Warrior General Games

You've all seen hundreds of examples, but this one just gets me. Strong I Off Tackle. WR2 has CB2 blocked. TE has LOLB blocked. FB has SS blocked, clearing a lane to the pylon, but HB cuts back INTO the pursuit, turning a TD into a 5-yard gain. WHY WON'T HBs FOLLOW THEIR FB???

https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/689757/1003444

the TE loses the block on the LOLB and the FB goes to pick it up the HB "saw" 2 unblocked defenders in that moment and decided to cut in. Elusive tends to over commit try slippery

What about this one, then? The HB is supposed to follow the FB into the 1 Hole/A Gap. Because LG is losing his run block and getting pushed back, the FB sidesteps through the 3 Hole/B Gap. The HB, meanwhile, goes the opposite way through the 2 Hole. A nice gain, but if he had followed his FB, who was teeing up the MLB, he had an open seam to the secondary with only CB1 and a FS on a bad angle in front of him. And maybe I'm not presenting perfect examples, but the question remains: Why won't HBs follow their FB?

https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/695124/950731

my power back commonly runs into my FB back lol

Originally posted by atlbruce
What about this one, then? The HB is supposed to follow the FB into the 1 Hole/A Gap. Because LG is losing his run block and getting pushed back, the FB sidesteps through the 3 Hole/B Gap. The HB, meanwhile, goes the opposite way through the 2 Hole. A nice gain, but if he had followed his FB, who was teeing up the MLB, he had an open seam to the secondary with only CB1 and a FS on a bad angle in front of him. And maybe I'm not presenting perfect examples, but the question remains: Why won't HBs follow their FB?

https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/695124/950731

Rushing awareness caused this, the HB starts to cut left but the OT initially misses the guy he is supposed to block and starts heading toward the guy FB is going to engage. HB stutters right a little bit to ensure correct blocks engage but then becomes aware of a poor blocking interaction by FB next to him and tries to move right to avoid it in case the defender breaks away, leading him upfield like you see here.


For what it's worth he did follow FB here, just tried to make too much happen when he might have been able to run away for more yardage. That happens on combo and power setting sometimes. Slippery tends to be a bit better at just taking what is available - but also tends to limit breakaway runs. Elusive would have been good for this situation as it tends to run away instead of insisting on setting up blocks, but it also runs when it NEEDS to set up blocks so you often times just run away from blockers.

Originally posted by Raid
the OT initially misses the guy he is supposed to block and starts heading toward the guy FB is going to engage.

I don't think we're watching the same play. The LOT has the DE from start to finish. Your explanations of the running styles make a lot of sense, though.

Originally posted by atlbruce
I don't think we're watching the same play. The LOT has the DE from start to finish. Your explanations of the running styles make a lot of sense, though.

ROT moves upfield to try and make a block, that's who he's trying to get to take on the defender coming down after him in the open field since the OT is doubling down on the guy the FB is going to initially.

I don't think the ROT could be much of a factor, since the play is going to the left side.

Originally posted by atlbruce
I don't think the ROT could be much of a factor, since the play is going to the left side.

This is where awareness is a double edged sword at times, the HB wanted someone to block him and the only guy he could find to lead to him was to his right when the open field was to his left. If he'd have taken off left the defender may have just run into the blocking interaction FB was already creating. But the HB thought he could make something happen if he got that block engaged.

Then he noticed how bad the block FB was making was going, so he didn't feel safe going behind fullback to the left - and with good cause as the defender breaks loose to the left of FB right after, since HB was inside the FB gets to re-engage immediately though. He then tries to formulate a plan to break a tackle and it looks like turn right since he was drifting slowly left to lead the overhead defenders that way, but the tackle didn't get broke.

Sorry for the big rant out of nowhere, and I know you may have been running on elusive? But it's a problem I see all the time with combo.

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That's part of the big draw and problem for me to combo, it simultaneously tries to get too much done while insisting on engaging too many blocks. I think Power is a better running style, but it doesn't lend itself to low footwork players very well.

Combo I think benefits a little bit from a low rushing awareness specifically, and it's useable even with low mobility skills outside of sprinting. I mean, Combo can look downright good at 40/40/40 aware/quick/footwork and 100 sprint. I think it's mainly a speedback's wet dream for a running style.

You don't even need much elusive or power skill with it as the big thing it does well is create space and help avoid defenders, not relying on broken tackles outside of broken diving tackles and sidesteps that make a defender miss - and those don't even count toward the broken tackle stats, though they do require more footwork to pull off.

Another big downside of it is that because it tries not to rely on those broken tackles, it actually hampers players abilities to break tackles, even combo style players. So while it builds team morale well because it helps find room and get yardage, it also hurts your players personal morale as he's liable to not break as many tackles nor run out of bounds to avoid contact as much. Even Power runs out of bounds more often than combo.


But, it's only second to slippery in terms of creating yardage, and doesn't limit breakaways nearly as harshly as slippery, and can be used without high quickness like slippery requires.


Essentially, you shouldn't be running on Combo if you can avoid it, unless you specifically are building your player to run on combo. And if you do, it can produce some neat results. Combo is the only style that never gives up on the play, and sometimes that can lead to big plays. Though because of the lower broken tackle counts you won't see combo players make the top play boards as much, I still think the plays they pull off at times are more fun to watch.