Overview

The Golden Dollar is a formation designed with a singular purpose in mind: stop the deep ball at any cost. Using eight defensive backs this formation will stretch the depth of any NFL roster to the limit, and with three linebackers in the front most plays will have zero pass rush. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I only use a few plays in this formation, and they're all pretty much variations on the same theme, covering deep but with slightly different focuses on particular aspects, such as protecting the sidelines, exclusive deep coverage, QB spying, or making sure every eligible receiver is man covered. Besides defending the two minute offense (or maybe the 30 second offense, an offense could easily move down the field in a two minute hurry up), using Golden Dollar as an occasional surprise against pass wacky opponents may create some turnovers when the QB doesn't know how to react to no pass rush and panics, forcing the ball into coverage. Just don't expect this tactic to work more than a few times.

emptyemptyemptyemptyFSemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyFS2emptyemptyemptyempty
emptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyempty
emptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptySS2emptyemptyemptyemptyemptySSemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyempty
CB2emptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyCB1
emptyemptyemptyCB3emptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyCB4emptyemptyempty
emptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyROLBemptyMLB1emptyLOLBemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyempty
emptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyemptyempty

The formation is symmetric and balanced. Every play will use at least some zone, though most mix in some man coverage by the cornerbacks as well. With this many defenders in coverage using a good mix of both is a luxury Golden Dollar can afford. Having a DB isolated deep is pretty unusual with eight DBs in total, but just in case I use the typical convention of putting the best CBs on the outside. They give quite a good cushion because there's really no way in Madden to force them to make the deep ball their #1 priority on every play. Putting them back deep prevents the CPU from having your players gamble when you don't want them too. If they do get beat deep they should at least cover long enough for safety help to get there over the top.

The biggest problem with Golden Dollar may be that if there are any injuries in the secondary most teams will be forced to make an unpleasant substitution, such as putting a LB in at safety. When the opponent is going to be bombing away deep the last thing you want is to have a LB in deep zone coverage. There isn't much to do about this other than use manual control to cheat a slower defender deep. For season mode you may want to add an extra DB (or two) to your team's roster.

Plays

Golden Dollar - Mega Prevent

Mega Prevent

The ultimate Hail Mary defense. No pass rush, but who needs it? Beating this coverage deep is next to impossible.


Contact Arkaein with any comments or questions regarding the Monstrous Madden Playbook.