Warrior General Games

There seems to be a pretty good consensus on the "right" way to build a NT: get strength as high as possible, get agility to the first cap, slam points into D-line General. NTs are never going to get the statistical glory of the other positions if they're against decent competition. But the NT should still be able to hold his ground and make the tackle if a running play comes right at him. So what attributes are most important for this? Everyone seems to have a different opinion of which ones are the best choice.

Strength: keeps the blockers from pushing you out of the way, and helps bring down the ball carrier if you do get your hands on him.
Agility: helps to slip around a block and fill the gap
Tackling: just what it sounds like, increases your probability of making the tackle
Speed: helps you get wherever you're going faster
Vision: helps to read the play and gets you moving towards the right place
Blocking: some say this helps to shed blocks
Jumping: increases your chances of making a diving tackle, effectively making your tackling radius wider
Confidence: no one seems to know exactly what this does, but it should have some impact on how effective you are at your job

So strength is the obvious choice for spending most of your points, because otherwise you're going to get shoved out of the way easily. Agility also looks good for getting off of a block once the O-lineman gets his hands on you. What about the rest? Does one have a greater impact than another?

It looks to me like tackling is one of the weakest choices. If you've already got a massive strength score, you should be able to bring down RBs without needing a massive tackling score as well. Of all these abilities, this seems to be the only one that doesn't help you get to the ball carrier... it only helps after you've gotten there in the first place. Even after the nerf, setting to "Wrap Up" tackling should still help you complete tackles. And even if you do miss one, you're in the middle of the defense and the tackling attempt will usually slow the ball carrier down... that's time for the rest of your guys to get around their blocks and make the play.

Similarly, speed seems to be a bit of a waste. Remember, I'm only talking about the ability to stand your ground in the middle and make the play when it comes at you. A good DT or DE might be expected to break through the line off the snap and then chase after the ball carrier behind the line, but the NT usually won't get past a double block. Will agility be enough to move you the short distance from your initial position to the running lane, getting you around a block in the process? Will vision help you choose the right gap to fill?

I've seen a lot of mixed opinions on vision. Many people say to get it up around 30, but no one seems to know for certain whether that helps at all. It's possible that vision isn't having a bit of impact other than reading run vs. pass, and if your NT is worthless as a pass rusher (due to low speed) then making that determination doesn't really matter much.

Jumping, even though it's not even a minor skill for DTs, sounds like the winner here. Anything that increases the tackling radius of your player should really help, especially if it works even while you're being blocked. If agility + jumping is good enough to range from one gap to the other, then speed becomes even less necessary.

So I'd like to hear from some more experienced DTs, especially NTs, about what changes they've made have shown immediate impact in their tackling effectiveness. What was the skill that turned your player into a tackling machine? Was it adding a few points to blocking? Training jumping to 20? Pumping up vision or confidence? Or did you just balance it out between all those options and hope for the best?

I've found for NT your largest concerns are clearly Strength and agility.

So far this is the DT that I have built which has had the most success. He is currently level 16 and has only upgraded 1 piece of equipment with lvl 16 upgrades.

Strength: 81.03 Blocking: 13
Speed: 17.27 Tackling: 24.03
Agility: 56.45 Throwing: 8
Jumping: 8 Catching: 9
Stamina: 27.72 Carrying: 8
Vision: 15.33 Kicking: 8
Confidence: 15.42 Punting: 10
(1's in run stuffer)

http://goallineblitz.com/game/player.pl?player_id=673638

He has 54 tackles, 7 sacks, 12 hurries, and 2 FF. He has missed 5 tackles.

Obviously vision, confidence, speed, and tackling will all need to go up as he levels. However, I'm still going to take agility to the 3 for 1 cap first. I'm not sold that speed, vision, or confidence will ever have to be higher than 30 at the NT position if strength and agility are high enough.

Interesting thread.I've read somewhere that by increasing tackling it make your tackle range wider too.

Makes sense because catching is suppose to open up your catching range

here are my 2 cents.

first of all, I belive there is a huge statistical difference between DT and NT

I have a lvl 28 NT and make 27 tackles.

Strength: 86.72 Blocking: 21.48
Speed: 48.03 Tackling: 46.13
Agility: 51.01 Throwing: 10
Jumping: 7 Catching: 7
Stamina: 38.55 Carrying: 9
Vision: 31.13 Kicking: 7
Confidence: 28.12 Punting: 9

Pass Rusher Abilities
12000
Run Stuffer Abilities
46222

the DT in the team also lvl 28 and nearly the same attributes make 46.


1. I think "Confidence" is nearly useles
2. I think "Tackling" not increas your tackling range. the LB and I have the same nummbers by "Tackling"
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=86740&pbp_id=8126666

3. I think "Strength" is the most important attributes for a NT. stuff your gap!
4. I think "Agility" is overrated for a NT. sure it helps and make you better. but not so much like Strenght.
5. I think "Speed" helps you get wherever you're going. include the wrong way!
6. I think "Vision" helps a lot to make the right steps. for me itīs nearly equal with speed.
7. I think "Blocking" is useles.
8. I think "Jumping" is useles. again, the LB haves much more jumping as I.
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=86740&pbp_id=8126666


only that what I think.

I've been scouring all the threads on this board, and it seems like everyone is pretty high on vision as the most important of the minor attributes for a NT. Speed is also listed, of course, and that's important all around for any situation where you have to chase down the ball carrier, but vision gets you into the right gap and helps you take the right path to the ball. No one seems to have any clue what confidence really does or how much it helps, but I plan to spend some time training it when I get the chance. Jumping sounds intriguing as well, as increasing tackling radius sounds like a big big advantage for a NT trying to plug up the middle. I haven't read anything else about tackling improving your tackling radius the same way catching does for receivers and DBs.

I believe vision is much more important for the DT than the NT. There usually isn't a gap for the NT unless he is also going to have enough speed to run around a double team.

Also, you need the strength not to get pancaked, and the agility to get off of blocks. A good level 25 C will probably have around 88 - 95 strength and 70+ blocking. Add in that usually the RG or a FB is chipping you or full out double teaming you, and the NT is toast without enough strength and agility. Sometimes the NT will be triple teamed as well.


Confidence is useful for in game morale. If you are dominating, you don't need it. If you get pancaked a couple of times or if your team falls behind and you have low confidence then you will start to be pushed around a lot easier as the game wears on. Also, many believe that confidence for NT helps the effect of the D-line general. I've never seen any "proof" of this, but it does make sense.

These are just my observations and opinions for NT:

Strength - most important obviously

Speed - a bonus for NT, but is useful if you do manage to breakthrough or turning around to tackle in the hole 3 or so yards behind you.

Agility - important for the acceleration. momentum = mass * velocity. Even if you have high strength, you will want some velocity to gain momentum and keep from getting pancaked.

Jumping - minor but useful when able to train later to knock down passes and make diving tackles.

Vision - the most interesting on vision was a blurp from Bort that vision will help defensive linemen read a block to aid them in beating it. Personally, I think vision is very important for all players. I kind of equate it to intelligence and allowing the player to know what is going on around them on the field.

Confidence - always the unknown, but I think important for a NT. First, NT have 3 SA's that I think are linked to confidence; The Glare, Snarl, and D-Line General. I have no proof, just my opinion. Confidence will also keep your player from performing poorly after getting pancaked or missing tackles. I have witnessed this first-hand. A few bad plays and your NT will start getting pushed all over the field and be pretty useless.

Blocking - I don't plan on touching it until it is the last thing to train. Bort says it is very minor skill in shedding blocks. Others have claimed that training it to 20-25 helps shed blocks, but I still doubt that it is overly helpful.

Tackling - Pretty important, IMO. NTs can get away with average tackling with high strength, but I want to get tackling high so I can power tackle to cause fumbles. This is a good job for the DTs since there is a lot of support behind them if they miss the tackle.