How to lateral in Madden 24

As Madden 24 continues to push the boundaries for unguardable offenses in the form of new animations for jump, dive, and no-look passes, it can be easy to perhaps forget the ultimate unorthodox tool for players who like to improvise: the lateral.

While laterals are most commonly used, albeit unceremoniously, by quarterbacks to quickly pitch the ball a short distance to their nearby runningbacks on rushing plays like HB Toss, they are famously known for being the catalysts of last-minute desperation strategies or trick plays.

Here’s how to do a backward pass in Madden 24.

How to do a lateral pitch in Madden NFL 24

Just as in years past, lateral passes in Madden 24 can be performed by pressing L1 on a PlayStation controller, and LB on an Xbox controller. In the game controls menu in Madden 24, the lateral is also still referred to as a “pitch” under the ballcarrier category. Upon hitting L1 or LB, the lateral will go to the player that is closest to you.

Related: How to throw a lob pass in Madden 24

Of course, actually pulling off a successful lateral in the heat of a game is a different story.

Unlike traditional forward passes, laterals can be attempted from anywhere on the field at any time, as well as for an unlimited number of times on a single play. Additionally, laterals are the only type of pass that can be legally thrown following a live change of possession.

Where you run into added risk by performing laterals is the special fact that if a backward pass hits the ground or an official, play continues and the ball may be recovered and advanced by either team.

Related: How to change camera angle in Madden 24

More often than not, players will really only ever use a lateral if one of their teammates has a better shot at running farther with the ball than they do. If you see that a player is running alongside you and doesn’t have a defender in front of them, feel free to try and lateral to give them a shot at running the ball into greener pastures.