Warrior General Games

I have Bruiser & Red Zone Freak maxed out...what next? Leaning towards Tenacious.

I have the same, and I'm looking at clutch... in fact I think I may take my 15 from RZF and put it in clutch next season. RZF just doesn't come into play enough from what I see, most of the rushes take place in between the 30s, and the red zone ends up being a lot less than 20% of your rushes.

IMO, RZF is a VA that you want to stack on top of other VAs, not have it as a primary VA because 5% really isn't that much (and you only get a chance to get that 5%). It's definitely not one that I would max out.

Short Yardage Monster and Mr. Reliable are musts along with Bruiser if you want a top end powerback.

Steady Grip.

Originally posted by jrlynch57
Short Yardage Monster and Mr. Reliable are musts along with Bruiser if you want a top end powerback.

Because all power backs need to be able to catch on third down and avoid fumbles on first?

Bruiser & Short Yardage Monster are the big two, Steady Grip should be your #3 imo. If you don't have the vision for SYM, I'd take Bruiser, Steady Grip, and Goal Line Back or Red Zone Freak as the #3.

So nobody likes Tenacious?

I hadn't even considered the attribute VAs, but Steady Grip isn't a bad idea either.

Originally posted by jeefunk
So nobody likes Tenacious?

With the FF/tackling VAs available now few defenders are playing on wrap up with any sort of regularity.

I don't get it. SYM gives 4% bonus per to break tackles behind the line of scrimmage. How often does your powerback actually get a TFL? Mine has an unusually high number this season and it's still like 10 over 10 games. 15 in SYM would help me break, what, 4 of those? It's not gonna work every time. And there's no stopping a second defender from trying, because usually an inside run TFL means that the O-line got blown up and you can't do much anyways. It's so situational and of questionable value that I'd rather have Clutch or Steady Grip.

And if you look at your PBP, you'll see your red zone rushes are way lower than 20% of the time. Unless you're a situationally-used power back, I'd pass and get something that actually activates more often than SYM or RZF.

I guess maybe I just have faith in Clutch working, but with the amount of 3rd down rushes, 4th quarter close game rushes, etc., I imagine it activates pretty regularly at 15, at least a lot more than SYM, RZF, and Goal Line Back (can't really abbreviate that one)

I'm not considering Tenacious because +30% chance to gaining more against wrap-up is a pretty small bonus for such a situational ability.

Originally posted by CapnEnnui
I don't get it. SYM gives 4% bonus per to break tackles behind the line of scrimmage. How often does your powerback actually get a TFL? Mine has an unusually high number this season and it's still like 10 over 10 games. 15 in SYM would help me break, what, 4 of those? It's not gonna work every time. And there's no stopping a second defender from trying, because usually an inside run TFL means that the O-line got blown up and you can't do much anyways. It's so situational and of questionable value that I'd rather have Clutch or Steady Grip.

Well your comparing rolls, so assuming you have SYM as well as bruiser we are talking about a 105% bonus to your break tackle roll (ie multiple your regular break tackle roll by 2.05). There is still some randomness involved as always, but assuming you have nice strength/carrying I'd contend that you'll be much closer to breaking 100% of your would be TkFL than you would be to 40%. More than doubling a roll which simply needs to out-do a defender's make tackle roll is extremely substantial.

I'm not saying its a slam dunk of a VA by any means, but rather I'm just trying to give a little perspective as to the value of it. Since tackles for less tend to really hurt drives, and 3rd and short conversions can very well determine a game, I wouldn't say its worthless for a power back. Perhaps steady grip is a better alternative, perhaps not.

Yeah, I'm not worried about SYM. Our team has a good line and he's not TFL'ed very often.

Thanks for the input on Tenacious. I knew a lot of our players weren't playing on wrap-up and had a suspicion that it was the case across GLB. That pretty much confirms that suspicion.

I don't see Clutch being any less situational than RZF. You're basically comparing triggering on all downs for a portion of the field to triggering on certain downs for the entire field. 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

I believe I'm leaning towards Steady Grip, though. Good conversation we have going regardless of the outcome!

Originally posted by CapnEnnui
I don't get it. SYM gives 4% bonus per to break tackles behind the line of scrimmage. How often does your powerback actually get a TFL? Mine has an unusually high number this season and it's still like 10 over 10 games. 15 in SYM would help me break, what, 4 of those? It's not gonna work every time. And there's no stopping a second defender from trying, because usually an inside run TFL means that the O-line got blown up and you can't do much anyways. It's so situational and of questionable value that I'd rather have Clutch or Steady Grip.

That's basically asking how often does your powerback play a team with a better D-line than your O-line. It's not as rhetorical of a question as you think. I gave advice assuming that he's not on a powerhouse. And the way it actually works out, I'd have to guess SYM would all but eliminate TFLs. 10 in the VA won't end up breaking 4 out of 10 TFLs on average, that's not how it works; what it does is it ridiculously jacks up your break tackle roll in the backfield, so you could easily get to a point where you're breaking every TFL if you reach a certain point (still think the BrTk % is capped, but it's a high cap).

Not to mention allowing slower PBs to do some pitches/screens for big gains

Originally posted by Jack Del Rio
(still think the BrTk % is capped, but it's a high cap).


Oh don't say that man, you're just going to piss me off. We're all turning into such GLB conspiracy theorists, but the fact is that we'll never truly know what lies behind the curtain. Bort has no accountability.