INTRODUCTION
Pistol Strong has quickly become my favorite run scheme of Madden 23. It takes me back to my college days when I watched my Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets run Paul Johnson’s electric flexbone offense. Just like that offense, when this offense is rolling, it’s the most fun you’ll have playing Madden.
Now, the reality we also have to confront with this scheme is that running the ball is TOUGH in Madden 23. O-line blocking logic is the worst it’s ever been, and you will have some plays where your run SHOULD work, but an offensive lineman will simply fail to acknowledge the defender lined up directly across from him. Until EA patches the blocking logic, this is a challenge we will inevitably face at times when it comes to running the ball. Because of this, it’s important to be able to pass the ball as well. With the passing game in mind, I’ve decided to make this Ebook in the Run N Gun playbook as opposed to the Pistol playbook or Ravens playbook, both of which have a more robust selection of Pistol Strong run plays. The Run N Gun playbook has two primary benefits for us:
It allows us to use the play Z Spot, which is the best passing play in Pistol Strong and can only be found in the Run N Gun playbook
It gives us the option to use Gun Trips TE, one of the best passing schemes in the game (which we also have an Ebook for here on the website)
If you feel comfortable with a passing scheme in the Pistol or Ravens playbooks, then by all means take this Pistol Strong scheme and feel free to build upon it in one of those playbooks. However, it’s my personal opinion that both of those playbooks will put you at a disadvantage when passing the ball. In a perfect world, this scheme will have you running the ball every single down and you won’t even have to think about passing (and in some games that will be the case). But when the games get tough, the passing options provided by the Run N Gun playbook will give us the best possible chance of winning our games.