Every Thursday, a leader in the community will share a tip or two to help you improve your Madden game.  Next up is Bangpow, co-owner of the popular sports gaming fansite ConsoleSports.net.  Here's part two of his two part tip on screen passes.

Screen Passes vs. Blitz Packages

Throwing screens against the various blitz package requires good timing and patience. If you see a blitz coming don’t panic, just let the blitzing defenders get as close to you as possible before throwing the ball.  If it’s a man blitz, chances are you can get good yardage as the WR’s take the DB’s downfield and there’s going to be less defenders to beat since some extra ones blitzed.  If it’s a zone blitz, there could be DB’s sent on the blitz opening up huge running lanes downfield or again, you could have your beefy lineman taking on smaller DB’s and LB’s which can also pave way to decent gains.  However, since the defense is blitzing and a couple of your lineman are pulling outside, you are greatly elevating the risk of a sack or a bad pass.  Also, if it’s 3rd and long and you have a suspicion that they are bringing the house, be sure to call that screen pass out of the shotgun formation to give yourself some time in order for the screen pass to be set up.  The nice thing about the RB screen passes is that you can still get a decent throw off while throwing off your back foot.  So, if the blitz is in your face and you happen to still be dropping back, you can still get the pass of to the back.  It might float a little more, which can be a good thing in certain situations if he’s not ready for it yet, but the pass won’t miss him completely and you still have the ability to possibly gain some yards.

WR Screens

WR screens can be very useful and very dangerous at the same time.  They can be run against man or zone coverages, but when called against a man coverage the risk level ratchets up quite a bit.  They can also be a little harder to pull off on an SDTV since the outside WR’s are generally out of the view area of the TV, so a lot of times they are thrown “blind”, so to speak, which makes the risk of throwing INT’s go up.  All that aside, once you get it going, it’s a nice play to have in your arsenal.  The key to the WR is timing.  You want to take a 3-step drop and fire it off to your WR.  If you have good blocking WR’s, like the Steelers do, the WR’s will seal off the defending DB’s creating a nice running lane for your WR.  As mentioned earlier, throwing them against man coverage is high risk, but can also reward with huge gains and even TD’s.  The reason why is if the lineman and other WR’s take care of their defenders, it leaves your WR almost all alone with the opposing teams safety, if you can get past him, you can pretty much take it to the house.  You have to watch out, though, NFL teams have taken notice to how important the safety position is to their defense and there’s a lot of hard hitters out there like Troy Polamalu, Adrian Wilson, and Roy Williams.  These guys have the ability to lay the wood and they will if necessary.

Screen Pass Tips

- As with try anything that may be new to your or uncomfortable, be sure to go into practice mode and see how screen plays react to certain defenses. Try them against man coverages, zone coverages, and different blitz packages and see how many times certain plays work vs. not working. 

- Don’t panic!  The defenders are supposed to get to your QB rather quickly or else the play won’t work.  Try to get the timing down between how close they can get to your QB while allowing your QB enough time to throw the ball.

- Even though screen passes may not work against your opponent, it doesn’t mean they were ineffective.  If you show the fact that you are willing to throw a couple screen passes a game, it keeps the defense on their toes for the entire game, even if they stopped them when you ran them.  It makes the defense think about them a little more on 3rd and Longs, which can create passing lanes down the field.

- Keep in mind that while they can work, they are far from money plays and you won’t always get the outcome that you desired.  Practice will go a long way and they are nice additions to your offense.  They give opposing defenses something else to think about and if used correctly, can keep the defenses guessing.

- One last thing, remember that a lot of times you are throwing backwards passes, and if the RB doesn’t catch the ball and it his the turf, it could result in a fumble.  Don’t let that deter you, though, a lot of times the ball is being thrown forward, but I wanted to make you aware of the risk of a fumble.

Don’t be a afraid of the screen pass.  Even though there’s some risks involved,  they are also very rewarding.  Give them a try and feel free to stop by your favorite forums to tell us  how your doing.  And remember, practice makes perfect.