Choose "Whip Man" from the 4-3 defense. When your team lines up, move your linebackers to the right and linemen to the left. Hide your left linebacker (after shifting) behind your second linemen from the left, who should be lined up over the offense's tackle. Move the center linebacker over the offense's right guard. At the snap of the ball, have the left linebacker blitz to between the offense's left guard and center, getting him right to the quarterback. If done correctly, even a running back blocking should not be able to stop you.

Complete the "Game Situation" challenges in mini-camp mode. The Cheerleader or Pump Up Crowd Cards for the team used will be unlocked.

Unlock the following players by performing the corresponding tasks:

PLAYER - HOW TO UNLOCK
Barry Sanders - Get a gold rank in the RB Ground Attack drill in mini-camp mode under the All-Madden level.
Deion Sanders - Get a gold rank in the DB Swat drill in mini-camp mode under the All-Madden level.
Jan Stenerud - Get a gold rank in Clutch Kicking Drill in mini-camp mode under the All-Madden level.
John Elway - Get a gold rank in the QB Pocket Presence under the All-Madden level.
Kevin Butler - Get a gold rank in P-Coffin Corner Punt under the All-Madden level.
Mike Singletary - Get a gold rank in the LB Chase and Tackle drill in mini-camp mode under the All-Madden level.
Reggie White - Get a gold rank in All-Madden DL-Trench Fight under the All-Madden level.
Steve Young - Get a gold rank in QB Precision Passing (St. Louis Rams) under the All-Madden level.
Unlimited creation points - Go to "Rosters", then choose "Edit Player". Select the players that you want to be rated 99. Go to his attributes, then increase everything.

-Play two-minute drill and select to play four players, all with your profile. Set "Fire" the defense and the Vikings as your teams. Next, use Singleback 4WR All Streaks for touchdowns all day.

-From the main menu, go into "Features", select "Rosters", then go to the team you would like to defend you. For example, select the Bengals, then go to their defense (CB, FS, SS and Linebackers and Defensive Linemen). Change all of there speed attributes down to 0. Make a note of the original values so they can be restored later, then go to the Two Minute Drill, select the Bengals as the defense, and change the difficulty to All-Madden.. Select your team with your profile (Vikings recommended) and you will rack up points against a team that cannot catch you at all. Put Randy Moss at running back for even more points when you score or just throw to him always.

-Play two-minute drill and select any team you hate for the CPU's defense. Go to that team's roster and set all their defensive players' speed to 0. Instead of throwing the ball, use a run play. It takes about the same amount of time, but you will get more points for tokens when you use a running play. The "Near" formation and "HB Toss" are recommended. As usual, use a fake field goal pass or fake run for the point after the touchdown. It is possible to score over 68,000 points with well over 340 tokens per 2 minutes.

When throwing the ball to a receiver that is running a fly route, lob the pass (tap the button) instead of throwing a bullet (holding the button). The receiver will catch the ball over his shoulder.

When you are about to go out of bounds and want to get more yards, juke to the side away from the sideline. You will not go out, and it also occasionally delays the defense from pursuit.

When down in a game late and need yards, substitute your second string RB in and put your first string RB in at QB. Off the hike, you can either run or throw it. If a space is open, you will get more yards.

-First, turn off penalties. When you are about kick the ball when starting or after you scored, choose one of the onside kicks. When you go to kick, move it all the way over and down. For example, if your kicker is kicking off facing towards the left, move it all the way over towards the left and all the way down. You should get the ball every time.

-Move the arrow all the way to the right and down. Try getting the meter as low as possible and you will regain the ball every time.

-Select any of the onside kick formations during the kickoff. Move the arrow so that the tip of it touches the left hash mark two yards from the ball for a right legged kicker, or right hash mark two yards away for a left legged kicker. Kick the ball with half power (in between the red and yellow area) and perfect accuracy (in the yellow area). This works 80% of the time if done correctly.

Select the punt block play. Substitute your fastest player into the returner's position. For a right-footed kicker, stand on the right side about three yards from the line. Go full speed when the ball is hiked and dive.

Substitute (on Normal Punt Return) your second lineman from the left with a lineman that is fast (about 75 to 80; for example, Courtney Brown). After that, choose Normal Punt Return or any of the safe punts (not Punt Block). Take the new lineman and pull him to the outside of the line where the offense's blocker that is set back slightly is closest to the line. Then, either run straight past him or cut inside, depending on the blocker. If done correctly, you should be able to either tackle the punter or block the kick. You may have to fake inside and go around. Nevertheless, you will succeed about 70-75% of the time.

When you are receiving a punt, select punt left or right and run that same direction. You should see people chasing you, but if your blockers are good enough, they should give you enough room and time for a large return. When you are receiving a kick, select left or middle (recommended). If you have a fast kick returner who can break a tackle, run straight up the pipe. You should make it a long way for a touchdown or a huge gain. If you chose left, do the same thing as the punt; follow your receivers.

Note what kind of quarterback you are passing with. If you have someone like Kurt Warner, you may have better accuracy if you set your feet, then throw the ball. If you have someone like Donovan McNabb, you might have better luck throwing on the run.

-If you have a first place team and you know its going to be very late in the draft, trade with a last place team. Occasionally you can even get a first and second round pick for just your first. This is a very good way to get young players on your already good team.

-Get any player or draft pick you want during franchise mode. After the regular season, such as during the playoffs or immediately before the Superbowl, go to create a player and make a quarterback. Make him 45 years old so that he will quickly retire when the season is over. Next, make him a 99 overall. Sign him from the free agency and trade him for any player or draft pick that you desire. You can do this as many times as you need, and can get ten first round picks and every player desired.

-When play with the salary cap penalties turned on in franchise mode, it is better to trade the player(s) you wish to cut for another team's draft pick. You will avoid penalties, keep your roster from becoming full, and get another draft pick.

-Start a franchise and make a new coach (or make one under the Coach Option/Job Openings screen). In Coach Options/Job Openings screen, highlight your coach, then press Left or Right to select the team with the player or draft pick you want. You are now the coach of that team. Trade the player you want to your team, then return to the Job Openings screen in Coach Options and select your original team. Back out and you will be coaching your team again.

-Start a franchise and choose all 32 teams. Also turn off the salary cap. Start the season, go to the roster, then trade a player. You will be able to trade with yourself without the rejection or the team. For example, you can trade Clinton Portis for Marshal Faulk, or Ed Macalfry for Terrell Owens.

-To get any player in a trade without the other team rejecting, in the franchise mode, create a player as a quarterback and move his attributes until you get to 99 points. After that, put his injury and stamina down to 0. This will not change the attribute point level. Sign him as a free agent then trade him to any team for anybody you want. When you play the team he is playing for, after a couple of plays he will either become injured or will be taken out of the game for his weak stamina. No team will refuse your trade and you will have any player you want on your team.

-During franchise mode you can trade for any player you want without having that trade turned down. Go into the create a player menu and create a QB that is all 99s. Sign that player to your team then trade him to another team that has a player that you want. To make the trick even better, you can add another player from their team to the trade that is in the 80s; this will be a 2-for-1 trade. When the trade is complete, exit out to the franchise main menu and enter back into the create a player menu. Return to the QB's attributes and edit them all the way down to 0s and then go back into the trade screen. Take the second player in the deal and trade him back to the team for the created QB. You can then start the whole process over by going into the create a player menu and editing his attributes all the way up again.

-If you want to get anybody (including 99 rated players), get Corey Dillon on your team. You can trade him for anyone. The only two players that you can get together are Charles Woodson (Oakland) and Sebastian Janikowski (Oakland). Also, play or simulate all but one week. Choose "Standings" to learn which team is worst and trade with Corey Dillon for their first, second, and third round picks.

-Make plenty of 99 stat players. Start a franchise and put on no salary cap. Trade them for the players you want then set their stats back to 12.

To make a receiver, go to create player and create the player as a quarterback. Give the player very low passing abilities (zero) and very high catching and ball handling levels. The player will not cost much since his quarterback skills are bad. You will have to sign him as a quarterback but use him as a wide receiver. His salary will never go up because he will not play as a quarterback. You can also change his number and attributes in the edit player screen. You can also make a dirt cheap fullback by eliminating his receiving skills.

If you have an expensive player, you can release him and sign him for less money.

One way to lower a team's overall salary is to cut certain players' salaries. This can be done with players that have low attributes but high salaries. To do this, go to "Rosters" and select "Edit player". Select a player on the team that has a low overall rating (anything under the low 80s) and has a high salary. When you choose to edit the players "Attributes", you will notice that his salary decreases. Do not change anything in his attributes and exit out. You have now made your first budget cut of the season.

To unlock the Alpha Blitz (Sugar Buzz) stadium, get 100 Madden Tokens then go into "Madden Cards", then "Card Book". Go toward the back of the book until you find a card pack with the Sugar Buzz logo on it. Purchase it. Inside, you will find a card that allows you to play on the Alpha Blitz field. The stadium's capacity is 0, and the field surface is milk. On the sidelines, you will see big cereal boxes and yo-yo's. Note: Even though the stadium capacity is 0, you can still hear fans cheering.

Earn a gold rank in any event on the All Pro, Pro and Rookie levels.

When the free-agent signing period appears in the off-season, go to the "Create-A-Player" menu and make a player with very low attributes. He will ask for a low salary. Then, offer him a contract. Before he accepts it, go to the "Create-A-Player" menu again and set his attributes to anything desired. He should accept the contract you offered him, and the other teams almost never bid on him.

During franchise mode, you can easily increase the room under your salary cap. First, look at some of your players with very high salaries. Some of those players will be very skilled, and some will not. It reflects the real salaries that they receive. Cut that player from your roster. That player will go into the free agent pool, where you can usually sign them for much less than they were paid before. However, you must be careful. Sometimes the player will demand more than they used to be paid.

Play through the entire season and save at the Pro Bowl. Simulate the Pro Bowl and go to off-season schedule/player progression. Look for young players from other teams in positions that you need that have progressed well. About +7 overall should be sufficient. After that, look at your players to see those that have progressed negatively. Quit the game and reload your previous save game. Trade away all of your players that have progressed negatively for young players that progressed well.

-Begin a new Madden game (no loaded rosters, teams, franchises, etc.). At the menu screen, go to "Features", "Rosters", then "Trade Player". Find your desired team and trade the players you do not want for those that you do. All trades will be accepted, unlike in franchise mode. Save your roster under something easy to remember, load it, start a franchise, and start playing.

-From the main menu, go to "Features", then "Rosters". Select "Release Player". Release any player that you want from any team. Then, go to franchise and select a team. Go to "Rosters", then "Free Agents". And all the players you released will be there, and you will be able to sign them to your team.

-Getting all your favorite players on your team in franchise mode is a difficult task. Go through all the teams by selecting coaches for them; then trades are un-rejectable. Once your team's salary cap is too high, release and sign your players repeatedly until all them are as low as possible. Certain players must be signed to shorter than seven years to get them to drop. Some players will not accept a drop in salary at all, but if you release them again, you will find that they want less. You can keep doing this until they are low. However, there are a handful of players that you cannot do any of this with. This will clear up some room to get all the players you want. Also, you can do this to stack your other favorite teams. You can also create eight new custom teams in franchise mode. Do this, and you can kick your least favorite eight teams out of the league by replacing them. Wait until the end of the season to trade for the top draft picks; by then they are all set. Just select a coach, a team, and trade for the top seven picks then give the other top picks to your other created or favorite teams. To keep the teams you want good, and the ones that you dislike bad, select a coach and trade good players up at the end of each season. This entire process takes several days, but is great when completed.

Make a player and trade him to the team that you are doing the drill with. Make sure that the created player is playing the position of the person that you are trying to complete the drill with. For example, Ronde Barber is the corner back in the Defensive Swat Pass drill. If you create a corner back and make his attributes all 99, put him on the Buccaneers and make him the starting or number one cornerback. He will then do the drill. You may do this with any person on any drill. You may also make the people who you are going against in the drill "sorrier". If you know their names, go to their attributes and turn them all the way down.

Hear the following commentary by setting your system date to the corresponding date:

COMMENTARY - DATE
Thanksgiving commentary - Third Thursday in November.
Christmas commentary (John Madden says "Merry Christmas to all".) - December 25
New Year's commentary - January 1.

In franchise mode, go to "create a coach" and enter a former NFL coach's full name (for example, Don Shula) and all his former stats should appear.

-Make a new team and name the new coach "John Madden". Melissa will be able to say his name during the game.

-To have the announcer's call your name, you must select an NFL player's name that is in the game. For example, use "Dan" form Dan Marino and "Barber" from Tiki Barber to make a player named "Dan Barber". Note: Sometimes the announcers will only call the player's last name.

When making a custom team, use the a city where an NFL team plays as your custom team's home city. The refs and the PA announcer will say your team's city.

Create a Stadium that has the same name as a teams' stadium. For example, enter "Aloha Stadium" as your stadium's name and the commentators will announce it.

-The following plays are recommended against All-Madden difficulty level teams. Go to the 4-3 formation and scroll up until you see the "Sweet Blitz" play. It is a good play to use when the team runs or passes. To make it even better, have your lineman and linebackers shift so that they are are in other positions. The "Fireman" is also a good play, as well but not as great as "Sweet Blitz". You can also find it in the 4-3 formation. The best play for passing is "Robber". You can find it in Quarter. Its very good because you will get a lot of your secondary covering the receivers and is about 70% efficient when stopping passes.

-While in the 4-3 defense, you can really break down the offensive line with the Mike blitz. Shift your defensive line to the strong side and slide your LBs outside to prevent sweeps, then stack your MLB behind the man in front of the center. When the ball is snapped, blitz to the opposite of the NGs slant. If done correctly, the weak side guard will pick up the DE instead of the MLB and the center will washout the NG, leaving a massive hole for you. It has a 85% success rate against the center run and a 65% rate against the pass. However, if the offense comes out in a twin TE set, the defense is useless and you will need to switch to whatever strategy you want to counter this set.

Michael Bishop is the best free agent quarterback. He is only rated at 79, but outperforms Kurt Warner, Rich Gannon, and almost every other quarterback in the league. Sign him then use him only in the second half of the game and he will be incredibly accurate.

Select a regular kickoff play. If your kicker is left-handed, choose a Kickoff Left; if he is right-handed choose a Kickoff Right (recommended). Before you pick the play, make sure that the three players to the right and the three players to the left of the kicker are fast (90-99). When you are kicking, aim your kick as far up as possible and straight. Then, kick as light of a kick as possible (within the yellow). Make the players on the side of the kicker that the ball is landing run as fast as they can. If you kicked it lightly enough, your own players will recover it. Note: Once you catch it you cannot continue running; you will get the ball where it was caught.