BDL 2018 Week 3: Portland Horned Owls @ Sydney Dingos

[Whicker]

BDL 2018 Week 3

Vote for who you think would win the game.

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Note: Players that have a (D) next to their name indicate that they are doubtful or unlikely to play. Players with (Q) are game-time decisions.

Good Luck

[Whicker]

Portland Horned Owls

QB1: Derek Carr
RB1: LeSean McCoy - (Q)
WR1: Davante Adams 
WR2: Tyler Boyd
TE1: Will Dissly 
TE2: Austin Hooper
LT: Alejandro Villanueva
LG: Clint Boling
C:  Matt Paradis
RG: Will Hernandez
RT: Laremy Tunsil 

Reserves:

QB2: Patrick Mahomes II
RB2: Peyton Barber
RB3: Ameer Abdullah
WR3: Jamison Crowder
WR4: Martavis Bryant
WR5: John Ross
OL6: Ben Jones
OL7: Kelvin Beachum

Portland's 4-2-5 Defense:

DE:  Brian Orakpo
3T:  Kawann Short
DT:  DaQuan Jones
DE:  Za'Darius Smith
WLB: Telvin Smith 
MLB: Blake Martinez
CB1: Desmond Trufant
CB2: Brandon Carr
SCB: Kareem Jackson
FS: Glover Quin
SS: Malcolm Jenkins

Reserves:

SLB: Zach Brown
RLB: Vince Williams
CB4: Johnathan Joeseph
CB5: Tavon Young
S3:  Jason McCourty
DE3: Shaq Barret
NT:  Michael Pierce
DL:  Shelby Harris

 

 

Sydney Dingos

QB1: Ben Roelthisberger
RB1: Melvin Gordon
WR1: Golden Tate 
WR2: Mike Williams
WR3: John Brown
TE: Jimmy Graham 
LT: Nate Solder
LG: Cody Whitehair
C:  Mitch Morse
RG: Brandon Brooks
RT: James Hurst

Bench:

QB2: Dak Prescott
RB2: David Johnson
RB3: Austin Ekeler
WR4: Quincy Enunwa
WR5: Calvin Ridley
TE2: Vance McDonald
OL6: Mike Iuptati
OL7: Chris Hubbard

Sydney Defense:

LDE: Whitney Mercilus
3T:  Malik Jackson
DT:  Leonard Williams
RDE: Mario Addison
WLB: Lavonte David
MLB: Myles Jack
CB1: Marcus Peters
CB2: Byron Jones
CB3: Logan Ryan
FS:  Ricardo Allen
SS:  Reshad Jones

Bench:

SLB: Shane Ray
RLB: Alec Ogletree
DE3: Noah Spence
DT3: Derek Wolfe
DT4: Brandon Mebane
CB4: Carlton Davis 
CB5: Brent Grimes
S3:  Matthias Farley

 

[Whicker]

Portland Horned Owls

Motivation: After a crushing defeat @Seoul last week we'll be playing the Sydney Koalas, we will be putting in the amount of effort you'd expect from an 0-2 team coming off a massive loss, Mahomes will not be making his debut this week because of a short practice week. 

Portland Offensive Gameplan: We're going to focus on establishing the run early and often and using our RBs as the engine of our offense, while Sydney boasts a fantastic interior we're going to run more outside and use screens to get our RBs in space. If Sydney stacks the box we'll adjust by going 4 wide (Potentially with a RB/TE) and attacking them deep with extra protection for Carr.

The Passing Game: Carr destroyed Denver last week and should continue that streak this week against a Sydney defense with a fantastic secondary. This week we'll be facing a very solid Sydney defense featuring one of the best interior duos in BDL, however their edge players while solid are weak in run support and we'll be taking advantage of that by running to the outside more. Davante Adams will be our no.1 WR and will be featured heavily I expect Peters will cover him and while Peters is an elite no.1 CB, Adams is more than capable of beating him. Boyd will be our slot WR and he'll get quite a few targets, he'll play outside in 2 WR sets and in the slot in 3 wide. In 3 and 4 WR sets Crowder will be the no.3 and Bryant will be the no.4, we'll take a few deep shots to Ross to try and take advantage of Sydney's focus on the running game. Will Dissly gets the start at TE and will be a big feature in our offense, we'll make sure to use our TEs quite a bit in this game as run blockers along with using them over the middle of the field to take advantage of Sydney's issues at covering TEs, they'll also be used in the redzone. We'll operate out of a 2 WR, 2 TE base offense for most of the game and we'll use our TEs as in line blockers to help in the running game a bit. We'll make sure to get the ball out quicker to adjust for Sydney's pass rush and establish the run game early and commit to it to keep Big Ben and friends off the field for as long as possible, we're going to commit to using our RBs heavily in the passing game as well.

The Running Game: LeSean McCoy and Barber will split carries 50:50 with McCoy receiving the slight egde in carries and touches, we'll try and establish our running game early to help tire out Sydney's defense for later in the game, we'll leave a RB/TE in to pass protect as needed.

The Blocking: In case of injuries, Beachum will play LT/RT, Jones will play C/G. We'll also leave a RB/TE in to pass protect or give extra attention/blocking to a pass rusher if someone proves to be a problem, Paradis takes over at C due to his better play and with Sitton...sitting on IR Hernandez takes his spot.

TDLR; Control the clock, Control the LOS, Get the ball into the hands of our play-makers, Try to pull of an upset, Finish in the redzone.

Portland Defensive Game-plan: We're going to play 2 deep safeties to keep Tate, Gordon, Graham from making big plays down the field. We'll mostly be playing zone coverage while mixing in some man with Cover 3 being our base zone defense and focusing on harassing Big Ben as much as possible.

Pass Coverage: We'll be playing mostly zone defense (roughly 55% of the snaps) with Trufant assigned to cover Tate in Man and some help over the top on occasion, Brandon Carr will man the no.2 CB spot and should be able to handle whoever Sydney lines up as their no.2 WR in man/zone we'll make sure to have some help over the top for Tate on occasion as well, if Tate or Graham go into the slot the CB/Defender assigned to cover them will follow them into the slot, Kareem Jackson otherwise will be the no.3 CB/Slot CB. Sydney's offense overall is very good with no weaknesses except on the o-line, specifically at RT and depth at TE but outside of that they're a fantastic offense held back by their o-line and inconsistency on offense. Jimmy Graham is usually an issue to cover but I feel with Telvin Smith and Malcolm Jenkins we are more than capable of covering him, Telvin Smith/Jenkins will rotate on the of coverage on him. As mentioned we'll be using 2 deep safeties and a cover 3 base zone defense for most of the game/55% of the snaps, Glover Quinn will be tasked with adjusting the pass coverage as needed. Sydney's o-line has some very good players up front but their RT spot has issues and we'll make sure to Blitz from that side occasionally, I'd expect my front seven should be able to put pressure on Ben and control the LOS. Telvin Smith will be the signal caller on defense and he'll make adjustments if Sydney tries something not outlined in the game-plan. Since we'll be mostly playing zone defense we won't be sending more than 5 that often, however I expect my d-line to get a decent amount of pressure on Ben with a 4 man rush and create a turnover or two. With the trade of my best Edge rusher my pass rush will take a hit but Zadarius Smith has played very well this year, Short+Jones should be able to keep Sydney's inside running game in check and Pierce will rotate in with Jones on running downs/goaline situations. Telvin Smith will make adjustments as the signal caller on defense as needed, we'll make sure to give equal attention to Tate, Graham, Gordon/Johnson and try to take away Ben's passing game options, I assume Sydney will feature a RB more heavily in the passing game this week and we'll adjust for that by focusing on limiting Ben's options deep and forcing him to throw it short.

Run Defense: With Sydney having a solid o-line and a couple of stud RBs I expect Sydney  will try and establish the run game early to try and open up their passing game and to wear out my defense early we'll make sure to adjust for this by rotating our front seven quite a bit to keep them fresh and to clamp down on the run, my front seven is more than capable of keeping Gordon+Johnson+Ekeler contained in both the passing and running game. My pass rush featuring Kawann Short, Orakpo, Smith, Jones etc. will put a decent amount of pressure on Ben and should be able to create a turnover or two, whether that's a strip-sack or a deflection that leads to an INT we will get turnovers. We'll rotate our DL, LB, DBs as needed to keep them fresh, we will also play situational defense and adjust the coverage we need depending on the situation. Telvin Smith+Quinn will be in charge of making adjustments for the front seven and secondary. 

TDLR; Control the LOS, Get after Ben, Shut down their deep ball game, Keep them from making big plays, Limit their passing game from going deep, force Ben to throw it short.

 

 

 

Sydney Dingos

Motivation: This week we will be playing the Portland Roadk-Owls, Sydney will play to the best of their ability but given their coach can't read we'll see how that works out. Coming off an 0-2 start and playing at home, we will bring our all this week and try to get a winning streak going by beating the spiraling Owls.

Sydney Offensive Strategy: Get the ball in the hands of our play makers, block well for Roelthisberger, get our RBs involved in the passing game and get them going in the running game.

The Passing Offensive Strategy: After playing fantastically last week Ben should continue his level of play this week, Ben will make audibles and adjustments if necessary and be allowed to change the game plan if he sees fit. Golden Tate will be our no.1 WR and he will operate mostly out of the slot,  he will play outside in 2 WR sets, On the other side of him will be Mike Williams who will be our no.2 WR and be our main red zone weapon, John Brown will operate as our 3rd WR along with being our main deep threat. We'll take a few deep shots against Portland to test their secondary and establish we're willing to take shots down the field. Quincy Enunwa will get some targets as our no.4 WR but I don't see him seeing the field that much except in 4 wide sets, he'll return kicks and be used on a gadget play or two. Melvin Gordon will be featured heavily as the bell-cow of the offense and will command at least 5+ targets in the passing game, I'd expect he'll land somewhere north of 25+ touches, David Johnson will of course be mixed in a lot as well but with Gordon's stellar play we feel he deserves the RB1 designation. We're going to run the ball a decent amount to keep it balanced against a Portland front seven with a fairly d-line outside of Short who is fantastic , my o-line should be able to blast open some fairly big holes for my RBs to get to the second level and just walk into the endzone. Jimmy Graham will be featured quite a bit in the red-zone and between the 20s, I'd expect he'll get 5+ targets and go out in the slot quite a bit, we'll make sure to get him more involved unless Portland tries to put Jenkins or Smith on him. If Vance McDonald suits up he'll be featured a bit as we'll use 2 TEs on roughly 15% of the snaps to get him and Graham some good match-ups, we'll also use Gordon and Johnson on the field at the same time. Whether they're both split out wide or both in the backfield they'll both see a lot of action, If Portland wants to commit to stopping the run and puts 8 in the box we'll open up the passing game a bit more and make adjustments by spreading them out and passing the ball more. We'll also make sure to go after whoever their slot CB is when possible, Kawann Short will be given some extra blocking attention and whether that's a double team or help from a RB/TE depends on the play. Overall I respect Portland as an opponent but they're not nearly as potent as they were season, we'll make sure to keep a balanced 55-45 pass run game-script to keep it balanced as well. Portland after trading their two best edge rushers is probably going to be lacking in the pass rush department on the edge and they don't have enough bodies there so we'll make sure to run outside more as well.

The Running Offensive Strategy: With some shakeups to our offensive line from last week, I'd expect we'll still be able to run the ball as well if not better than last week. Melvin Gordon will split touches with David Johnson but I'd expect he'll get roughly 60% of the touches while Johnson gets the 30% of them. We'll try to keep a balanced offense and we'll establish the run early and often, I'd expect we'll run the ball on 45% of plays at a minimum. Gordon+Johnson will regardless get lots of targets and touches depending on game-flow, Barksdale or Hurst will play RT depending on who suits up, in the events of an emergency Whitehair shifts to C/G, Iupati plays G etc. 

TDLR: Open running lanes, Get the ball in our playmakers hands, Protect Ben, Go deep, take advantage of Portland's run defense.

Sydney Defensive Strategy: Man to man coverage, Stop the pass, Blitz Carr/Mahomes, Force turnovers.

The Secondary Strategy: Marcus Peters will cover/shadow Adams in man to man he'll occasionally have help over the top, Byron Jones will be our no.2 CB and cover whoever Portland uses as their no.2 depending on the coverage, Logan Ryan will be our 3rd CB and will cover whoever Portland lists as their 3rd WR. Outside of Adams Portland's WRs are hot garbage specifically past the 3rd WR spot where they used Martavis Bryant, I'd say my secondary should be able to limit Portlands WRs quite a bit as well. I assume Portland will continue to use 2 TE sets and while Dissly had a solid week 1 and Hooper is good for 5-50-1 every week they're just not that good and aren't worth the extra attention in coverage, Myles Jack/Lavonte David should be able to cover Portlands RBs and TEs fairly well, especially since I expect them to be major parts of the passing game. Assuming Portland starts Mahomes and not Carr I feel like we should be able to get a ton of pressure on Mahomes/Carr and bring them back down to the turf. I'm expecting McCoy/Barber will be featured as pass-catchers out of the backfield a decent amount to supplement Portlands lacking weapons. We'll also make sure to blitz Carr/Mahomes a bit to test Portland's protection. Overall Portland has a pretty medicore offense with almost all of their weapons disappointing this season, their depth at RB is solid but none of their RBs are doing particularly well especially McCoy who is playing through a rib injury. For clarification we'll be playing man coverage on roughly 55% of the snaps mixing in zone on about 45% of the snaps, we'll be playing a base cover 3 when we play zone.We'll mix it up with some 2 deep safety looks and a variety of other coverage as well.

The Front Seven Strategy:  Our main focus will be shutting down the running game and forcing Portland to beat us by throwing the ball, Lavonte David will be the QB of our defense and make adjusments as he sees the need to. We'll rotate our defensive players as needed to keep them fresh, we'll focus on shutting down the running game and getting tons of pressure on Carr/Mahomes. I'd expect we'll blitz on roughly 20% of the snaps to test Carr/Mahomes and Portlands o-line. My d-line should be more than capable of shutting down the run and winning the battle at the LOS, perhaps tipping a few passes that leads to a turnover or two, Jack and David's athletic ability should be able to let them make plays in both facets of the game. We'll rotate our players and play the defense needed for goaline, nickel, dime etc as the need arises.

TDLR: Dominate the LOS, Control the passing lanes, Sack/Hit Mahomes, Force turnovers.

Special Teams: Enunwa will return kicks and Punts.

 

[DingoLadd]

I guess the forum ate my lineup edit before kickoff. That's what I get for editing on mobile I guess. 

With Jones out Fairley takes his spot, also lol at Portland starting Carr and having 1 RB active. 

Ridley finally went off....as the no.5 WR on my bench, that hurts man...having terrible luck with skill guys going off the week they're not in the starting lineup. 

Good luck Portland you're gonna need it. 

[Xmad]

I will stand by Carr as my starter, pretty sure Abdullah was active so I have 2 RBs. 

Tyler Boyd finally doing something with his career while John Ross looks like John Lost on the field.

Good luck to you and the Sydney Fleabags.

[ny92mike]

Portland Horned Owls @ Sydney Dingos

I’ve definitely found the two novelist of this group, while it was a long read; it was a short story.

The Owls game plan was built around the success of LeSean McCoy & Peyton Barber.  From the looks of it McCoy didn’t start and neither Barber nor Ameer have shown me enough this season to think this team could establish a run game that could take the pressure off of Carr.....Sorry man gotta go down under for the win. 

[DingoLadd]

Portland has a somewhat talented team it's just a shame their best offensive player wasn't even playing for a fair matchup.

[PR]

Portland becomes one dimensional with the loss of McCoy and with the other team defending the pass and making them try to beat them with the run, this game goes to Sydney.

[PR]

 

Ameer Abdullah was also inactive btw. Leaving Portland with one healthy RB to last the entire game.

[Scoundrel]

Have to go Sydney here. They shut down a bland Carr and Barber. I don’t think Portland’s defense can stop Sydney. Mike Williams finally showed his stuff. 

[TedLavie]

Can't establish the run early and often with only one back, a pretty bad one too. Sydney 

[Whicker]

Peyton Barber won't win a game. 

[RuskieTitan]

31 minutes ago, Whicker said:

Peyton Barber won't win a game. 

My fantasy football squad confirms.

[Ragnarok]

Sydney takes this one for reasons previously mentioned.

[SirA1]

Dingos eat the baby.