Warrior General Games

Would greatly appreciate any advice on building a more effective blocking FB.
We have some fast, agile HBs that we have to block for, so I am not sure if I should sacrifice +strength on EQ for more +speed. I need to keep up, but still need to hold/make a block!

I am currently planning on training Agility to 68 and then Vision to 68 also.

Lv. 42 FB
Ht/Wt: 6'5", 222lbs

Attributes
Physical Attributes
Strength: 88.52 (+12) EDIT was: 93.52 (+18)
Speed: 86 (+18) EDIT was: 80 (+12)
Agility: 61.52 (+1 from AEQ)
Jumping: 10
Stamina: 30.56
Vision: 43.56 (+3 from AEQ)
Confidence: 31.56

Football Skills
Blocking: 72.52
Catching: 20.56
Tackling: 16.56
Throwing: 8
Carrying: 31.52
Kicking: 8
Punting: 9

Special Abilities
Blocking Abilities
Hands: 2
Lead Block: 6 (+4 from AEQ, +1 from Custom EQ)
Spot Blitz: 1
Strong Arm: 1
Pancake: 5 (+4 from AEQ, +1 from Custom EQ)

Veteran Abilities
Downfield Blocker: 5 EDIT
Outside Blocker: 15 EDIT

Take outside blocker to 15 with a VA reset, then take stonewall to 5 and work it up to 15 IMHO.

Your build looks very nice and I can't really pick on anything. If you have flex to burn, a second CE with speed would be nice, letting you swap back and forth as the need arises (i.e. more inside runs vs more outside runs). If you want, you can also sacrifice a piece of strength EQ for speed EQ, you have plenty of strength to hold blocks in most situations and you seem to allude to the fact that getting in front of your HBs is an issue. Finally, train stamina and confidence while you work on agility and vision.

Thank you Warlock!

Unfortunately he is 3 pounds short of being able to use stonewall. Is there something else I could/should try?

I should have stated that my CE has +6 to speed already! Although I can sell off one more standard piece with +6 strength for +6 speed, if needed! That would drop Strength to 87 but push Speed to 86. Is 87 strength still enough to hold blocks?

Also, would it be better to start looking for another AEQ with Lead Block and lose the Pancake one? That would boost Lead Block and also allow me to add another +6 speed (again at a cost of +6 strength).

Thanks again!

That kind of sucks on stonewall, didn't realize it was a weight requirement... downfield blocker would be my next choice (or great blocker, it's kind of the same thing TBQH).

Go ahead and just buy a piece of speed EQ for one of the slots with +strength already. Same goal, different method.

87 strength is fine for a blocking FB, you will hardly ever be blocking a player with close to that strength (maybe the occasional force fumble build MLB or picking up a DT who busts through one of the OL). The real question is whether or not you are having issues getting in front of the HBs with only 80 speed? Once agility hits 68, it should help a bit, allowing you to put the +strength piece of EQ back on.

My only other suggestion would be to take agility and speed to 73 eventually.

Well his last sim there seemed to be a lot of falling down or getting pancaked and few times not knowing who to block/missing rushers. Hopefully that is just a result of the lower vision and agility at the moment.... I hope!

My level 43 FB

Fred "is in the house" Sarcozi (Lv. 43 FB)
Ht/Wt: 6'3", 228lbs

Experience, Skill Points, and Cash
Money: $181455
Daily Salary: $4839
Skill Points: 1
Training Points: 1
Bonus Tokens: 6
Veteran Points: 0
Next Level: 898/1000

Attributes
Physical Attributes
Strength: 76.52
Speed: 85 (+17)
Agility: 85.52 (+12)
Jumping: 8
Stamina: 38.57
Vision: 36.57
Confidence: 34.57

Football Skills
Blocking: 73.52
Catching: 16.57
Tackling: 16.57
Throwing: 8
Carrying: 29.52
Kicking: 8
Punting: 9

Special Abilities
Blocking Abilities
Hands: 2
Lead Block: 7 (+4 from AEQ)
Spot Blitz: 1
Strong Arm: 1
Pancake: 1

Veteran Abilities
Downfield Blocker: 8
Outside Blocker: 10

He's got to block for both a power back and a speed back so I've tried to balance him out as a blocker. I'm taking Strength up to 77+ natural next level. His agility is high but I find that because FBs make some stupid decisions and often run too far outside on sweeps before looking for a defender to block, high agility helps them reverse direction and pick up the block.

As far as VAs and SAs go, I'm trying out down field blocker since he's quick enough to get off the snap and into the secondary. I actually think the bonus from Outside Blocker can be too big at times and only makes him over-shoot the LBs and SS/FS that much quicker. I don't really recommend the Pancake SA because it isn't necessary, my team has had plenty of linemen that never worked on it and we always out-pancake our competition. Right no I'm working on a piece with Cut Block to see if it can help him take out NT/DTs that beat their initial blocker at the snap. The SA says it works when out matched or when you have to quickly take out the defender, so I'd say having to quickly take out a defender that out matches your strength/agility would be the ideal situation for Cut Block.

Originally posted by Osco
Well his last sim there seemed to be a lot of falling down or getting pancaked and few times not knowing who to block/missing rushers. Hopefully that is just a result of the lower vision and agility at the moment.... I hope!



That's just the blocking logic and the sim IMHO, my OG suffers from the same crap and he is pretty elite... lvl 45 with ~110 strength, ~90 blocking, ~80 agility, ~60 speed and ~50 vision.

Originally posted by rsb014
My level 43 FB

Fred "is in the house" Sarcozi (Lv. 43 FB)
Ht/Wt: 6'3", 228lbs

Experience, Skill Points, and Cash
Money: $181455
Daily Salary: $4839
Skill Points: 1
Training Points: 1
Bonus Tokens: 6
Veteran Points: 0
Next Level: 898/1000

Attributes
Physical Attributes
Strength: 76.52
Speed: 85 (+17)
Agility: 85.52 (+12)
Jumping: 8
Stamina: 38.57
Vision: 36.57
Confidence: 34.57

Football Skills
Blocking: 73.52
Catching: 16.57
Tackling: 16.57
Throwing: 8
Carrying: 29.52
Kicking: 8
Punting: 9

Special Abilities
Blocking Abilities
Hands: 2
Lead Block: 7 (+4 from AEQ)
Spot Blitz: 1
Strong Arm: 1
Pancake: 1

Veteran Abilities
Downfield Blocker: 8
Outside Blocker: 10

He's got to block for both a power back and a speed back so I've tried to balance him out as a blocker. I'm taking Strength up to 77+ natural next level. His agility is high but I find that because FBs make some stupid decisions and often run too far outside on sweeps before looking for a defender to block, high agility helps them reverse direction and pick up the block.

As far as VAs and SAs go, I'm trying out down field blocker since he's quick enough to get off the snap and into the secondary. I actually think the bonus from Outside Blocker can be too big at times and only makes him over-shoot the LBs and SS/FS that much quicker. I don't really recommend the Pancake SA because it isn't necessary, my team has had plenty of linemen that never worked on it and we always out-pancake our competition. Right no I'm working on a piece with Cut Block to see if it can help him take out NT/DTs that beat their initial blocker at the snap. The SA says it works when out matched or when you have to quickly take out the defender, so I'd say having to quickly take out a defender that out matches your strength/agility would be the ideal situation for Cut Block.

I would take speed to 73, then hit vision hard. His poor vision is probably why his decision making is that bad. I like outside blocker, even though there are times where you can get too far ahead... it allows you to move some EQ to strength from speed/agility. I think cut block could be useful, but you won't get a ton of mileage out of it unless you play for a team with a putrid OL.

Originally posted by Warlock
I would take speed to 73, then hit vision hard. His poor vision is probably why his decision making is that bad. I like outside blocker, even though there are times where you can get too far ahead... it allows you to move some EQ to strength from speed/agility. I think cut block could be useful, but you won't get a ton of mileage out of it unless you play for a team with a putrid OL.

I agree that speed is important to raise eventually, but since FBs get zero gains in it I am loathe to spend 4 levels and 20 SPs taking speed up 5 points to 73 until I absolutely have to. 20 SPs would let me raise strength one more point and take vision to 50. I think I'd see more from that than I would from more speed, considering I can always just put some more points into Outside Blocker if more speed is necessary.

The 30% bonus from maxed Outside Blocker is ridiculous and can should do a lot to let a FB with 85 speed/agility block ahead of a 110 speed HB (about as fast as my team's RB is likely to be before he gets level 48 EQ in 7 levels) on sweep. Just a 20% bonus was keeping him ahead of the RB when he had 102 speed before boosting after our last scrimmage.


The O-line is anything but putrid, almost all of them are slow built and focused on run blocking. We're almost always a top 2 running/pancaking team in our conference (though I have tried to dissuade most of our line from getting the Pancake SA). That's why I also kind of worry that Cut Block won't help in most situations, but at the same time it would be more likely to activate in the most important running situations (goal line or 3rd and short) against the best defenses while they are focused almost 100% on stuffing the run.

Originally posted by rsb014
I agree that speed is important to raise eventually, but since FBs get zero gains in it I am loathe to spend 4 levels and 20 SPs taking speed up 5 points to 73 until I absolutely have to. 20 SPs would let me raise strength one more point and take vision to 50. I think I'd see more from that than I would from more speed, considering I can always just put some more points into Outside Blocker if more speed is necessary.

The 30% bonus from maxed Outside Blocker is ridiculous and can should do a lot to let a FB with 85 speed/agility block ahead of a 110 speed HB (about as fast as my team's RB is likely to be before he gets level 48 EQ in 7 levels) on sweep. Just a 20% bonus was keeping him ahead of the RB when he had 102 speed before boosting after our last scrimmage.


The O-line is anything but putrid, almost all of them are slow built and focused on run blocking. We're almost always a top 2 running/pancaking team in our conference (though I have tried to dissuade most of our line from getting the Pancake SA). That's why I also kind of worry that Cut Block won't help in most situations, but at the same time it would be more likely to activate in the most important running situations (goal line or 3rd and short) against the best defenses while they are focused almost 100% on stuffing the run.



Going vision first is fine too, but at your level, the cap gains are marginal for vision. My suggestion was for after you raise strength to cap also. You could technically train vision a couple of points while working speed and get a better net gain then the cap gains at this point TBPH.

As for outside blocker, I know it's the bomb, which is why you can use it a a crutch to raise strength/blocking. Also, I wasn't saying that your OL is bad, just saying that you'll very rarely use cut block unless they are bad. Any power back worth his salt should have clutch and SYM, thus making cut block not all that important (at the higher levels anyways, when there's plenty of VPs to go around). Also a good DC should prevent a defense from selling out to the run in short yardage situations... it's never a good idea to rely solely on player execution... against a good team of dots, you'll end up losing the battle more often than not.

He needs agility BAD. And get rid of blocking back.

Originally posted by Warlock
Going vision first is fine too, but at your level, the cap gains are marginal for vision. My suggestion was for after you raise strength to cap also. You could technically train vision a couple of points while working speed and get a better net gain then the cap gains at this point TBPH.

As for outside blocker, I know it's the bomb, which is why you can use it a a crutch to raise strength/blocking. Also, I wasn't saying that your OL is bad, just saying that you'll very rarely use cut block unless they are bad. Any power back worth his salt should have clutch and SYM, thus making cut block not all that important (at the higher levels anyways, when there's plenty of VPs to go around). Also a good DC should prevent a defense from selling out to the run in short yardage situations... it's never a good idea to rely solely on player execution... against a good team of dots, you'll end up losing the battle more often than not.

Good points. I was really just throwing my build out there since there was discussion about a similarly leveled blocking FB and I saw you were posting in here. I figured the guy that wrote a popular guide to FBs would have something to say and we could compare/contrast some ideas. Run Blockers, and especially FBs, are my favorite players to build. Well, at least they are what I have had success with (my QB and receivers have sucked for a long time now, but I'm probably not the best OC either).

I also wanted Osco to see you don't have to have 80+ strength at his level and that Pancake is nearly worthless, especially if he is blocking off tackle for speed backs a lot.

Originally posted by Homage
He needs agility BAD. And get rid of blocking back.

I'd agree on both counts. Converting some Strength EQ over to Agility would be a good idea. The OP asked if 87 strength would be enough to hold blocks, I think "Is 61 Agility enough" would be a better question. The OLBs and DBs you block a lot tend to have a whole lot more than 61 agility but no where near 87 strength.

Originally posted by rsb014
Good points. I was really just throwing my build out there since there was discussion about a similarly leveled blocking FB and I saw you were posting in here. I figured the guy that wrote a popular guide to FBs would have something to say and we could compare/contrast some ideas. Run Blockers, and especially FBs, are my favorite players to build. Well, at least they are what I have had success with (my QB and receivers have sucked for a long time now, but I'm probably not the best OC either).

I also wanted Osco to see you don't have to have 80+ strength at his level and that Pancake is nearly worthless, especially if he is blocking off tackle for speed backs a lot.

Yeah it's all good, I like to discuss different angles, it helps add new perspectives to old contemplations.

As for the pancake SA, it's helpful. My FB led the league in pancakes back when he was a blocking build (308 cakes in a 3 season span) and still gets pancakes here and there when asked to block (his pancake SA is at 4 fwiw)... he also didn't always have 100+ strength (it was probably lower then the OP back then TBQH). Obviously the game has evolved a bit from those days, but still.

As for agility, it doesn't have to be super high, but it is helpful if it is... I also assumed that the OP is working on it currently, plus I mentioned to keep working on it and vision. Again, my FB doesn't have all that great of an agility (it's only ~68)... thehazyone complimented my FB , when I played for his team last season... for being such a nice all-around player. This was after I was used as a decoy for a few games and ended up being primarily a blocker.

Here is my Level 49 FBs build (Closed)
http://goallineblitz.com/game/player.pl?player_id=1102213

Attributes
Physical Attributes
Strength: 89.8 (+14)
Speed: 89 (+19)
Agility: 77.8
Jumping: 8
Stamina: 36.04
Vision: 51.04
Confidence: 53.04 (+2) (AE)

Football Skills
Blocking: 75.8 (+2) (AE)
Catching: 18.04
Tackling: 17.04
Throwing: 8
Carrying: 33.8
Kicking: 8
Punting: 8

Special Abilities
Blocking Abilities
Hands: 1
Lead Block: 5 (AE)
Spot Blitz: 5 (AE)
Strong Arm: 1
Pancake: 1

Offensive Abilities
Cover Up: 0
Sticky Hands: 0
Power Through: 0
Quick Cut: 0
Dive for Yardage: 0

Veteran Abilities
Distance Runner: 5
Downfield Blocker: 10
Outside Blocker: 13

Long story short, I used to split my eq between speed and agility. I finally gave up on this and moved my agility eq to strength and at that point I really noticed a major improvement in my FBs performance.

There was a time about 2 or 3 seasons ago when I really liked how high agility helped my FB get into position for blocks. The problem was that after about level 38 the team he is on got into AA and we face much higher leveled competition. The sim is kind of a pancake or be reverse pancaked battle when it comes to blocking now days. So I had to adjust.

I pushed my FBs agility to 77 this season in the hopes that it will reach 80 from level gains in a few seasons. I hope this is helpful.