BDL 2018 Week 8 - Sydney Dingos @ Louisiana Jazz

[ny92mike]

BDL 2018 Week 8

Match:  Sydney Dingos @ Louisiana Jazz

Away Owner: @DingoLadd

Home Owner: @WFLukic

           

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]

Sydney Dingos

QB1: Ben Roelthisberger
RB1: David Johnson
WR1: Golden Tate
WR2: Calvin Ridley - (Q)
WR3: John Brown
TE: Jimmy Graham 
LT: Nate Solder
LG:  John Miller
C:  Cody Whitehair
RG: Brandon Brooks
RT: La'El Collins

Bench:

QB2: Dak Prescott
RB2: Austin Ekeler
RB3: Aaron Jones
WR4: Mike Williams 
WR5: LaQuan Treadwell
TE2: Vance McDonald
OL6: Chris Hubbard
OL7: Dan Feeney

Sydney Defense:

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

Bench:

SLB: Kamalai Correa
RLB: Gerald Hodges
DE3: Alvin Dupree
DT3: Derek Wolfe
DT4: Brandon Mebane
CB4: Donte Jackson
CB5: Steven Nelson 
S3: Eric Murray 

Louisiana Jazz

QB: Tom Brady
RB: Ezekiel Elliott
WR1: Michael Thomas
WR2: Sammy Watkins
TE1: Zach Ertz
TE2: Kyle Rudolph
LT: Russell Okung
LG: Joel Bitonio
C: Ryan Jensen
RG: Connor McGovern
RT: Bobby Massie

RB2: James White
RB3: Nyheim Hines
WR3: Tyler Lockett
WR4: Zay Jones
TE3: Chris Herndon
TE4: Virgil Green
OL6: Justin McCray
OL7: Matt Skura

Defense:

DE: Jason Pierre-Paul
DT: Jurrell Casey
DT: Sheldon Richardson
DE: Jabaal Sheard
LEO: Dee Ford
LB: Danny Trevathan
LB/SS: Patrick Chung
Slot CB: Chris Harris Jr.
CB: Stephon Gilmore
CB: Kyle Fuller
S: Micah Hyde

DL5: Johnathan Hankins
DL6: David Onyemata
DL7: Jordan Jenkins
LB2: Todd Davis
LB3: Mason Foster
CB4: Eli Apple
CB5: Orlando Scandrick
S3: Duron Harmon

[ny92mike]

Sydney Dingos

Gameplan:

Motivation:

• This week we take on the Louisiana Jazz, at 2-5 our goose may be cooked but damn it if we're not try and play spoiler against one of the best teams in BDL. We'll be dumping out the entire box of trix to try and stop Brady and company.

Sydney Offensive Strategy:

• We're going to come out this week and focus on taking advantage of a banged up Louisiana secondary which is missing crucial depth players, which will allow our WRs to make more plays and allow Ben to work his magic. It will also allow our TEs to make more plays over the middle with Louisiana most likely putting the attention on our WRs.
• Despite the focus we'll be putting on the passing game this week, we won't shy away from using David Johnson in space and running him outside a lot more to take advantage of Louisiana's weak run defending edge rushers and the lack of speed at LB.
• We'll operate mostly out of the shotgun for this game with Ben setting extra protection to make up for the fact we're banged up on the o-line, however we'll make sure to take occasional deep shots to keep Louisiana from blitzing and just stacking the box.

Scheme;

• Spread offense with the focus on attacking Louisiana's secondary and getting the ball out quickly to allow our offense to keep a hurry up tempo, however in the second half we'll shift to a more run heavy offense to keep Brady off the field and focus on winning the TOP battle. 

Formations;

• Shotgun, Single Back,2 back sets, I-Formation, 2 TE Sets, Spread, 4 wide, 3 wide etc. 

Pass to Run;

• 55% Pass to 45% Run.

The Passing Strategy: 

• Ben will have the chance to go up against a solid if lacking depth Louisiana secondary this week our main goal will be getting our WRs+TEs the ball early and often , Golden Tate will be our no.1 WR and will operate mostly out of the slot he will play outside in 2 WR sets and he'll command 10+ targets no matter who covers him. Chris Harris JR is no doubt a very good CB, but he's dropped off quite a bit from his earlier seasons and I expect Tate to win that matchup.
• Calvin Ridley will be our no.2 WR and with the consistency he has shown for a rookie he should be able to beat whoever Louisiana tries to cover him with. John Brown will be our no.3 WR and the main deep threat on offense, Brown will get a few deep shots from Ben so he can take advantage of a Louisiana  defense lacking the safeties to defend the deep ball expect brown to command anywhere from 5-15 targets.
• Mike Williams will be our no.4 WR and will rotate in on 3rd downs and will be featured in the redzone quite a bit, we feel he can win jump-ball situations and make plays down the field with his size so he'll get a deep shot or two.
• Jimmy Graham+Vance McDonald will be featured heavily as we will look to use 2 TE sets quite a bit to help in the run game, they'll also command a lot of targets in the passing game as they will be our main redzone weapons and will be featured heavily over the middle of the field as well as be used to help in pass protection and in the running game.
• David Johnson will be our no.1 RB and will get 75% of the touches and be the bell-cow of our running game, he'll get somewhere north of 20+ touches though we wouldn't mind giving him 30+ if the game-script calls for it. 
• David Johnson will also be heavily featured as a pass catcher out of the backfield and will pass block if needed, we'll also use a TE to chip at the line or pass block to help against a very solid Louisiana edge rush.
• To address the obvious issues with how he's being used IRL, David Johnson has sucked this year but this is 100% a scheme/blocking/QB issue because the Cardinals offense is hot garbage this year. Johnson playing in my offense will be used a lot better and be given the proper blocking/usage.
• Austin Ekeler will be a lot more involved this season since he's established himself as one of the top backup RBs in the league and he'll split touches with Johnson and get the remaining share of the workload, Aaron Jones like in real life will be underutilized and not get nearly the amount of touches he deserves.
• I know my WRs can win their match-ups on the outside and in the slot, we should be able to play plays all game long and give Ben plenty of time to pick apart Louisiana's defense.
• Their safeties while solid don't scare us, and Hyde is injured so they're not even 100% plus Chung is a part time player IRL so he shouldn't really be starting in BDL.

The Running/Blocking Strategy: 

• Some changes to the o-line this week depending on who is healthy, we'll put a focus on running outside this week since we feel we can beat Louisiana on the edge along with getting our RBs involved as much as possible.
• David Johnson will split touches with Jones+Ekeler but I'd expect he'll get roughly 75% of the touches while our other RBs split touches with him.
• In the event(s) of an injury, Whitehair shifts to C/G, Feeney plays OG, Collins plays OG/OT, Hubbard plays OT etc. I'll most likely mention who plays where in the comments if not mentioned already.

TDLR:

• Give Ben the time he needs to find our WRs, get our protection in order, get our WRs+TEs+RBs the ball in space and let them make plays, pick apart Louisiana's secondary. 

Sydney Defensive Strategy:

• Heavy man coverage with a focus of not Blitzing so Brady can't beat us when we blitz, we'll allow our secondary to make plays/cover and four man rush to do the job against a bad o-line.

Formations;

• 4-3, 4-2-5, Goaline, Dime, Cover 3, Cover 2, 2 Deep Safeties etc.

Scheme;

• Man coverage with a mix of zone, double Michael Thomas whenever possible, get after Brady but don't let him make plays down the field. Play disciplined football, 1 mistake against Brady and you're not coming back from it. Contain the run and win the battles at the LOS so our LBs can make plays in the passing/running game, let our edge rushers get after the QB.

Ratios:

• 70% Man Coverage to 30% Zone Coverage, Blitzing on 10% of the snaps, heavy rotations on the d-line with no one playing more than 85% of the snaps. 

The Secondary Strategy: 

• Byron Jones will again be the no.1 CB this week and he'll cover Michael Thomas with some help over the top on occasion we feel Jones is more than capable of covering Thomas in man and zone, Marcus Peters will remain at the no.2 CB spot and he'll more than likely be matched up with Sammy Watkins who he should be able to cover and contain.
• Logan Ryan is the no.1 CB for the Titans in terms of snap count and I expect he'll be able to handle the task of covering the slot and whoever he covers, In 3 wide Ryan covers the slot and Byron Jones plays outside in 3 wide with Peters playing the other outside CB spot. In 2 wide Peters+Jones will cover the WRs.
• Covering the slot is vitally important given we're playing against Brady the QB who makes slot WRs into All-Pros so we'll put more attention on this area of the field.
• Donte Jackson will be our 4th CB and will come in for 4 wide,spread etc. Our secondary is the strength of our defense and we feel we can limit Louisiana's solid weapons in the passing game since we have the personnel to limit them and keep them from making plays downfield.
• Reshad Jones will play SS and will play deep more often than not, he will offer support against TEs and RBs if he plays closer to the LOS. Sean Davis will play FS and will be the deep center-fielder, however Reshad Jones will be in charge of coverage adjustments since we feel he's more suited to that.
• If an injury occurs Eric Murray takes over at S, we'll mostly focus on playing a Cover 3 look in zone, with some heavy man coverage and a focus on 2 deep safety looks in man. However we will of course mix this up with zone blitzes and other coverage, as well as extra emphasis on covering Ertz+Elliot since we feel like they're a bigger issue than Louisiana's WRs.
• Zeke Elliot has of course proven to be a massive weapon in the passing game so we will account for him with Jack+David covering him for most of the game, they'll also be tasked with taking care of him in the running game.
• Louisiana  is probably going to come out throwing early and often so can they let Brady establish the offense and try and figure out our defense early, we'll adjust to this by not showing much early and mix in zone/man fairly evenly throughout the 1st couple of drives and keep increasing the amount of man coverage as we go later into the game.
•  Myles Jack+Lavonte David form one of the best LB duos in BDL and should be able to handle the responsibility of covering Louisiana's RBs+TEs whenever given that assignment and are more than capable of containing Wilson as a runner.
• Tom Brady is a top 7 QB with an excellent focus on throwing the ball short, but he lives or dies by his ability to pick apart a defense and make them pay for their mistakes. We won't give Brady the chance because we won't make any nor will we give him the opportunity. 
• For clarification we'll be playing man coverage on roughly 70% of the snaps mixing in zone on about 30% 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 coverages as well, we'll blitz on 10% of the snaps and occasionally use zone blitzes as well.
• Louisiana went with a 2 TE base offense last week but I don't expect they'll do that this week since they'll probably want to spread us out this week, however if they do go 2 TE sets for the majority of the game Reshad Jones will move closer to the LOS and will cover check-downs /TEs more often. 
• Zeke is no doubt a top 3 NFL RB and he will get the attention he deserves in both facets of the game, Zach Ertz will also receive the proper attention from Reshad Jones and our LBs. 

The Front Seven Strategy: 

• Lavonte David will be the QB of our defense and make adjustments as he sees the need to, he'll also be a major part of keeping the defense from making mistakes against Brady.
• We'll rotate our defensive players as needed to keep them fresh, we'll focus on limiting the short passing game and disrupting Brady by letting our pass rush get after him and going for the strip sack when possible.
• I'd expect we'll blitz on roughly 10% of the snaps to get after Brady and use a variety of different coverages to keep him guessing.
• My d-line and front seven should be more than capable of shutting down the run and winning the battle at the LOS especially on the exterior with Louisiana  starting a medicore o-line unit with a turnstile at RT in Massie, Jack and David's athletic ability should be able to let them make plays in both facets of the game and keep Elliot in check.
• We'll rotate our players and play the defense needed for goaline, nickel, dime etc. as the need arises. Might as well boast about my D-line since it's seen as a weakness by some, Jackson+Williams form the one of the best duos of interior players only behind Singapore's and Seoul's.  
• Mercilus while far from the best edge rusher in the world is a very good all around player capable of getting after the QB and beating on Okung/Massie, Addison is an underrated player who quietly led the Panthers in sacks last year and has 2.5 on the year so far.

TDLR:

• Don't let Brady make the easy throws, play man coverage as much as possible, get after the QB, keep their weapons in check, make plays on defense.

Special Teams:

• Enunwa will return kicks and punts, Dak Prescott will line up at cheerleader.

Sponsorship:

• This week's game has been brought to you by Dingoo, the defunct game console our team sold the naming rights to for 12 Kangaroo steaks and we're stuck with it because our legal team is made up of a bunch of Dingos.

 

Louisiana Jazz

Offense:

Here we plan to catch Sydney off-guard and really focus on the power running game behind the interior of our OL against a defensive front 7 that tends to be on the lighter-side of the things. Williams and Jackson are both on the taller side of things and can have some struggles with leverage when it comes to holding up at the point of attack against the run, so we know that having Elliott charging into them at full steam will give us some good returns and importantly, give him a chance to lay the hurt on Jack and David who are also on the smaller side of things for linebackers. Additionally, the threat of the run and establishing play action will be huge for our defense as we know that Sydney has playmakers that are susceptible to overcommitting (Peters & Reshad Jones) and will give us an opportunity to target them where they do so, and also give Ertz and Rudolph some extra time as the LBers covering them will need to be mindful of the run.

We know that Byron Jones is having a great year, but we have no fear in tossing it up to Michael Thomas. We anticipate this will be tight man coverage with no help and we know that Thomas is physical enough with great hands to still win often, and at worst prevent turnovers – we would like to point out that Byron Jones only has 2 picks in 55 career games so his ball skills are certainly lacking.

While Lockett isn’t starting, he’s going to feature extensively as well in place of Rudolph from our base set. We’ll be looking to get Lockett matched up against Marcus Peters and take our chances on Peters biting on double moves or play-action and hitting Lockett deep. Lockett has already left Peters grasping for air this season and we know that the likelihood of his is high and could result in points.

Watkins will operate out of the slot more often than usual, largely for two reasons:

1) While not the first skill you’d look for out of a WR, his blocking has been very impressive and we feel as though this could be quite important in our run-centric game.

2) We want to try and get Watkins matched up against Logan Ryan. Again, while Ryan has had a solid season, Watkins is at his best running across the field and getting the ball in his hands. With the linebackers having their hands full with our TE duo, there’ll be space in the middle of the field for Watkins to exploit and beat Ryan.

White and Hines will see some snaps as per usual as our COP backs, but less than usual with Elliott taking the centre-stage in this one.

Lastly, given our focus is going to be on the power run game, we’ve re-activated Virgil Green to provide us an additional push as a blocker and we’ll look to introduce some heavy 4TE sets once we approach the redzone and try to take-advantage of this lighter Sydney front.

Defense:

The key defensive change we’ve made is introducing Dee Ford to the starting line-up as a standing rusher, who will be tasked with one job and that is getting after the quarterback. While his irresistible string of performances as well as injury have played a part in getting him on the field, his inclusion is largely based on our desire to attack the weakpoint of Sydney’s team which is it’s offensive line.

By bolstering our pass-rush, our goal is to force Sydney into deploying either their TEs or David Johnson into pass-protection and reducing their effectiveness in the passing-game. We know that if we can generate 5 on 5 matchups against that OL, our pass-rushers will certainly be able to get to Ben and force him into some errant throws. In particular, we’ll look to load up the right side of the defensive line, with Casey, JPP and Ford all on the Solder & Miller (or other LG) side of the line.  

In terms of our coverage assignments, Chris Harris will follow Tate around in the slot or outside if he shifts there, while Fuller & Gilmore will take the combination of Ridley and Brown. We’re not overly fussed who gets who, but have complete confidence in both to continue shutting down receivers and generating turnovers as they have been this season. Patrick Chung will play as a money-backer hybrid and will be tasked with coverage on whichever TE is on, while Trevathan will be tasked with patrolling the middle of the field and the receiver out of the backfield if they go out into the flats.

If Sydney opt to go 2-TE, Harmon will be the Cover 1 safety, while Trevathan takes McDonald, Chung on Graham and Hyde will sit in the middle with an eye on the receiving bac.

While I think it’s redundant to talk about how you’re going to stop an opposing team’s running game for the most part, I will note that we’ve gone with a lighter bench than usual to counter a Sydney running-game which we predict will feature plenty of runs to the outside given their backs they are operating with.

 

[TedLavie]

Light front 7 on Louisiana could give David Johnson some good opportunities on the ground, but can he benefit from it? I know his IRL offense doesn't put him in position to succeed, but I'm not sure he's 100% back yet as I haven't really seen him perform at a high level. On the other hand I think Louisiana corners do a decent job on Sydney weapons so I don't see Sydney moving the ball a ton here. I do like Louisiana offense a lot more. I think they can run on Sydney DL which I'm not fond of, and I like Watkins in the slot, I think Lukic uses him well here.

The Jazz keep on rolling, 31-13

[Jlash]

Is the Jazz secondary that beat up that you wanna expose Big Ben to hits, because the Jazz have the clear advantage in the trenches here.

[DingoLadd]

27 minutes ago, Jlash said:

Is the Jazz secondary that beat up that you wanna expose Big Ben to hits, because the Jazz have the clear advantage in the trenches here.

Yeah it's not like we're getting the ball out quicker or leaving extra blockers in to protect or anything or going more run heavy in the 2nd half.

[Jlash]

45 minutes ago, DingoLadd said:

Yeah it's not like we're getting the ball out quicker or leaving extra blockers in to protect or anything or going more run heavy in the 2nd half.

Is the Jazz secondary as beat up as you're suggesting? Because if it isn't, the whole point is moot. Their top 3 CB's are pretty good, so it's not like your guys are going to be running wild to start the game.

[WFLukic]

I'm legit only missing Tre Boston, hardly depleted.

[DingoLadd]

37 minutes ago, Jlash said:

Is the Jazz secondary as beat up as you're suggesting? Because if it isn't, the whole point is moot. Their top 3 CB's are pretty good, so it's not like your guys are going to be running wild to start the game.

You know what I'm gonna clarify this and say Stephon Gilmore was in a car crash....on october 20th of last year, I thought it was this year.

Kyle Fuller was listed as going on IR 3 days ago according to NBC sports but their article is outdated (It says 3 days ago on google link but nah that's for Kyle Long)

I need to start using rotoworld more because I missed some obvious things this week.

[Xmad]

Sydney's o-line wasn't that good to begin with, missing it's best o-lineman and an ok starter lets Ben get murdered, Ben claws his way back in but it's not enough.

[MD4L]

I tend to like Sydney more than most but it’s sort of a mismatch with how the home team is clicking. Sydney's best bet was feeding David Johnson and using play action to get their plethora of solid WRs involved. Louisiana can cover in the backend and I like their strategy to run early. It also ruins the gamescript for Sydney to ever get David Johnson more than marginally involved as a runner.

[PR]

I think the extra blocking Sydney deployed here allows for their offense to click. Yes they are facing one hell of a defense but I feel they have a better chance of scoring early and holding together at the end.

[Scoundrel]

Jizz are too good

[Ragnarok]

Jazz get it.

[RuskieTitan]

Jazz pull away in the second half.