For the first time ever in a football video game, all members of the NFL Coaches Club appear in the game, shouting advice from the sidelines as well as arguing with the officials when penalty flags are thrown. The coaches come complete with their own signature playbooks, coaching styles and voices. Offensively, quarterbacks can now tuck the ball away and run on passing plays, even when they are still behind the line of scrimmage. Quarterbacks can also beat blitzes by calling hot routes to receivers while under center. Users can also determine whether the hot receiver will run a fly, comeback, in or out pattern.
Users can then trade or risk the cards for hidden players, stadiums and power ups.
Create your own team - Take an existing team and change the city name, team nickname, logo, uniform and stadium. Win a Super Bowl - Users can take control of an NFL team in season or franchise mode, the latter of which gives football fans the chance to run their own team for up to 30 years. Madden NFL 2001 gives you the chance as you can create any situation in any game and see if you fare better than the pros. With the PC version of Madden NFL 2001 users can compete against each other on the internet and see how they fare with the all-new online ranking system. Users can also log on to the EA Sports online community to download the latest rosters, read league news and chat with fellow Madden devotees.