When CUST-76 opened up, I drafted the best possible OL I could to put fast OL to the test. From what JDB has said, fast OL should mitigate the advantage that fast DEs have. And, while I don't necessarily test a developer that doesn't sufficiently test his own code before handing it over to me to "test", I thought that nothing could be worse than how slow OL play.

And what I've found is that they aren't worse, but they **** just as hard.

Here's the OL that I ended up with after one of my players busted in camp. I haven't listed Strength because it doesn't matter for pass blocking, but for four of five OL it's between 95-100.

Position - Pass Block - Speed - Acceleration
LT - 98 - 100 - 100
LG - 99 - 100 - 94
C - 66/100 - 100 - 100
RG - 95 - 96 - 100
RT - 51/100 - 100 - 45

Now there are two weak links in C and RT since those players are still developing at position. Also, all of these players are traditional OL (between 273 and 323 pounds - **** that RT is heavy).

Here are the stats through the first two games.

Game 1

45 drop backs, including ones called back for penalties
5 sacks

40 passes, including ones called back for penalties
12 pressures

Game 2

43 drop backs, including ones called back for penalties
9 sacks allowed

34 passes, including ones called back for penalties
5 pressures

For those of you keeping track at home, it breaks down like this:

88 drop backs - 14 sacks - 16% sack/drop back

74 passes - 17 pressures - 23% pressure/pass

I'll update this as my season progresses and my players gain play knowledge, but it's not looking good.

My QB is also doing a good job of showing off the divide by zero bug in the passing game where the WRs run around after their routes are complete and the QB just waits until he gets sacked.

Are you only counting "pressures" based on when the play by play mentions it?

If so, that number is probably much higher. I don't think the play by play is accurate for a lot of items. Specifically, there are often times when my QB is clearly under pressure, to the point that his pass is way off target, but the play by play doesn't mention it.

Yes - I should have clarified this.

Thanks for the update.

Where does that leave us now? They don't need to only be fast, but light as well? Forget OL and just use FB/TE/RB/WR from now on?

The DEs I've been facing are all equal or equivalent physical weight as my OL, so it doesn't seem to make a difference. That was one of the first things I checked after last game's shelling.

I'm thinking QBs standing around - what I've started calling the divide by zero bug - is the root problem of sacks right now. QBs won't face pressure. The WRs routes are obviously completed because the WRs are free running. And QBs aren't throwing. That suggests a bug in the QB decision code.

I had a LT in MFN-48 that was 100 pass block, average acceleration and speed and would give up 18 sacks a year, I gave up trying to figure it out. Just FYI.

The only way it seems to really mitigate the sacks (from what I've seen) is to have a QB with high speed and scrambling. I've had low rated QBs tearing it up because they can move, while some of my QBs that should be superstars at the position **** hard because they are Peyton Manning instead of Micheal Vick.

I don't know why this is coming as a revelation to anyone. DTs have been generating crazy sack numbers, and jdavid confirmed that the 'speed rushing' element wasn't introduced for interior blocking. While yes, as others have noted, QBs hold the ball too long, the primary culprit as I've said many times is that regardless of skill, blocks get beaten far too often. I'm confident you could line a 100 speed, 100 acc WR at DT and tally up double digit sacks with them. This is why blitzing especially has become so potent. QBs hold the ball too long + someone is almost guaranteed to beat a block out of the 5+ players pass rushing.

This is why the constant bitching about the 'speed change' to o-line is so silly. As far as I can tell, it really doesn't seem to have much impact, because you can have 100s across the board and you'll still get consistently beat by someone with 0s.

The reason for the complaining initially was because JDB made the change without announcing it. One day SP didn't matter at all for OTs, the next day it was supposed to be the panacea for edge blocking. It's obviously not.

The other major problem with pass blocking that we have not mentioned is how ST works. DL get to use ST to their advantage in passing situations. 60 ST DTs will push a 100 ST C all the way back to the QB because OL do not utilize ST when pass blocking. I glossed over this above, but it's pretty apparent.

This thread is more or less collecting stats on how badly OLs get beaten, and since I happen to have an OL where all five starters have a pass block of close to 100 (or potential of 100) and have close to 100 SP, it's a good test of JDB's comments about how pass blocking should work.

I'd also be curious as to the breakdown between short/medium/long passes