*D-Line Standouts: Week 9

[manicmav36]

Defensive Line Standouts - Week 9

Welcome to week 9 of our Season 3 Defensive Line Standouts! An exciting week for our list, we have not one but, TWO players going for the record of most consecutive appearances on our list at nine. We have the young gun from Baltimore, Ricardo Sandoval, and the grizzled Season 1 vet, Dan Miller. To put that into perspective, only three players appeared on our list more than nine times the entire season last year. The consistency between these two is nothing short in inspiring and I look forward to watching them for the rest of the season. Enough chit chat… Let’s begin!


Defensive End Top Performers

D. Dam ($$) 5 TCK, 4 TFL
The “other” defensive end in Arizona, Dam has had a quiet year so far and is constantly being over-shadowed by his teammate, Tuck. Don’t let that fool you though, he would be an impact player on nearly any other roster in the NSFL, and showed that with his performance this past week. He finished a tough game on the road against the Baltimore Hawks with an impressive 5 tackles and 4 tackles for loss. As teams begin to scheme more and more to stop his teammate, expect some big games from Dam. The Outlaws will host division rival, the Orange County Otters next week.

B. Blade ($$$$) 4 TCK, 2 SCK
Making his fourth appearance on our list this week, Blade finished his last game with 4 tackles and a pair of sacks. Las Vegas has long been known as a team with a great interior pass rush, but, now with the addition of Blade, teams will need to watch the edge as well. Currently sitting at 7 tackles for loss and 7 sacks on the season, Blade has been a fantastic addition for the Legion. Las Vegas is on the road next week, headed to sunny San Jose to face a much improved SaberCats squad.

A. Tomlinson OC ($ x6) 8 TCK, 2 TFL
The current king of tackles for loss, Tomlinson is making his sixth appearance here after posting fantastic 8 tackles and 2 tackles for loss performance. The current record holder for most tackles for loss in a game and league leader in the same category, Tomlinson is the definition of a run-stopping defensive end. With four times more tackles for loss than sacks, Tomlinson doesn’t get to the quarterback often, however, teams should think twice before they run the ball to his side. Orange County is on the road for game 3 of a 5-game road trip, this week in the hot dessert sun against a stacked Arizona Outlaws team.

Other Great Performers

J. Tuck AZ ($ x8) 4 TCK, 2 SCK
F. Wozy ($ x5) 3 TCK, 2 SCK
A. de Ligt ($$$) 3 TCK, 2 TFL, 1 SCK
Tuck could’ve been included in the upper half of this list, and in fact posted an identical stat-line to Blade, but I’m just sick of writing about him, and someone had to be left off. He made his eighth appearance on our list this week. Wozy is making his fifth appearance here, this week he punched his ticket with a pair of clutch sacks. De Light is our only rookie defensive end on the list this week and has been a solid addition to a much improved SaberCats team.


Defensive Tackle Top Performers

D. Miller ($ x9) 8 TCK, 3 SCK
His ninth consecutive appearance here was one of his best, earning him the top spot on our list with as impressive 8 tackles and 3 sacks. With 16 sacks through 9 games, Miller is on track to finish with 26 sacks on the year, which, without a super-human effort from Tuck this season, would be enough to tie the season record. Although he wasn’t able to add another strip sack to the list this week, Miller still leads the NSFL in forced fumbles and is tied for the lead in fumbles recovered. Whatever they’re paying him, it isn’t enough. Next week Miller will face a Las Vegas Legion team that is allowing more than 4 sacks a game, second worst in the NSFL.

B. Bjornsson ($ x7) 8 TCK, 1 SCK
After a brief, 2-week hiatus, the Bearded Wonder of the North is back. His 8 tackles and 1 sack was enough to earn him his seventh appearance here, third most of any defensive tackle. A monster through the first six games of the season, teams seemingly found an answer for his as his finished with only 2 tackles over a 2-game stretch. It appears we were wrong though, as he once again showed why he is one of the most feared defensive tackles in the NSFL. Bjornsson will look to continue his payback tour next week as the Wraiths host a Philadelphia Liberty squad that has allowed the most sacks in the NSFL.

V. Cox ($ x6) 6 TCK, 1 SCK
After finishing the week with 6 tackles and a sack, Cox claimed his spot on our list for the sixth time this season, the fourth most of any defensive tackle in the league. With 6 sacks on the year, Cox currently has the fifth most sacks among defensive tackles in the league and should receive healthy consideration for a pro bowl spot. Make sure to look for Cox and the rest of his Legion teammates in San Jose next week as they attempt to earn their first win this season.

Other Great Performers

B. Bot ($$) 2 TCK, 2 SCK
K. Hendrix ($$$) 9 TCK
J. Cox ($$) 3 TCK, 1 SCK
M. Ramrio ($ x6) 3 TCK, 1 SCK
After spending a majority of the season in the DSFL, Big Bot has made quite the splash, appearing for the second consecutive time here. The lone member of the Baltimore Hawks on our list this week, Hendrix wasn’t able to get to the quarterback at all but, essential made it impossible to run the ball up the middle. He finished the week with the most tackles of any defensive lineman with 9. Cox and Ramrio posted identical stat-lines of 3 tackles and 1 sack. However, this marks Ramrio’s sixth appearance on our list while rookie Cox has only appeared twice.


Team Appearances After Week 9*

Baltimore: 20 1
San Jose: 16 2
Arizona: 15 3
Orange County: 13 2
Las Vegas: 12 2
Yellowknife: 11 1
Philadelphia: 11 1
Colorado: 9 1

And then there was one.
With Ricardo Sandoval failing to make the list this week, Dan Miller is the only player remaining who has made our list every week during Season 3. An impressive 9 times in 9 weeks, I’m excited to see how far he can take it.

Baltimore retains their top spot, however, with only one player on the list this week, the next 4 teams all gained some ground on the Hawks. The standings stay exactly the same this week, save for Las Vegas jumping Yellowknife to claim the sixth spot in our standings. Each team was represented on our list this week, which makes for the fourth time in 9 weeks, the same amount as through the entirety of Season 2. As always, if you have any comments, corrections, or question, I’d love to hear them below.

*Just a reminder, this ranking is not necessarily indicative of how well a team’s defense is operating as a whole. For example, Arizona leads the league in sacks by 20 but, is currently third on our list in number of individual appearances.

@Foompin @ErMurazor @Blaster @Gooney @Waters @Jbearly @Ducks @7hawk77 @HENDRIX @TheWoZy @Anti-Hype @bovovovo @loco


GRADED

[7hawk77]

Fun read as always.

One thing I'd like to mention is should Björnsson be compared to other DT or DEs?

He's a defensive end player/archetype but I'm pretty sure he is always slotted in at defensive tackle. So technically he's not a defensive tackle.

[manicmav36]

Fun read as always.

One thing I'd like to mention is should Björnsson be compared to other DT or DEs?

He's a defensive end player/archetype but I'm pretty sure he is always slotted in at defensive tackle. So technically he's not a defensive tackle.

Yeah, that's something I've struggled a bit with. In the end, I decided that since he takes his snaps exclusively in the tackle postion, I would count him as a defensive tackle. I'd love to hear other opinions though.

As brought up by others, I do think that's something that needs to be addressed though. If a player plays a high percentage of their snaps at a position, they should be required to switch to that position.

[7hawk77]

Yeah, that's something I've struggled a bit with. In the end, I decided that since he takes his snaps exclusively in the tackle postion, I would count him as a defensive tackle. I'd love to hear other opinions though.

As brought up by others, I do think that's something that needs to be addressed though. If a player plays a high percentage of their snaps at a position, they should be required to switch to that position.

Yeah, We are definitely aware of people playing off position in the head office. We don't want Defensive Lines to be comprised of 4 DEs, or teams running 7 safeties instead of 2S 2CB 3LBs.

I know if you compare Run Stopper defensive end to interior rusher defensive tackle, it's almost strictly better.

I'm currently testing weight adjustments to see if we can solve this issue by just adjusting weight instead of changing max attributes values.

[bovovovo]

Yeah, We are definitely aware of people playing off position in the head office. We don't want Defensive Lines to be comprised of 4 DEs, or teams running 7 safeties instead of 2S 2CB 3LBs.

I know if you compare Run Stopper defensive end to interior rusher defensive tackle, it's almost strictly better.

I'm currently testing weight adjustments to see if we can solve the issue by just adjusting weight instead of changing max attributes values.

I think that's the way to go. I think already teams will be (and have been) punished by using DEs as DTs because of their lower weight, but also at higher TPE levels DTs have more strength which starts to put them above DEs at the DT position.

It's a small sample size, but Miller is a really good example of that. Miller's outperforming Bjornsson at the DT position and I think it's because of his strength.

I'm completely against any kind of "only DTs or LBs can play DT or LB" rule, but I definitely think archetypes can be tweaked so that they have more clear and even strengths/weaknesses

[7hawk77]

I think that's the way to go. I think already teams will be (and have been) punished by using DEs as DTs because of their lower weight, but also at higher TPE levels DTs have more strength which starts to put them above DEs at the DT position.

It's a small sample size, but Miller is a really good example of that. Miller's outperforming Bjornsson at the DT position and I think it's because of his strength.

I'm completely against any kind of "only DTs or LBs can play DT or LB" rule, but I definitely think archetypes can be tweaked so that they have more clear and even strengths/weaknesses

Yeah I don't see limiting players to a single position as a real option. Players should be able to flex to help the team, but not be as effective.

I believe that I am the strongest defensive tackle archetype currently and it might need a minor town down. However overall, Defensive Ends are still considered better than defensive tackles (specifically Run Stopper and Power Rusher).


I'm playing around with the following changes and I'm fine with input because defensive linemen generally read this weekly thread.




Defensive tackles:

Nose Tackles
Weight: 330-380 up from 325-375
Nose Tackle is very limited but an interesting niche build. I'd love for someone to utilize this in a 3-4-4 and I think a small weight increase could make this a more appealing option. I've done some research and William Perry weighed 382 and was a good Defensive Tackle, so I don't see that weight being out of the question.


Run Stuffer:
No changes currently.
Currently the best DT build IMHO. Could possibly look in to toning down this archetype's weight by 5 or 10 pounds if it's definitively the best DT build after changes to the others.

Interior rusher
280-320 up from 280-315
Minor buff. Brings the weight of this DT above that of the defensive ends. I don't think a DE should weigh more than a DT, especially with the maximum attributes designed of the interior rusher having much less speed than the slowest defensive ends.

Balanced
300-340 up from 300-330
Balanced is kind of the odd man out IMHO. I think all 3 other builds are better since they are specialized, but I definitely think this could use a minor buff in the form of added weight.





Defensive ends

Speed rusher
235-270 down from 235-280
This build is niche and still very solid and fun. Minor tweak to weight needing to be in line due to other adjustments.

Run Stopper
270-300 down from 270-320
This needed the biggest hit. Mainly because if you compare it to the interior rusher defensive tackle, it's just straight better. If you are just looking at stat allocation, it's about 5% stronger before weight is even taken in to account. Then the fact that this archetype gets more weight than the interior rusher pushes it out even further.



Power Rusher
260-290 down from 280-310
This build is tied for the strongest defensive line build (with run stopper). I think a slight weight reduction again would prevent DE from being better DT than actual DTs. It also has a bit less weight than the run stopper archetype further differing the niches between the two.


Balanced
270-290
I'd keep this the same. Balanced defensive end is basically worse than all 3 of the others. I don't think it should get nerfed, which in turn would kind of be a round about buff.




Anyways, Like I said. Still testing things this stuff out. Let me know what you think.

[bovovovo]

@7hawk77 yeah without pouring into it I think most of that is really solid

My worry though is that a big reason why we keep looking into nerfing linemen (especially DEs) is just because of the relative lack of OL. DEs may be overperforming because, generally, there just aren't enough good OL to block them.

But idk, I don't get paid to make these decisions lol

[ErMurazor]

@7hawk77 yeah without pouring into it I think most of that is really solid

My worry though is that a big reason why we keep looking into nerfing linemen (especially DEs) is just because of the relative lack of OL. DEs may be overperforming because, generally, there just aren't enough good OL to block them.

But idk, I don't get paid to make these decisions lol

I think this is a valid point. If we ever fill all of the OLs I think we're going to see DLs start to be pretty ineffective.

[7hawk77]

@7hawk77 yeah without pouring into it I think most of that is really solid

My worry though is that a big reason why we keep looking into nerfing linemen (especially DEs) is just because of the relative lack of OL. DEs may be overperforming because, generally, there just aren't enough good OL to block them.

But idk, I don't get paid to make these decisions lol

Haha, Yeah it's definitely possible that if every OL had the TPE of Angus Winchester, then there would need to be completely different balancing goals.

However currently, this balancing goal is to ensure that defensive tackles are the best defensive tackles, and defensive ends are the best defensive ends.

[bovovovo]

Haha, Yeah it's definitely possible that if every OL had the TPE of Angus Winchester, then there would need to be completely different balancing goals.

However currently, this balancing goal is to ensure that defensive tackles are the best defensive tackles, and defensive ends are the best defensive ends.

Gotcha. Makes me sad because my goal from the start with Bork was to make a lineman who could be moved around the whole line as a hybrid type like Watt or how the Seahawks use Bennett, but I completely understand from a balancing standpoint