BDL 2018 Week 5: Portland Horned Owls @ Rome Eternals

[ny92mike]

BDL 2018 Week 5

Match:  Portland Horned Owls @ Rome Eternals

Away Owner: @SwoleXmad

Home Owner:  @bcb1213

 

Vote for who you think would win the game.

Rules:
One vote per person, duplicate accounts will be banned and action taken against those attempting to rig the results.

One vote per team involved in the match. Co-owners may vote in every match up except their own.

For members, who have been following along, and wish to vote.  Please join the conversation and maybe give a reason you voted as you did. This will alleviate any suspicions of unusual voting and will promote discussion.

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 to you both.

[ny92mike]

 

Portland Lineup

QB1: Patrick Mahomes II
RB1: LeSean McCoy
WR1: Davante Adams - [Q]
WR2: Tyler Boyd
WR3: Jamison Crowder
WR4: Mohamed Sanu
LT: Alejandro Villanueva
LG: Clint Boling
C:  Matt Paradis
RG: Will Hernandez
RT: Laremy Tunsil 

Reserves:

QB2: Andy Dalton
RB2: Peyton Barber
RB3: Bilal Powell
WR5: Martavis Bryant
TE1: Austin Hooper
TE2: Charles Clay
OL6: Ben Jones
OL7: Kelvin Beachum

Portland's 4-2-5 Defense:

DE:  Brian Orakpo
3T:  Kawann Short
DT:  DaQuan Jones
DE:  Derrick Morgan
WLB: Telvin Smith 
MLB: Blake Martinez
CB1: Desmond Trufant
CB2: Jimmy Smith
SCB: Brandon Carr
FS: Glover Quin
SS: Malcolm Jenkins

Reserves:

SLB: Zach Brown
RLB: Kenny Young
CB4: Kareem Jackson
CB5: Johnathan Joeseph
S3:  Jason McCourty
DE3: Za'Darius Smith
NT:  Michael Pierce
DL:  Shelby Harris

 

Rome Eternals Lineup

QB Drew Brees

RB Todd Gurley

WR JuJu Smith Schuster

WR Amari Cooper

WR Julian Edelman

TE Jordan  Reed

LT Tyron Smith

LG Ramon  Foster

C Brandon Linder

RG Stefan Wisniewski

RT Ryan Ramczyk

 

WR James Washington

WR Cammeron Meredith

OL  Justin Britt

RB Phillip Lindsay

TE Austin Seferian Jenkins

OT Marcus Gilbert

OL Braden Smith

RB Theo Riddick

 

DL Takk McKinley

UT Matt Ioannidis

NT Michael Brockers

DL Carlos Dunlap

LB CJ Mosley

CB William Jackson

CB Janoris Jenkins

CB Marlon Humphrey

CB Nickell Robly Coleman

S  Shawn Williams

S Jahleel Addae

 

Edge Dante Fowler

Edge Marcus Davenport

DL Dalvin Tomlinson

CB Jonathon Jones

S Barry Church

LB Leighton Vander Esch

LB Matt Milano

LB Josh Bynes

[ny92mike]

Portland Horned Owls

Motivation:

• After a surprising tie last week we'll be playing the Rome Eternals this week. Mahomes will be unleashed this week after getting his 1st start last week.

Portland Offensive Gameplan:

• We're going to focus on establishing the passing game early and often and using our WRs as the engine of our offense, while Rome boasts a solid d-line we feel our protection should be more than enough to keep Mahomes clean. We're going to run more outside and use screens to get our RBs in space as well.

The Passing Game:

• Mahomes is playing like an MVP candidate right now and he should continue that streak this week against a Rome defense lacking elite playmakers outside of Mosley. Rome's 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 Humphrey will cover him and I expect Adams will win that matchup.
• Boyd will be our slot WR and he'll get quite a few targets this week, 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 Sanu will be the no.4, we'll take a few deep shots to Ross to try and take advantage of Rome's issues at safety. Austin Hooper gets the start at TE and will be featured a bit in this offense along with Clay, 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 Rome's issues at covering TEs, they'll also be used in the redzone.
• We'll operate out of a 4 wide base offense for most of the game (Roughly 25% of the snaps) 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 Rome's pass rush, we're also going to committ to using our RBs heavily in the passing game as well.

The Running Game:

• LeSean McCoy and Barber will split carries 60:40 with McCoy receiving the slight edge in carries and touches, we'll try and establish our running game early to help tire out Rome'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.

TDLR;

• Control the clock, Control the LOS, Get the ball into the hands of our playmakers, Try to pull off an upset, Finish in the redzone.

Portland Defensive Gameplan:

• We're going to play 2 deep safeties to keep Cooper, Smith-Schuster, Gurley 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 Brees as much as possible.

Pass Coverage:

• We'll be playing mostly zone defense (roughly 55% of the snaps) with Trufant assigned to cover Cooper in man and with some help over the top on occasion, Jimmy Smith returns will man the no.2 CB spot and should be able to handle whoever Smith Schuster fairly easily when lines up as their no.2 WR in man/zone. If Cooper or Schuster go into the slot the CB/Defender assigned to cover them will follow them into the slot, Brandon Carr otherwise will be the no.3 CB/Slot CB. Rome's offense overall is very good with no weaknesses except on the o-line, mostly on the interior but outside of that they're a fantastic offense held back by their o-line.
• Howard/Reed is usually an issue to cover but I feel with Telvin Smith and Malcolm Jenkins are more than capable of covering him, Telvin Smith/Jenkins will rotate on the of coverage on Reed/Howard. 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. We'll make sure to blitz Rome's interior occasionally since Brees hates interior pressure, I'd expect my front seven should be able to put pressure on Brees and control the LOS. Telvin Smith will be the signal caller on defense and he'll make adjustments if Rome 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 Brees with a 4 man rush and for them to create a turnover or two. Orakpo+Morgan should be able to after Brees fairly well along with Smith rotating in, Short+Jones should be able to keep Rome'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 Cooper, Gurley, Schuster etc. and try to take away Bree's passing game options, I assume Rome will feature Gurley more heavily in the passing game this week and we'll adjust for that by focusing on limiting Bree's options deep and forcing him to throw it short.

Run Defense:

• With Rome having a solid o-line and a stud RB I expect Rome will try and establish the run game early to try and wear out my defense early, we'll make sure to adjust for this by rotating the front seven unit quite a bit to keep them fresh and to clamp down on the run, my front seven is more than capable of keeping Gurley+Linsday 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 Brees and should be able to create a turnover or two, whether that's a stripsack or a deflection that leads to an INT we will be in position to 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 Brees, Shut down their deep passing game, Keep them from making big plays, force Brees to throw it short, keep Gurley in check.

Rome Eternals

 

Offense

This week we welcome an up and coming Portlan squad.   Portland brings an a solid defense welcoming back Jimmy Smith from suspension.  On our end we also get a huge piece to our offensive puzzle back with slot WR Julian Edelman

We come back to a more open offensive look with three wide, reed and gurley.  This willl keep a lighter box for us and will allow us to really incorporate runs towards the jones/smith side of the d line and run some power o’s as well.  Gurley is gonna get a lot of work looking at around 25 touches between the running and passing game. This running will also open some deep shots off of play action passing

On the WR front we expect to be able to hit some move the chains football with the success of our running game giving us some short yardage sitatuions.  Edelman out of the slot should work great in these instances with a Portland team without much of a slot CB on the roster. On the outside we are gonna take a couple deep shots against Brandon Carr and we will not shy away from Desmond Trufant who has really struggled thus far this season.  If Telvin Smith ends up on Reed somehow we will target him alot

We will again be using motion to determine if Portland is playing a zone which they like to do.  Edelman and Reed will be our main motion men. If a guy goes with them, it generally will mean man, if not it will be zone and Brees will eat it alive.  Up front we trust our tackles to handle the Portland edges while we have three on two inside. If Portland foolishly blitzes, Brees has his hot route options with Reed and checkdown to Gurley

In long passing situation expect four wide with Cameron Meredith who also will be utilized in red zone situations  

Brees is in charge or audibles and will go to floods, seams and drags against any zones.  

Tl/Dr.  Utilize running game, play action off of it and target tes

 

Defense

This week we welcome in MVP candidate Pat Mahomes and the Portland offense.  Portland has an excellent interior offensive line but the tackles are meh so we are going to be attacing the edges

Thus far this year, Mahomes for some reason has been seeing a lot of zone defenses and Hill has simply just been running throough them untouched.  We will not be playing much zone toay as we feel we have one of the most talented CB group in the league. We are going to use them to our advantage as we feel we match up very well against the Portland wideouts

Marlon Humphrey has taken real steps forward this year and is playing like a number one corner.  He will be in charge of Davante Adams. Janoris Jenkins gets Tyler Boyd. William Jackson will get John Ross/Martavis Bryant to match up his speed against speed.  NRC gets Crowder in the slot. If Crowder is out wide NRC gets Ross/Bryant.

We will be sending a blitz on most plays as we are going to have Williams up in the box.  Mosley and he shall rotate on RB coverage duties and blitzing. This is going to make Mahomes hold the ball a little longer with the press coverage outside and should allow our pass rush to get home.  We are gonna maintain edge responsibilites to keep him in the pocket and take away his improvisation skills. We will run a zone blitz about 10-15 percent of the time to not become too predicatable. Addae is going to be playing deep centerfield regardless of play call so Mahomes can’t get a read from him.

If for some reason they run a TE with three wr, vanderesche comes in for that assignment.  We also have Milano and Bynes for should yardage power packages

We sub in ioanndis up front for added interior pass rush as we feel our front four and lb can stifle the run game inside with our speedy lb taking away pitches.  Davenport and Fowler rotate liberally and Tomlinson will come in to give the big boys a break also

Tldr Keep Mahomes in the pocket, blitz the interior with a lb or S, trust the corners in press coverage to allow blitz to get home

[bcb1213]

I notice the original write up posted was changed.... 

@ny92mike

[bcb1213]

bueller

[Jlash]

Wiz was benched this week IRL.

[bcb1213]

2 hours ago, Jlash said:

Wiz was benched this week IRL.

Tons of extra linemen over here on the roster 

[ny92mike]

Portland your lineup and game plan is hard to follow.

You have your tight ends being a huge factor in your offensive game plan this week, yet you aren’t listing a single starter at that position in your lineup.  As much as that position is named in your plan, you should at least have one in your starting lineup. 

You’ve got 4 receivers listed so I’m expecting a heavy passing game in a spread offense, and then I read you’ll be in a 4 wide base offense 25% of the snaps.  I don’t get it.  You have the generic statement of “we’ll take a few deep shots to Ross to try and take advantage of Rome’s issues at safety”.  John Ross isn’t even listed in your lineup as a starter or bench player.

Your passing game plan gives more detail as to your running game than it does the passing game.  Talking more about your running game either in running to the outside or using the TE as run blockers.

The only thing I really collected from your passing game plan that pertained to passing was Adams is your number 1 WR and will be featured heavily, Boyd is your slot who will play outside in 2 WR sets.  3 and 4 sets Crowder will play the 3rd and Sanu the 4th taking a few deep shots to Ross and your starting Hooper at TE.  

  
 

[Xmad]

2 hours ago, bcb1213 said:

Tons of extra linemen over here on the roster 

Yeah starting a Tackle at G what could go wrong.

[Xmad]

31 minutes ago, ny92mike said:

Portland your lineup and game plan is hard to follow.

You have your tight ends being a huge factor in your offensive game plan this week, yet you aren’t listing a single starter at that position in your lineup.  As much as that position is named in your plan, you should at least have one in your starting lineup. 

You’ve got 4 receivers listed so I’m expecting a heavy passing game in a spread offense, and then I read you’ll be in a 4 wide base offense 25% of the snaps.  I don’t get it.  You have the generic statement of “we’ll take a few deep shots to Ross to try and take advantage of Rome’s issues at safety”.  John Ross isn’t even listed in your lineup as a starter or bench player.

Your passing game plan gives more detail as to your running game than it does the passing game.  Talking more about your running game either in running to the outside or using the TE as run blockers.

The only thing I really collected from your passing game plan that pertained to passing was Adams is your number 1 WR and will be featured heavily, Boyd is your slot who will play outside in 2 WR sets.  3 and 4 sets Crowder will play the 3rd and Sanu the 4th taking a few deep shots to Ross and your starting Hooper at TE.  

  
 

I do not dispute this.

But on the other hand Rome is starting a T at G and Mahomes>Brees.

[Ragnarok]

Going Rome.

The additional of Edelman makes this offense just dirty.  I don't love Amari, but he could almost be the 4th option in this offense right now which is impressive.  Not a huge fan of their DTs or safeties, but their CBs are playing well and I think they do enough to get the win.  Even after Mosley, they have 3 LBs playing quite well right now.  

Also, I am having issues understanding Portland's scheming.  I would think that when discussing offense, one would make a line up that discusses the primary formation the most and goes from there(and makes that their posted line up).  Not to mention, I don't love the 4 WR set of Portland.  They have solid guys, but not great ones.  Also, I am giving a small ding for Tunsil at RT cause he has never played there AFAIK which should matter.

Despite Rome not having the best OL, I don't know if I trust the DL of Portland outside of Short enough to shake Brees.

[Whicker]

I'm going to go Rome as well. They are just more talented at most points on the field and I don't like Portland's 4 WR look. I agree with others that their gameplan is hard to decipher. 

Mahomes is not better than Brees haha. 

[DingoLadd]

Confusing gameplan and Portland's secondary is good enough to keep Brees contained, their front seven isn't good enough to keep Gurley in check.

[Scoundrel]

Brees and Gurley bring the hurt and Mahomes attempts to relive his Texas tech days with the four wide. Rome is prepared and better points out the weaknesses they will be attacking of Portland. 

[ny92mike]

16 hours ago, SwoleXmad said:

I do not dispute this.

But on the other hand Rome is starting a T at G and Mahomes>Brees.

I noticed that too....but if you think Mahomes>Brees I'm calling the psych ward to get you back on your meds...haha.