Matrix Games Forums

Hey everyone,

Long-time player, first-time poster. I had a question in regards to which attributes are vital for the RB position. The others are pretty self-explanatory, but I have trouble picking out which two or three attributes are important in rating out a RB. Is it speed, strength, agility or hands or all of the above? This is for his run side only.

Jarrod

I'd have to say for running only it would be...

1) Speed (Break away ability.)
2) Agility (Change of direction and making defenders miss.)
3) Strength (Shed tackles. But, be careful here because the ai wants to place a really strong RB at the FB position on the depth chart.)

well if your not looking at using your RB as a receiver for screen passes

then all you need worry about is:

Strength
speed
and agility

but hands is still important
thats the setting the game uses for fumbles

no good having break away speed and strength
if you spill out the ball everytime your tackled

Or if you're doing Indoor/Arena style you want your RB to be a blocker too.  Lots of things you can use as criteria.

Here are a couple more areas to consider all though not as important as the big three (sp, ag, st) listed above...

Endurance can be important as well. Perhaps determines how quickly the RB wares down during the course of a game. Seems to me that RBs with higher endurance bounce back more quickly during the course of the game and seem to retain their impact level longer. But, not sure, so this might only affect his probability of getting injured.

Not sure if intelligence is a factor. But was thinking that a more intelligent RB would spot holes or follow his blocking. But, this might not be a factor at all in RBs.

Stick with the big three (as well as hands) and you should be fine.

Thanks for the input! I was basically looking for the starting point. Like a receiver, catching is the definitive attribute, imo. And while I know the others (intell, discipline, endurance, speed, etc) round out the players being, I couldn't pinpoint the definitive attribute for the running back. And I guess I should specify by saying halfback, since the fullback's strength/blocking would separate it from the HB position.
As far which type of league player this would be for, it's a college type back and on Spread offs they're used out the backfield quite often. So I would use some for receiving and I know to jack up their catch values as such. Which brings me full circle to the post, because I was wondering what attributes for a running back set its apart from others.

Speed and Agility are important.  If all other areas were average, I'd go with these to start.  Maybe Agility and Strength for a power back.
 
Strength is important for both running through defenders and blocking.  Fullbacks need good strength.
 
Pass Catch is important for screens and passing plays out of the back field.
 
Hands is not as important unless it is low enough to cause a severe case of fumblitis.

Since there are no drops in the game what does catching actually influence?

Well, there's no animation or a statistic for drops, but the catching skill will still influence whether or not a receiver will catch the ball.
 
Receivers with a low catching skill will see passes whizz by them uncaught more often than they should.

As Brockleigh stated, the Pass Catch attribute is a primary factor for a receiver, or defender going for a pick, catching the ball.  Proximity of defenders and the ball being delivered on target are other factors.