Warrior General Games

Isn't most of the actual work done when blocking by a fullback done as a lead blocker?

Is run blocking awareness all that helpful? Or can I just stack the lead blocking awareness?

Not sure if this is actually the way it works, but I've been told RBA is for between the tackles and LBA is for outside. That being said, I usually get my FBs to around 75 LBA and 50 RBA, and they do quite well.

I'm lucky if I put 25 RBA on my FB, mostly just use some LBA.

It largely depends on the play. FB isn't always lead blocking, sometimes he is back side blocking to cover for a pulling guard. Still a crucial block to make, arguably moreso.

Originally posted by Corndog
It largely depends on the play. FB isn't always lead blocking, sometimes he is back side blocking to cover for a pulling guard. Still a crucial block to make, arguably moreso.

Ehhh, depending on the play a lot of those backside blocks are fairly worthless so long as the HB doesn't have to dance a lot in the backfield, and since I've not seen a FB majorly fail one of them outside of actually getting womped on by the defender so I'd wager they are a lot easier 'roll' to make.

If it really is just a 'lead blocking vs. not lead blocking' situation I'd tend to say for a FB at least the one is mostly useless, not entirely.

The way the skill is read I would think once the FB is engaged in a block, RBA takes over [regardless of whether RBA or LBA was used to find the block]

This is something I don't understand. I picked a couple examples of something I see a lot. The FB takes himself out of the play completely despite having 90 for lead blocking awareness. The play is clearly designed to be outside so he should be aiming for the sideline to block the CB.


https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/630145/1354319

https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/630145/1353320

https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/630145/1354476

Originally posted by Bretto007
This is something I don't understand. I picked a couple examples of something I see a lot. The FB takes himself out of the play completely despite having 90 for lead blocking awareness. The play is clearly designed to be outside so he should be aiming for the sideline to block the CB.


https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/630145/1354319

https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/630145/1353320

https://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/630145/1354476

Interesting...

On the second and third plays here, I think it's just a bad luck of the draw. In the second, the SS breaks off his block JUST as the FB gets within the radius. And in the third, it's also just a matter of timing and the fact that the OT didn't engage the block fast enough. If you slow it down by dragging the bar to watch it in slo-mo, you'll notice the OT isn't actually engaged in that block, though it might seem like it because the OT was running toward the same blocking target as the FB but took a much longer time getting to it.

I'm more interested in the first play. Based on the physicals, I'm guessing the sprinting/quickness is about 50/50. Especially on outside running plays that allow wide arcs and don't necessarily need much quickness, it wouldn't be a big deal, but in this particular play, what I'm fairly certain happened was that he was trying to turn toward to engage the LB but couldn't turn fast enough to engage the block.. and the LB just ran past him faster than he the FB dot could change direction.

At least from what I've seen, the directional orientation of blockers matters more than I would have originally thought. While blocking on the line, my understanding is that whatever awareness 'picks up', it's mostly up to footwork to make the adjustments to match the d-lineman, like they're strafing. When you get off the line, getting into position to engage the block arc would seem to take the facing direction more into account.

Originally posted by Oofty
Interesting...

On the second and third plays here, I think it's just a bad luck of the draw. In the second, the SS breaks off his block JUST as the FB gets within the radius. And in the third, it's also just a matter of timing and the fact that the OT didn't engage the block fast enough. If you slow it down by dragging the bar to watch it in slo-mo, you'll notice the OT isn't actually engaged in that block, though it might seem like it because the OT was running toward the same blocking target as the FB but took a much longer time getting to it.

I'm more interested in the first play. Based on the physicals, I'm guessing the sprinting/quickness is about 50/50. Especially on outside running plays that allow wide arcs and don't necessarily need much quickness, it wouldn't be a big deal, but in this particular play, what I'm fairly certain happened was that he was trying to turn toward to engage the LB but couldn't turn fast enough to engage the block.. and the LB just ran past him faster than he the FB dot could change direction.

At least from what I've seen, the directional orientation of blockers matters more than I would have originally thought. While blocking on the line, my understanding is that whatever awareness 'picks up', it's mostly up to footwork to make the adjustments to match the d-lineman, like they're strafing. When you get off the line, getting into position to engage the block arc would seem to take the facing direction more into account.

I guess I assumed 90 for lead blocking awareness would compensate for all those possibilities

Originally posted by Bretto007
I guess I assumed 90 for lead blocking awareness would compensate for all those possibilities

How's the footwork?

When players get close and 'lock on' to try and block they turn their body toward the defender and footwork takes over entirely. If footwork is too low it can cause the player to 'freeze' as they try and decide with all that awareness how best to intercept a defender who is moving away from them faster than they can make adjustments.

It sucks, because fullbacks are all inside running and quickness is way more effective on the inside - but footwork is how you get to blocks and don't let defenders run right by you.

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Edit: Watched the plays, none of what I said matters - but it's still true info so I'll leave it up.


What's the RBA? This SHOULD be a lead-blocking situation, but it may not be because GLB is weird like that. I'd say it'd even be a bug for these plays to be running off RBA.


The only other thing I can figure is the FB may be trying to initiate an upfield cut to remove the overpursuing CB out of the play - but the HB has 67 awareness, so I'd think if he was, the HB would follow. There definitely was the lane created there in all 3, but Its hard to tell what the sim was trying to do.


Either way, this could be a bug if the RBA is decent as well - or it may show us that we should keep rushing awareness of the HB and LBA of the fullback close to eachother... dunno.

Originally posted by Bretto007
The play is clearly designed to be outside so he should be aiming for the sideline to block the CB.

But the play art for Pro Set HB Sweep shows the FB turning up field pretty early, tbh

Originally posted by Raid
Either way, this could be a bug if the RBA is decent as well - or it may show us that we should keep rushing awareness of the HB and LBA of the fullback close to eachother... dunno.

I'm going to say this is probably reading way too much into it.

Ball carriers don't really "follow blockers" that much, at least not through holes created as they would in real life. There's probably multiple things happening, based on which play we are looking at.

The FB pathfinding probably doesn't adequately account for and maneuver around the already engaged WR/CB, and kinda just stumbles into them trying to get to the other defender on the opposite side of them. At least one of the plays, he seems to be aiming for the outside defender, but then the LB is unblocked and likely calculated as the highest unaccounted for threat to the HB (whether that's accurate or not)

Suggestion: Lead block SA
This FB has a knack for knowing where his HB is trying to go (maybe the FB follows the HBs projected play art rather than his own or based off the runners running style selected predicts whether the HB is going to turn up field or go outside)... maybe would have code in FB disregarding "immediate threats"

Powered by: Lead block awareness, chemistry
Activation condition: Lead blocking on outside run

While active: bonus to engaging block but maybe slows down the HB (less of effect on HB as you star it higher)