BDL 2018 Week 9: Wichita Woodpeckers @ Long Beach Leprechauns

[Whicker]

BDL 2018 Week 9

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.

[Whicker]

Wichita Woodpeckers

QB - Jared Goff
RB - Adrian Peterson
WR - Larry Fitzgerald
WR - Michael Crabtree
WR - Taylor Gabriel
TE - Greg Olsen
LT - Duane Brown
LG - Kelechi Osemele
C - Graham Glasgow
RG - Quentin Nelson
RT - Jack Conklin

QB - Teddy Bridgewater
RB - Ito Smith
RB - Jordan Willis
WR - Jordy Nelson
TE - Kyle Rudolph
TE - Cameron Brate
OL - Brett Jones
OL - Julien Davenport

DE - Brandon Graham
DT - Jonathan Allen
DT - A'Shawn Robinson
DE - Olivier Vernon
LB - Luke Kuechly
LB - Sean Lee
CB - Eli Apple
FS - Harrison Smith
SS - Jabrill Peppers
NCB - Tre Flowers
CB - Dre Kirkpatrick

DE - Adrian Clayborn
DE - Alex Okafor
Int - Kyle Williams
Int - Al Woods
LB - Haason Reddick
LB - Raekwon McMillan
CB - Sam Shields
CB/S - Brian Poole

 

 

Gameplan Long Beach

Offense

QB- Aaron Rodgers

RB- Christian McCaffrey

WR- DeAndre Hopkins

WR- Marvin Jones Jr.

Slot- Cooper Kupp

TE- George Kittle

LT- Terron Armstead

LG- Andrew Norwell

C- Max Unger

RG- Joe Thuney

RT- Bryan Bulaga

 

RB- Isaiah Crowell

RB- Mark Ingram

FB- Andy Janovich

TE- Nick O’Leary

WR- Devin Funchess

WR- Keelan Cole

OL- Charles Leno Jr.

OL- Jamon Brown

 

Defense

LE- Cam Jordan

NT- DJ Reader

DT- Jarran Reed

RE- Trey Flowers

SLB- Avery Williamson

WLB- Jayon Brown

CB- EJ Gaines

CB- Budda Baker

Nickel- Tyrann Mathieu

FS- TJ McDonald

SS- Landon Collins

 

DE- Preston Smith

DT- Vita Vea

DE- Sam Hubbard

DT- Javon Hargrave

LB- Jarrad Davis

LB- De’Vondre Campbell

CB- Nick Nelson

CB- Beshaud Breeland

[Whicker]

Wichita Woodpeckers

Offense:
This week we face Long Beach who primarily runs a zone defense. Due to this tendency, this week we will be employing an RPO offense. The RPO relies heavily on creating confusion on defense via how the defense keys off the line movement. It allows for Goff to hand off to Peterson/Smith or pull it back and throw to the WR/TE based on how the defense is reacting to a play. If they defend the run he can throw the ball and vice versa. This will allow our offense to remain balanced and constantly have Long Beach on its heels.

One play we really look forward to using this weeks is the 3x1. This will shift Olsen out into a trips formation to one side of the field while a WR is solo on the other. In this formation the trips will run stick routes with the RB option to run to the otherside of the field. That will make LBs linebacker to trips side have to decide either to move out to help defend the inside route or stay in position to defend the run.

Through the use of the RPO, a balanced game plan, and the fact LB rarely plays Man, we should be able to constantly get good gains on the ground and funnel the ball to our three WRs as there wont be a defender in their face and they can get YAC.

In the red zone, we will use more 2TE looks due to Rudolph's size which creates more running room with his protection and a big Target if we go with the pass.

Defense:
Long Beach enjoys playing a variety of formations so keying for one formation or another would be useless in this situation. However, because they use so many formations actually provides the defense some advantages.

-The defense is allowed to switch out personnel to match each front which allows the pass rush on the line to stay fresh.

3-1-1? 3CBs 2 LBs. 2-2-1? 2CBs 3 LBs, 1-1-3? 4-4-3. 4-1? 4CBs.

- It runs clock. Each positional switch runs more time off the clock for Long Beach. This means fewer drives overall during the course of the game for Rodgers and a huge advantage to our team.

Here are the main facts about Aaron Rodgers:
1. When Rodgers is under pressure he has a 56 QB rating. However, if he has additional blitzes sent after him he has a rating of QB 116.

Thus we only plan to rush four this week. We have loaded up the line this week with elite pass rushers. Brandon Graham will face Bulaga, while Vernon will man up against Armstead. In the middle Allen and Robinson will be testing the interior strength of LBs offensive line. Clayborn/Okafor/Williams will assist.

While the four man rush tries to hit home, the rest of the defense will be dropping back into coverage. We will sport a two deep safety look to defend the deep pass. The CBs will play man with Apple on Hopkins, Kirkpatrick on Funchess, Flowers on the slot (whether it be McCaffrey or othervplayer), Kuechly will have the coverage on Kittle while Lee takes on the RB that likes to peel out with only four rushers.

In the 3 TE and Jumbo sets we will look to key the run  with safety coverage over top to defend playaction.

 

 

Gameplan Offense:

We get Cooper Kupp back this week and this will help open up our offense. Our Three Amigos (Kupp, Kittle, and McCaffrey) all in their second seasons have proven to be versatile chess pieces so far in their NFL careers and we plan to motion and utilize them to spread out the Woodpecker defense.

Sets (In Order of Usage): 3 WR 1 TE 1 RB, 4 WR (Kittle as a slot WR) 1 RB, 2 TE 2 WR 1 RB, 1 WR 1TE 3RB, Jumbo Tight (Leno at TE2)

Run Game:

Our Main Set will once again be the 3 Wide set. McCaffrey will split 60/40 run plays with Ingram. The Woodpeckers have two very good linebackers in Kuechley and Lee. They fly to the football and we will use a zone focused run game with stretch plays and cutback lanes to take advantage of overpursuit from the Woodpecker front in this offensive set. Their edge defenders hit the edges hard and we will have opportunities to gash the defense in the C gaps as our tackles ride the ends outside. Our G’s will handle the DT’s, and Move to LBer’s. Unger will cut off the back side LB to create optimal lanes for the RB to choose from. Kittle will be used to crash inside on the backer to his side or an in the box safety, whichever the G doesn’t clean up. We will incorporate once again our two tight end sets and our three back set with Janovich who has been an absolute hammer for Denver’s running game this year. We will be able to run some power out of these two formations as well as some of our zone concepts. In 4 wide sets we will actually motion to these by having Kittle move out into the slot looking to draw a LBer or S outside, spreading the defense out even more and we will power inside runs out of this formation.

Passing Game:

We get Kupp back this week and we will utilize him out of the slot to take advantage of the middle of the field. Kittle will be attacking the seam and the middle as well as the flat zones. Kittle will be motioned around, often split out wide to take advantage of mismatches out in space. The corners of the Woodpeckers are about as weak as mine and Hopkins will draw a king’s share of targets. If they double him it will open up more mismatches for Rodgers to exploit. Marvin Jones Jr. showed last week he is not a forgotten man in Detroit and will be our number two split out wide to the same side as Kupp to run combo routes with him. McCaffrey will see some motioning out for some empty back sets in our 4 wide look providing us with an extra weapon in the pass game. McCaffrey will also see action coming out of the backfield in all sets. Ingram also provides a pass catching threat out of the backfield as well as a solid pass blocker to by Rodgers more time in several looks.

 

Defense:

Formation: Nickel, 4-3

I expect the Woodpeckers to spread us out since we are weaker at Corner than most teams. We will start out in a nickel against 3 and 4 wide sets. Against a five wide we will bring in Jordan Whitehead as an extra S/LB in the middle of the field to play zone or Bashaud Breeland to match up against the fifth receiver in his zone. We have the luxury of being able to make either call. Against any double tight or I formation we will play a 4-3. This week we will start EJ Gaines and Budda Baker as our outside corners. Tyrann Mathieu moves down to the slot this week and TJ McDonald mans Free Safety with Landon Collins at Strong. Jayon Brown and Avery Williamson get the start this week at LBer in our nickel. In our 4-3 Jarrad Davis will come in at SLB. In the 4-3 Tyrann moves back to Free and TJ comes out. Jarran Reed and DJ Reader start at UT and NT with Javon Hargrave and Vita Vea the rotation players inside. Trey Flowers and Cam Jordan start outside backed up by Preston Smith and Sam Hubbard.

Coverage:

We will be sticking mostly to our zone looks once again. The looks include Cover 3 and Cover 2 with an occasional Cover 6 look with the Cover 4 being to Taylor Gabriel’s side. If we see some 3 wide or two wide matchups we like we will play some man coverage. We will be blitzing one of Avery Williamson or Jayon Brown almost every play creating confusion for Goff and bringing pressure in his face. The only time we do not blitz Williamson or Brown is when we blitz Mathieu out of a cover 3 look and Brown replaces his coverage responsibility in Curl to Flat. Mathieu has two sacks in the last two games. Collins will play over the fourth receiver jamming him before dropping into his mid to shallow zones. While they have some veteran receivers who were once great they are well past their primes. Jordy has a combined 5 catches for 36 yards over the last 3 weeks. The other three receivers have put up decent production but we believe we can generate enough pressure with our front four and fifth blitzer to rattle Goff into making mistakes and winning our matchups.

Run Defense:

Adrian Peterson went off against a run defense that just traded Snacks last week. However he has been very solid all year and we need to make sure we do not let him take over this game. We have two of the best all around edge defenders in BDL, with two stout run defenders in DJ Reader and Jarran Reed playing inside. We believe these four can handle the line of scrimmage and slow down Adrian Peterson. Our additional blitzer will also come in with the ability to clog run lanes. We have some added speed and tackling machines playing up in the slot in Mathieu and Collins to help funnel runs back inside and keep anything from busting outside for long gains. We will be playing gap disciplined run defense and making sure not to over pursue to contain AP on any possible cutbacks. We have a fast flowing defense but we will stay true to our gap responsibilities throughout the game.

[ny92mike]

This is a tough one, I'm coming back to it. 

[Jlash]

With Wichita sticking to their strengths this week I think they can pull the upset here.

[DingoLadd]

Long Beach slows wichita enough to win a close one at home, Wichita's WRs do some damage but they don't have the speed necesary to keep Long beach from stacking the box.

[ny92mike]

Injuries at cornerback is really putting a strain on the LB defense.  Getting Vernon back on edge creates a better pass rush than what they've had in the past.  Could see this being a game in which both teams get some big gains through the air and much closer than it should be.  I just can't overlook LB's secondary.  This team has got to get healthy at cornerback in order to keep winning games.  

[Xmad]

Wichita. 

[Ragnarok]

I think the Wichita OL is good enough to handle the front 4 of LB.  And after that front 4, the LB D is lacking.

LB is a bit more talented overall, but I think Wichita game planned this perfectly and steals the win.  

[Whicker]

Long Beach cannot win with its current secondary. No way Budda makes it as an outside corner. Nick Nelson can't get on the field on an Oakland team that's benching everybody else. Breeland played 96% of snaps this week though so he probably should have started this game, but he was listed last and wasn't mentioned in the writeup. Wichita.

[WFLukic]

Wichita get their first win of the year. There's too much pride in that group of vets to lose-out and that LB D concerns me. I would look at that D for an NFL team and think it's decent, but not really impressive. That D for a BDL team just flat out isn't good and that CB group isn't pleasant to look at. I think just about every other team in the BDL abuses this secondary, but Wichita's weapons aren't great either. They're certain good enough to get some wins in matchups here though.

Wichita's D vs. Long Beach O is a pretty cool matchup though. The Apple addition is pretty important and I think Wichita's secondary looks respectable now and with a decent pass-rush and elite LB duo, they do enough to slow down LB and give their offense a chance to put some points up.

Wichita 24 - 20 Long Beach 

[TedLavie]

LB has the best offense in BDL imho. But even it can't save tha corner group. Much like last year, that Wichita group keeps fighting after a terrible start and this may be their first victory but it probably won't be the last. 

33-30 Wichita

[RuskieTitan]

I like how Wichita is going to attack the zone with the RPO. I think it ends up being a shootout, with Rodgers keeping it close into the 4th, and pulling out a win late for Long Beach.

[pheltzbahr]

I think one of the better strats this year out of Wichita, really liked the tailoring to LB.  I think this would be an exciting game for a team playing spoiler, who obviously hasn't gone into tank mode.  Wichita pulls off the upset.