SBNation's 'Ultimate NFL Play' Eases the Pain of Madden 20's Stretch Hellscape

First off, as always it needs to be said that Jon Bois is a national treasure who needs to always be protected. Breaking Madden will remain a seminal part of the Madden experience no matter how many years pass, and it should be a part of any historical Madden discussion. It’s a part of the lexicon in my book.

Okay, with that out of the way, I’m still waiting on part two of this series, but if you guys still have not seen part one of creating the “Ultimate NFL Play” then take the time to indulge in the 23 minutes here. Kofie Yeboah is the star of the show this time around, and he knocks it out of the park. He talks with a Madden pro, analyzes what he thinks makes up a great Madden play based on his own Madden experience (then clowns himself), and just carries us through most of this entertaining video as the narrator.

There’s so much here to scope out as we get shots of a bunch of old Madden games, and it shows off a game I have not thought about in years in NFL Head Coach 09. Jon Bois of course adds in with a patently stupid formation and play that works better than it should, but really this video is even more about looking back at more of these old Madden titles. In this case, they use NFL Head Coach 09 to eliminate most of the user element, but it has all the fixings of a Breaking Madden, but now with better production values and even more care devoted to making Madden look absurd.

Look, I imagine any “stretch” play you want to pick from your favorite formation would be the play of choice this year in Madden NFL 20. For whatever reason, the Madden team has mostly chosen not to nerf stretch plays even though they remain overpowered. But that’s why it’s fun to just look at all the hilarious stuff you could create in Head Coach. I know people still yearn for more customization options in this year’s game — namely an ability to edit some of the cookie cutter playbooks — and so this is a reminder about some of the stuff you could pull off in these older games.

Plus, I just got a bunch of laughs out of it.