiple high lows that really stretch the defense vertically.

Play: HB Base

Setup: None required

Overview:

This is by far the most dominant run from a gun bunch formation. The reason I love New England’s gun bunch is because it has all the passing plays I want, but it also has the best run from this formation that cannot be found in a lot of other playbooks with gun bunch. You can run base all the way down the field until your opponent accounts for it, and when they do it will leave our passing plays wide open.

Play: Corner Strike

Setup: Drag A/X

Reads:

1. Table route to the HB
2. Drag route to the slot WR
3. The C route to the single WR side

Overview:

This setup is a great 3 man read to the left side of the field. That is the side that we want to focus on because it is very hard to stop all 3 of those routes that attack the same area of the field. If the table route gets overplayed, we have the C route overtop. Those two routes will force the flat routes to jump out to the sideline, leaving the drag wide open behind.

Play: Corner Strike(bomb)

Setup:

1. Max protect, then slide protect to the bunch side
2. Drag X/Square
3. Fade A/X
4. Motion B toward the sideline, hike right before he sets or let him set and then hike.

Reads:

1. Corner route vs cover 3,4,or man
2. The fade route vs a cover 3 or 4 look, pass lead to the sideline
3. The backside drag

Overview: If our opponent is sitting in a cover 3 or cover 4 look, this play will get them out of it very quickly. This is a great one play touchdown that happens because that corner route will bring down the outside third defender and that deep middle third will not be able to get to the fade fast enough. Pass lead it high and outside and it will be a touchdown if given a cover 3 defense like shown in the video. If it is not there, we have our dumpdown drag.

Play: Verticals

Steps:

1. Max Protect, then slide protect to the bunch side
2. Streak the slot WR
3. Drag the single WR backside

Reads:

1. The streak to the slot right away
2. The wheel route quick throw if the flat is not there
3. The deep wheel downfield, pass lead to the sideline
4. Backside drag

Overview:

This is a great play because it has quick throws but can also beat your opponent deep down the field. Vs cover two it puts your opponent’s deep safety in a bind, and forces them to either guard the wheel or the streak. Whichever one they guard, we will throw the opposite. We also have our backside drag as a safety route.

Play: Pats Sail

Steps:

1. Streak the slot WR(we restreak him to get rid of the bad release)
2. Block HB
3. Slant/In/Drag the B/Circle Receiver, depending on what you see from your opponent

Reads:

1. Your TE quick in the flats
2. The streak quick throw
3. A high low between your Post and your B/Circle WR
4. The post route late toward the sideline

Overview:

Pats Sail is a great play because you have a post that is unguardable vs zone and also kills man. That is the route that we base the setup around, and all the other routes on this play are built to either open up the post or for the post to open up the rest of the routes. Once you throw the post late to the sideline a few times, your opponent will overcompensate for it and leave all the other routes open.