Strong Close Y-Trail is UNSTOPPABLE

For all of you who think their is a counter to everything, Im sure their may be.. But just hear me out..

I just lost a ranked game 72-65 to the Michael Vick team, and the guy ran 2 plays the entire game: Strong Close HB Off Tackle and Strong Close Y-Trail. Im sure many of you have seen this before as have I, but I had never been so frusterated before with the game of John Madden football in my life! Some of the throws Michael Vick makes are just inhuman to say the least, because last time I checked he couldn't throw a dime on the run across his body 40 yards down the field. But on to this guys scheme.

He comes out in Y-Trail every single play of the game, and has HB Off Tackle in his audibles.. At the beginning of the game I was knew exactly what to expect, and I was right.. He had over 600 yards of offense in this game, and dont say to "D up" or something like that because you just have no idea.. As soon as he snaps the ball he rolls left, and his first read is the guy on the fade, which was Desean Jackson.. Now I came out in Cover 4 and 2 Man under, BACKED UP THE COVERAGE, and he was still able to bomb it deep and have Jackson outrun everyone and get under it for a huge gain.. So after I start usering that he starts hitting the quick slant which is open vs man EVERYTIME, and once I started jumping that he would just hit the trail route.. So I get into Cover 4 and user the middle, at which he then starts hitting his fullback Harrison out of the backfield in the flats.. Not to mention he is mixing in HB Off Tackle in this which prevents me from playing f@g D.. So at one point I called something and it locked up all of the routes, so I am thinking FINALLY, but no I forgot QB SPYS are COMPLETELY BROKEN.. He just swirved one time and it was like Will Smith broke his ankle.. So I start putting two spys, and he is still getting 10+ yards every time he scrambles.. So I start contain D'ing him, and Jackson breaks the press of Tracy Porter three times in a row, for huge gains.. So I back up my coverage, but Jackson still gets by him.. I mean seriously, their is NO DEFENSE that can stop this play if run correctly and the right reads are made..

Sorry about the HUGE rant, but oh my god I haven't been this mad and frustrated at a video game ever before in my life.. I tried every defense possible: Cover 4, Cover 3, Cover 2, Cover 2 sink, Contain D, Over Storm Brave, 2 Man Under, 2 Man Press, you name it I tried it.. That is why I think their is no way to stop this play for 4 downs in a row if the right reads are being made by the offense

So Im asking, have any of you ever ran into someone who Y-Trails the entire game?

Oh, and I am officially done playing the Eagles in Madden.. Michael Vick is like Jesus himself and is so glitchy its like he's got his own animations, Lesean McCoy breaks DT tackles like its nothing, last time I checked he was more of a speed guy, and DJ and Maclin catch everything thrown within a 50 yard radius because of their speed.. And he had some weird black guy at TE I had never heard of before, but he was uncoverable on the trail route because of his speed..

y trail isnt unstoppable by any means.. is it a good play yes... but u just got to send heat, and take away his first read, and hope vick doesnt make a cross bodied dime 50 yards downfield

WasItTehChad wrote:

y trail isnt unstoppable by any means.. is it a good play yes... but u just got to send heat, and take away his first read, and hope vick doesnt make a cross bodied dime 50 yards downfield

Yea I started doing that but it seemed like no matter what he always had someone open.. If I ran man I had to user the fade or else it was a TD every time because the corner doesn't react to the route AT ALL.. But then that left the quick slant, trail route, and Harrison in the flats.. But thanks for the advice.. I tried your cover 4 1 man heat and it got their a couple of times but he was able to either his Harrison in the flats or squeeze it in between like 4 defenders to Jackson on the fade.. My head is spinning I've just never been able to not stop one play like that, especially when I knew it was coming every play of the game

wanna hear the solution play man coverage and back them up gg trail is locked.

GunfusedX wrote:

wanna hear the solution play man coverage and back them up gg trail is locked.

Tried that but it didn't seem to work.. I did that then user'd over the middle for the quick slant, but then the trail route would be open, and if I tried to jump the trail route he would hit the flat route.. Not to mention his progressions were:
1. Fade
2. Middle
3. Scramble and swerve past all the QB spys

Does anyone else think spies are broken in this game?

lol defense was not high on the priority list ...lol but then I read on, Y trail ia a play that by nature wreaks man and murders a regular zone. What i would suggest would be to pick your favorite zone (cover 3 or cover 2) the one you feel most comfortable defending a deep pass with.

then you could contain the left side to stop vick,

if in a cover 3 then put the OLB on the weak side in a hook zone . Lurk with the FS

if in a cover 2 try putting the left CB in a QB contain or you could man him up on the left WR. Lurk with the weak side olb


this setup plays off of the fact that the Y trail is basically a follow concept, it isnt the 1st cut that is dangerous but its the 2nd cut. The thing is that if you stop the roll out to the left you cant throw the 1st cut late. So the throw must go to the 2nd cut. But the thing is that u should be in position to play both


since im not at my console I cant just say that this will work but its a place to start, tweak what doesnt work

set contain d up to the left put a pruple on the left de and lurk the middle .

d@mn colonel, I ran every defense I could think of in the game, but I never once thought of going into Cover 3 and putting the corner who was in the flats (on the opposite side of the fullback, the one by the fade) of manning him up on the fade and then just running base cover 3 and take away the middle.. Ever get caught up in the heat of the game thinking that nothing could work, but then after the game when you think about it for a while, you end up thinking of something (or in this case, told something) that when you think about it would have worked perfectly? This is one of those moments haha.. Thanks for the advice man!!

not to mention y trail is undercenter Ac3r you can punish vick for that, contain d with pressure from the middle. when i go up againt vick, i use LB contain from the 46.it stops screens and whenever the moble Qb takes a step out that pocket the pressure is on automatically, take the spy and hook zone him, this makes it harder to throw up the middle.basically this play will keep vick in the pocket and force him to play a stable QB game.

YngClassic wrote:

not to mention y trail is undercenter Ac3r you can punish vick for that, contain d with pressure from the middle. when i go up againt vick, i use LB contain from the 46.it stops screens and whenever the moble Qb takes a step out that pocket the pressure is on automatically, take the spy and hook zone him, this makes it harder to throw up the middle.basically this play will keep vick in the pocket and force him to play a stable QB game.

Thats what I wanted to force him to do was to take long methodical drives down the field but I was getting so mad and impatient I just kind of lost my thought process haha.. Thanks for the advice appreciate it

it happens to me sometimes, but the important thing is, you learn from it. good luck bro.

Y-trail one of my favorite plays! I don't run it exclusively though.

I tell you what, that toss + adrian peterson+vikings stacked left side of the o-line=automatic TD and hell on the field.

I've never had someone use this against me, but this gives me something else to use with the Eagles

I have the Eagles in C4.

thanks for the heads up on this Acer.

~Mili

Its hell to defend, but now I think it can be contained (to a certain extent).. BUT if someone were to have Y-Trail, Off Tackle, and the Quick Toss out of Strong Close, and they new how to run each one and knew WHEN to run each one, i dont even want to think about how bad that would be to defend haha

Th3 Ac3r wrote:

And he had some weird black guy at TE I had never heard of before, but he was uncoverable on the trail route because of his speed..

im gunna say it must have been C. Harbor @ TE i believe hes 84-87 speed, i know he def faster than celek, sometimes when im the eagles and i plan to run from spread sets i throw this guy @ WR so i dont really lose the ability to pass but have some more beef for the run game, and i agree that those play combos really grind my gears!!! but only with a mobile QB,

teams i dont like to play against online
RAIDERS!!!!!!(self explainitory)
SAINTS(graham/colston RC + plus bush/henderson super fast!)
RAVENS (D is rediculous and for such slow WR's they somehow get it done and get open? rice is a monster)
COWBOYS (cb's can RUN! WR's are all FAST, all world TE, King felix/Barber are a great combo)

ive been playing with the broncos and puttin up a metric crap ton of points on O and their D can match up nicely with just about anyone...WANG will prob attest to this but DEN is def somewhat of a sleeper team, i run the PITT O with these guys and their personel is just perfect for it!

BTW great GOTW bro you really surprised a lot of people , i wish i could RC as consistently as you ! you got that on lock bro GREAT JOB!

king_jason2 wrote:

Th3 Ac3r wrote:

And he had some weird black guy at TE I had never heard of before, but he was uncoverable on the trail route because of his speed..

im gunna say it must have been C. Harbor @ TE i believe hes 84-87 speed, i know he def faster than celek, sometimes when im the eagles and i plan to run from spread sets i throw this guy @ WR so i dont really lose the ability to pass but have some more beef for the run game, and i agree that those play combos really grind my gears!!! but only with a mobile QB,

teams i dont like to play against online
RAIDERS!!!!!!(self explainitory)
SAINTS(graham/colston RC + plus bush/henderson super fast!)
RAVENS (D is rediculous and for such slow WR's they somehow get it done and get open? rice is a monster)
COWBOYS (cb's can RUN! WR's are all FAST, all world TE, King felix/Barber are a great combo)

ive been playing with the broncos and puttin up a metric crap ton of points on O and their D can match up nicely with just about anyone...WANG will prob attest to this but DEN is def somewhat of a sleeper team, i run the PITT O with these guys and their personel is just perfect for it!

BTW great GOTW bro you really surprised a lot of people , i wish i could RC as consistently as you ! you got that on lock bro GREAT JOB!

Haha thanks...

Yea I CANNOT STAND to play the Raiders or Eagles online.. When someone scrolls to them it really grinds my gears!! haha I always think about backing out but I know I will have to face them a lot in any tournament (or even the GOTW) so I just take my medicine and play them..

And yes, now that you said his name I remember it was Harbor.. The dude was outrunning my corners on the trail route and I had never heard of him before so I had no idea really what to do to stop him..

Manually back up your corner or like Gunfused said back up your whole secondary, I would blitz or contain my corner on the te side, and spy both dts. Lurk and watch for the wr running the crossing route... but backing up your secondary will lock up the slanted streak route, and a lot of the times if you try to quick pass against a defense thats secondary is backed up the qb throws the ball high.

I play a guy in a fantasy franchise who has Cooley @ TE, Bush @ HB & Harvin @ WR. He runs this play all the time and I can't find a way to stop it. I tried just going against the stock Redskins and couldn't do it.

Cooley breaks open his route 99% of the time. I've tried hook routes, pressure, press, etc. Nothing works. Nobody can get to the QB as fast as Cooley can get open and if I manage to hold him out, then Armstrong gets open. And this is ignoring the HB in the flat.

In my franchise I'm running 46, so I tried using 46 with the Cowboys. I started with 2 man under and tried zone as well.

Would love some suggestions on how to stop the TE route - nobody seems to be able to cover him in man coverage and he just runs free through a zone.

It's crazy - I've played two ranked games labbing two different books and both my opponents ran exclusively from strong close and this play was their go-to. I know it's a good play, but it must have been presented on a web site as a tip.