Each new week with Madden 21 now comes a new TOTW roster of cards for you to collect in Madden Ultimate Team. Alongside those cards also comes a TOTW challenge that is exclusive to that week based on the Player of the Week for that given week. The Week 1 Player of the Week for Madden 21’s TOTW ended up being Packers wide receiver Davante Adams, who had a monster game connecting with Aaron Rodgers throughout Sunday’s contest. He was rewarded with the Player of the Week title and while the bonus challenge itself isn’t directly related to him, you can definitely use him to your advantage to help complete it.
How To Complete The TOTW Week 1 Challenge
Madden 21’s TOTW Week 1 challenge tasks you using your already existing team plus Davante Adams to beat the Minnesota Vikings while using the Green Bay Packers playbook. On top of that, there is a bonus challenge for passing for 156+ yards in the contest. This may seem not too daunting, but it is not the easiest thing to pull off, especially if you are trying to play on All-Pro and get the maximum bonus, which you definitely want to do.
This challenge already reduces down the clock to three minute quarters, which the opponent can whittle down very quickly if you are having trouble stopping them. In fact, if you are really having trouble stopping them, you may only get two or three possessions in the entire game.
Rather than a coin flip, you will automatically receive the ball to start this challenge. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll focus on trying to get the bonus challenge and star, as that is going to be the most difficult thing. Considering that you need to pass for 156+ yards, you’re essentially going to need to be throwing on every play if you are only expecting to get a few drives for the game.
The best strategy here is to always take the kickoff rather than letting it get brought out to the 25, because that will leave you only 75 yards to earn that drive, which is less than half of what we need. Instead, run the ball out no further than the 20 here. From this point, you want to just start passing as much as you can and really as rapidly as you can. If you can manage to score before the end of the first quarter, you are in good shape.
For the purposes of this challenge, I personally like the Four Verticals play in the Gun Empty Base Flex play set. This one gives you some deeper options, with the tight end position being a very good target a lot of the time here. If nothing is open deep, Davante Adams serves as an excellent safety valve here as well. If you’d rather have Adams on the outside since he’s more talented than most of your other receivers if your team isn’t up to par yet, that is something you can do with formation subs as well. I like this play just for the versatility of it and it tends to get you down field quickly.
On the defensive side, you want to try your best to stop the opposing defense as best you can. Kirk Cousins will shred your defense if you are not careful, so maybe try some things like pressing the defense or forcing him into bad throws. If you just let Cousins sit back there in the pocket for too long, he’ll find open receivers all day long, especially if your team rating is low.
Your goal here is going to be to try and score before the end of the first quarter and then try to force the opponent to give you the ball back with a little time in the first half. Even if you can’t manage to score a TD, this is prime time to try and up your passing yard total. If you don’t get the ball back in the first half, you will really have to make the most of your second half possession. This is why I recommend you starting no further than the 20 yard line on any drive, while also making sure to never run the ball with your QB or HB since we need passing yards.
This is one of those challenges you may have to try a few times if you are struggling to see if you might get lucky, because playing on All-Pro can definitely prove to be difficult if your team does not have enough good players on it yet in MUT.
