Madden 24 - Arizona Cardinals Playbook
The Cardinals Playbook has a lot of unique stuff that fit what me (Litez) and Sickness really like. Brobeans hates it as you'll see at the end of the review lol.
But what makes the Cards book very tuff is first of all their Gun Duece Close. It's 1 of the few books that has the Post Wheel play. This playbook also has 1 of my favorite runs in the game. Singleback Tight Doubles doesn't have a stretch but I think the passing plays are definitely good enough to cook something up.
It also has a ton of 5 Wide Formations, including Sickness's bread and butter Gun Empty Trey Stack. I was a Empty Trey Stack hater last year because I hated that you couldnt block in it. But this year you can! You can motion block now which imo makes it that much harder to defend. And its a 3 WR personnel so it's easy to audible around.
Litez's Top 3 Favorite Formations in Cardinals Playbook Madden 24
Gun Deuce Close - Dominant Run Game possibility with good pass plays
Gun Empty Trey Stack - Was amazing in Madden 23, potential to be great again + can block now
Singleback Tight Doubles - found in a ton of books. For only having 6 total plays, they did a lot with a little for once. Great routes as far as all the Posts you need, Just missing a Corner route on the left but Slot App will fix that. Biggest thing it's missing is a Stretch run.
More Thoughts & Analysis on the Arizona Cardinals Madden 24 Playbook by Brobean
- SB Tight Doubles
This is a nice under center formation with some really crazy routes. Think of Gun Tight Doubles out of the Steelers book, just under center. Shallow cross has a skinny post on the weak side. Motion him to the doubles side and you have a deep corner. Pa Boot has a corner and post going the same way. That post is a little deeper than we’d like, but can still be utilized best vs. man. The play Under has crossers from both sides. Main issue with this formation is a lack of run game. Also, have to be careful of blocking heavy pressure.
- Pistol Tight Slots
An old favorite that has never become meta. PA post shot is always really good. Since you can block the TE, this formation becomes way more dangerous this year. In-breaking and deep in-breaking routes from compressed sets seemed really good in the beta. This play is a great quick snap money play that can be set up multiple ways. You also have read flat wheel which, from Gun Deuce Close last year, was a nightmare and caused EA to patch it. Bench switch rounds out the main plays in the formation. May have some legs this year once HRM QB’s drop. Still missing quite a few things to make it a full scheme but can definitely be annoying.
- Gun Deuce Close
Post Wheel is a very underrated play. You can run it stock and quick snap it and it’s really good. The post will get under a middle third. You have a drag working underneath with the post. The swing by the rb and post, work well to open a space up the seam for the wheel by the strong side TE. Lastly, the pivot route by the weak side TE. You can freestyle this play to give your opponent different looks and can also flip and quick snap it. Also has read flat wheel and a read option run. The play corner n go’s has two pivots. If this formation had bench it actually could be a very tough under the radar scheme.
- Gun Empty Sets
The Cards book boasts 4 Empty sets. If you love Gun empty’s this might be the book for you. For Trey Stack, Rich set the Madden world on fire last year by popularizing this formation. We’ll have to see how defense plays out this year, but it’s still a nice formation with unique spacing and routes. Empty HB Wide has the play Seams Y Corner. On the trips side, you have the inside slot WR on a corner and an angled post from the opposite side. A nice play that can be set up multiple ways to beat man and zone. Empty Chips Quads is intriguing. You basically have a trips look with a 4th WR (RB) on the same side. If these blue routes can block, could be fun.
Overall Thoughts: To be quite honest, this has to be one of the most questionable playbooks in the game. Nothing really stands out. I didn’t touch on Gun Bunch, but only because there’s other books that have a better version.
Grade: C
