Warrior General Games

I've thought about making a RB with about 25 catching, but are backs even viable as receiving threats? A Brian Westbrook type of back, if you will.

I would think so, but I think it will happen in the higher levels once RBs are stacked at the rushing attribute.

Well I mean, 90% of the time when I've seen a RB or FB catch a pass out of the backfield, it's a very minimal game or gets PDed by a DE/LB.

I've seen HBs out in space and get good yards, but whenever they get the scrambling QB right is when you'll see the "dump pass" HB become a strong option.

Maybe I'll make the new speed back I'm making in the mold of that, to "get ready" for it.

I have about 25 catching with Indiana Pwns. You can look at my stats to determine if it's worth it. I rarely have HB passes set though because it's either a horrible route (standing right next to the DE), or a pretty good one...not worth the risk IMO. But if you have a team that blitzes a lot or has a D-line that outmatches you, it gives you another option.

I'm thinking about getting around 25 or so catching and setting him as the 4 WR since he's going to be a back up RB most likely.

You may check those posts :
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=477023

http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=380755

I was also interested in creating a receiving back, but it seems that at the moment the sims isn t good programmed for that. People tried a WR at HB and he couldn t catch decently

Well, it's the 3rd RB I've made. I've already got an elusive and a power, so I think I may go with this and play him as the 4th WR. Just build him like an elusive back, but have about 25-30 catching.

I have my catching up to 23, but I wouldn't dump a whole bunch of points into it if I were you. In a scrimmage game last year, my team tried setting tactics so that we threw 90% to the RB, but even though we were set to mostly throw the medium/long ball, all the RB's ever had thrown to them were little underneath, dump passes.

Someday, hopefully, the tactics will allow managers to set plays like mid-range crossing routes, or screens for the RB's, but right now the default appears to be little dump passes that usually come when the QB is under pressure.

That being said, I wouldn't totally ignore it, as it's pretty nice to be able to pick up 4 yards on a little pass, rather than watching your QB get sacked, or watching the ball bounce off your hands and onto the turf. I wouldn't go over 25 though, if I were you.

I've been experimenting a little with it on a team I GM with our back up RB. Here are some plays from the last game with him as the 5th WR:

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9889435
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9889851
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9890329

Here is one from our main RB, but it worked mainly because there was an all-out blitz:

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9891243

Originally posted by alfies
I've been experimenting a little with it on a team I GM with our back up RB. Here are some plays from the last game with him as the 5th WR:

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9889435
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9889851
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9890329

Here is one from our main RB, but it worked mainly because there was an all-out blitz:

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=9891243

Well that's a whole different question then. If you want to create a HB who's going to play out of position a lot, you'd want to crank up your catching skills, but personally I'd recommend just getting yourself a real WR instead.

But creating a HB like Brian Westbrook, who lines up at RB but often catches balls for big gains, doesn't seem to be very effective in this game at this time.

Here are two plays from my team's last game where our RB produced in the passing game:

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=10041598
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=10044910

You want to know the secret to being a productive receiving HB? Always play weak teams.
They don't work nearly as well against "good teams" and especially not against good teams in zone coverage. All kidding aside the HB is almost always going to be a check down receiver with the kind of plays that are in the game right now and they work better against man coverage defenses that blitz a lot since often times the person that would have covered them blitzes instead. If your WRs and TE can hold a block downfield you can occasionally get a decent receiving game out of a HB.

Another play from an earlier game (again against a weak defense) that might be of interest is:

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?pbp_id=7188821

I have no idea why all the other receivers just decide to stop and make no attempt to get open, it looks like they got to the end of their routes and just decided that was far enough. Thankfully the HB actually makes an attempt to get open and makes a big play in the back of the end zone. That is one of the few passes I have seen to a HB that was further than a couple of yards down field and only because every other target gave up on the play.

If you train on a single stat for a whole season you can have it at ~27 on Day 40. I can think of worse things to train than catching.