Light box meta vs matching personnel...let's discuss
Seems to be a heated debate in the football gaming community right now.
- One one hand, you've got the folks who are used to leaning on "light boxes" (I.e. Dime/Dollar) while still being able to shut down the run.
- On the other hand, you've got folks who don't mind matching personnel.
The "light box" crowd will say "pancake blocks are a problem. They're a loud segment of the communityz so they've successfully got the best of the devs looking to work on a "fix".
Meanwhile the "personnel matching" crowd will say "I haven't had an issue with pancake blocks, and handle the run fairly well".
So let me pose this question...
Why don't football coaches IRL just run Dime/Dollar every play? Perhaps it's because they understand that while you may OCCASIONALLY blow up a running play here and there, more often than not...the offense is simply gonna keep handing the ball off and over the course of a game wear that light box personnel into the ground.
My point is, those light boxes were never intended to be ran every down. They weren't meant to be used on passing downs in obvi passing situations to confuse pass pro and the QB.
IMO pancake blocks are NOT the issue, it's an unwillingness of the "light box" crowd to adjust and match up.
"Little guys have a place on the football field, just not in front of big guys". That's not me talking, that's Nick Saban.
I'm sure the "light box" crowd will eventually win out and the devs will nerf run blocking. Just know, that this ISN'T football at that point. It's just "football gaming".
I recently heard a dev say "we always lean towards answering football questions with football answers". So I would ask that dev..."how would you solve this issue"?
Should a 300 lbs lineman be able to consistently move a 245/250 lineback against his will?
Or...
Should we allow those 240/250 lineman to be consistently shoot gaps in the run game, thereby shutting it down?
I actually don't fault the "light box" crowd. I fault devs in the past, for giving the "light box" crowd a false sense of security over the years.
If you ask me, I say "nerf the blocking SLIGHTLY", but not to the point where players aren't penalized by running a light box vs base and heavy personnel in the run game. Should someone be able to spam goal line personnel all the up and down the field? Absolutely not. But...
Force folks to learn about weight end strength just as much as they've learned about speed and quickness.
You're controller won't explode...I promise.
Big guys should feel like big guys on the field.
