Warrior General Games

It seems there are varying opinions out there on the relative importance of strength vs. blocking for tackles and guards. I'm completely open minded about this issue and am willing to hear what others think. Do you want your tackles to have higher lvls of strength or blocking? What about your guards and centers?

for my Guard... I put a lot on blocking in my first season, and NEVER got pancakes.. then I started to put a load on strength... and the pancakes started coming VERY quickly.

Strength > blocking

You could go either way. During run blocking Strength helps push a defender to open holes, and strength is a major factor in pancakes. During pass blocking Blocking will help keep a defender engaged and give the QB more time to throw the ball. Unfortunately there is no "Sacks Allowed" stat so the pass blockers don't get much praise.

As far as Tackles vs. Guards vs. Centers... interior lineman always need lots of strength because of strong DTs, so my guards have 80+ strength. For tackles, I think its very important to give your QB a good pocket and enough time to throw, so I favor Blocking slightly. My OTs have 55+ strength 75+ blocking. This is just personal opinion, and I am not an expert.

From my understanding the LOT will want high blocking, agility, vision and stength. In order to engage that fast agile DE you also need some agility and vision to adjust off the line.

I have been viewing both strength and blocking as equals. He gets a few pancakes a game and has not allowed a sack in this young season.

My center has mid 70s str, mid 50s blk, Pancake 4
My guard (LG) has low 60s in str and blk, Pancake 3

Both are on the same team, both start, and get roughly the same number of snaps. The guard has twice as many pancakes as my center. I haven't decided if it is a matter of stats, luck, or players they get lined up against.

Pancakes aren't the be all and end all of the game.

Originally posted by martinwarnett
Pancakes aren't the be all and end all of the game.

Agree, but that is the only stat we have to go by. In any case, it's obvious that Blocking has a big part in the formula that determines if a defender is pancaked.

most OT's are designed to protect the QB from pass rushing ends, so you'll usually find them designed to be pass blockers or balanced, with less concern for pancake blocks. If you're designing a pass blocker, do you want to focus more on strength or blocking?

From what I've seen comparing my two players:

Block helps you hold a line, which is good for pass blocking.
Strength helps you open holes, which is good for run blocking.

Originally posted by Daefaroth
My center has mid 70s str, mid 50s blk, Pancake 4
My guard (LG) has low 60s in str and blk, Pancake 3

Both are on the same team, both start, and get roughly the same number of snaps. The guard has twice as many pancakes as my center. I haven't decided if it is a matter of stats, luck, or players they get lined up against.

I think its about 90-95% who they line up against.

Originally posted by bumph
Originally posted by Daefaroth

My center has mid 70s str, mid 50s blk, Pancake 4
My guard (LG) has low 60s in str and blk, Pancake 3

Both are on the same team, both start, and get roughly the same number of snaps. The guard has twice as many pancakes as my center. I haven't decided if it is a matter of stats, luck, or players they get lined up against.

I think its about 90-95% who they line up against.

Yeah but you'd think they would line up against similar players

blocking has no relevance to pancaking

0

Originally posted by cirtap614


Yeah but you'd think they would line up against similar players

Not necessarily. LG is the pass blocking guard, so may be going up agains agility heavier builds rather than pure strength builds.