It’s the age-old question in the game of football: do you run or do you pass? Football may have started as a run-only game (with the forward pass being illegal until 1906), but the game has evolved, and the pass has become a more dominant element in NFL offenses starting in the late 70s and early 1980s with the rise of QBs like Dan Marino and Joe Montana. However, with the rise of the mobile QB, the option, spread offenses, and more creativity in the run game, we’ve seen offenses become more balanced than they were in the pass-heavy 2000s, with the likes of Tom Brady and Drew Brees driving offenses.
Now in 2025, it’s really the dealer’s choice on how you move the ball down the field. An offense like the Bengals, with elite receivers, a dominant (when/if healthy) passer, and little to no offensive line cohesion, will rely on their passing game and go pass-heavy. A team like the Ravens, however, with their dynamic duo of Jackson and Henry in the backfield and their relatively shallow crop of pass catchers out wide, opts for a more robust run game.
These are the two ends of the spectrum of offenses available in Madden 26. While you can check out some of the best offensive plays in the game to learn how to succeed with a mix of run and pass, I was interested in which one was more effective when isolated. Using a true pass-heavy offense (I.e., I only passed the ball) compared to a true run-heavy offense (i.e., I only ran the ball I tested the effectiveness of both strategies.
Pass-Heavy Offense
In order to test the pass-heavy offense, I played one game against the CPU-controlled Eagles on All-Pro difficulty (I played another game later on with the same parameters in order to test the run-heavy offense) using the Bengals offense (with a healthy Joe Burrow). I should note that since I played the computer and not a live competitor, there wasn’t as quick a defensive shift in game plan as there would be if you were playing a seasoned Madden Player online. The defense didn’t seem to understand the fact that I was throwing the ball on every play the same way a real human would.
The CPU did however have success at stopping my drives a number of times, forcing me into three dumb interceptions that I would rather have thrown away. I also had two other drives stalled out after multiple incompletions, however, I actually ended up scoring more often than I didn’t with four touchdown passes and two field goals for a total of 34 points to win the game 34-23.
Burrow threw for 457 yards, 4 TDs, 3 interceptions on 31 for 47 passing with JaMarr Chase having a monster game with 14 catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns, both of them being for +40 yards. Higgins and Gesicki also had big games with over 80 yards each, and even Chase Brown got in on the action with five catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns.
Run-Heavy Offense
I played as the Ravens offense against the Eagles once again in All-Pro difficulty, and this time it turned out much different than the pass-heavy offensive test. This time, my offense couldn’t move the ball in big chunks anymore; I only had two 20+ runs in this game, and neither of them broke 30. I ran slightly better with Lamar Jackson than I did with Derrick Henry, but it was a slog to gain yards, even with those two studs and their X-Factor and superstar abilities helping out.
While the passing game wound up being an offensive shootout, the running game became a defensive brawl with the final score being 17-9. The only reason I won was my stellar “bend but don’t break” defensive play and a clutch Chidobie Awuzie interception in the endzone in the third quarter that I brought back to midfield that set up a touchdown drive.
Lamar Jackson got 126 yards on 15 rushes and one touchdown, while Derrick Henry got 114 yards on 24 rushes and a touchdown.
Final Takeaways
It’s clear to me after these two test games (and honestly, I had a feeling even before I played these games) that passing is a lot more effective in Madden 26 than running. I would argue that passing the ball became easier and running the ball became harder in this edition of the game compared to Madden 25. The pass defense AI seems worse, while the actual pass mechanics seem smoother and more dynamic. The running game is just slow, and the blocking AI is just bad (it wasn’t great in previous editions either, but it seems worse this year).
The main problem with passing is the interceptions. The more you pass it (and the deeper you pass), the risk of throwing a pick gets higher and higher, and it’s good to mix in some runs to balance out the offense, especially if you’re playing against humans.
The main takeaway for me is that a pure pass or pure run game likely won’t be terribly successful. Yes, I won both games, but I wasn’t playing at the greatest difficulty, and I got incredibly lucky on a couple of key plays. The best offensive system is one that mixes both the pass and the run, but if you want to know which one you should use more, I would say pass.
