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BDL 2018 Week 9: Rome Eternals @ Cuba Smugglers


Whicker

Rome Eternals @ Cuba Smugglers  

14 members have voted

  1. 1. Who wins?

    • Rome Eternals
    • Cuba Smugglers

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  • Poll closed on 11/07/2018 at 05:00 PM

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BDL 2018 Week 9

Vote for who you think would win the game.

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

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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 to you both.

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Rome Eternals

QB Drew Brees

RB Todd Gurley

WR Julian Edelman

WR JuJu Smith Schuster

TE OJ Howard

TE Jordan Reed

LT Tyron Smith

LG Ramon  Foster

C Brandon Linder

RG Braden Smith

RT Ryan Ramczyk

 

WR Amari Cooper

WR Cameron Meredith

WR Marquis Goodwin

OL  Justin Britt

RB Phillip Lindsay

RB Marlon Mack

FB Zach Line

OL Andre Smith


 

Edge Takk McKinley

UT Matt Ioannidis

NT Michael Brockers

Edge Carlos Dunlap

LB CJ Mosley Q

LB Leighton Vander Esch

CB Prince Amukamara

CB Marlon Humphrey Q

Slot Nickell Robley Coleman

S Tedric Thompson

S Shawn Williams

 

Edge Dante Fowler

LB Matt Milano

CB William Jackson

DL Dalvin Tomlinson 

Edge Samson Ebukam

CB Jonathan Jones

CB Janoris Jenkins

LB Josh Bynes

 

 

Cuba Smugglers

QB: Kirk Cousins 

RB: Latavius Murray 

WR: Julio Jones

WR: DeSean Jackson

WR: Donte Moncrief

TE: Jack Doyle

LT: Jason Peters

LG: James Carpenter 

C: John Sullivan

RG: David DeCastro

RT: Rob Havenstein 

 

RB: TJ Yeldon

WR: Kelvin Benjamin 

WR: Randall Cobb

RB: Frank Gore

RB: Dalvin Cook

WR: DJ Chark

H-Back: Rhett Ellison

OL: Anthony Castonzo

 

Edge: Jerry Hughes

DT: Marcell Dareus 

DT: Fletcher Cox

LDE: Calais Campbell 

WLB: Thomas Davis 

MLB: Preston Brown

RCB: Kenny Moore 

NCB: Bryce Callahan 

FS: LaMarcus Joyner 

SS: Derwin James

LCB: Richard Sherman

 

RCB: Quinton Dunbar 

SS: Morgan Burnett 

Edge: Julius Peppers 

DT: Lawrence Guy

LOLB: Kyle Van Noy 

Edge: Carl Nassib

LCB: Anthony Brown

SS: Ronnie Harrison 

 

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Rome Eternals

Offense

This week we welcome in a surging Cuba squad.  Cuba has some nice pieces but have some weaknesses we feel we can take advantage of. One thing we definitely want to take advantage of is Cubas lack of depth on the interior line so we are gonna push tempo early in the game to tire those big boys out as Cuba occasionally doesn't carry any extra big boys inside and instead pushes starter Campbell to the interior

We are generally going to be putting Reed or Gurley in motion out wide to determine coverage.  Only Thomas Davis has shown much in terms of coverage this season for their lb core and we will attack the other linebacker ad nauseum with outs corner routes and hitches.  If Gurley gets one on one with any lb, expect some wheel routes to him. On the outside Richard Sherman has looked better this year but he still has trouble with speed. If he's matched up on Juju we're gonna take some deep shots.  Edelman is gonna get a bunch of looks on the other side if Richard isn't on him as Cuba doesn't have a great outside number two corner. Whoever Sherman isn't on should have a safety helping, which again should open up the tes and RB

Gurley is gonna get about 20-25 touches with a lot of running to the edges using our stud tackles.  Expect a lot of power os to the left with Smith being the pull lead blocker from his guard position. This also serves us in that Jerry Hughes is not a good run defender We recognize the strength of the interior of the Cuba line and won't test them often.  We are gonna use stretches power os and tosses to get Gurley and our other RB in space.

If for some unknown reason they start putting Irl backup safety George iloka at lb, we're gonna put in FB Zach Line in for a wr, go heavy set and just run all over the extremely light box to his side of the field.   We will be rotate in mack on early downs and Lindsay on third downs occasionally to give Gurley a break. We feel the tempo is gonna wear down their front and allow us a lot of running success in the seci

Up front we trust our tackles one on one we are gonna double team Cox while the other guard gets guy who provides zero in terms of pass rush.  In a blitz situation Brees will hit his hot route who he's probably already looking at anyhow.

As always Brees has control of offense and will audible for zone coverage to seams floods and seams.  If anyone is dumb enough to try zone against Brees, more power to them. He'll destroy it

Tl/Dr.  Attack the lb and second boundary in passing game..  Attack edges in running game. Up tempo to tire them out

 

Defense

Cuba brings in their high octane passing game with their recent addition of DeSean Jackson and kinda return of Randall Cobb.

With this we have inserted Matt Ioannidis on the interior for his added pass rush and gone to a base nickel look.  With Matt in we have three starters on the offensive line in the top 14 in sacks plus the run stuffing of Michael Brockers who rushes the c, rg gap to get both their blocks.  Cuba has a major issue between LG and c and we feel our front four can cause some issues

We have brockers and Dunlap on the right side of the line to help against the run as the left side provides little in run blocking.  The front four should eat up the blocks to allow our excellent lbs the ability to take on the RBs and stop any gains. Dalvin Cook is not healthy and the vikings have him on a pitch count today and we don't fear any big gains from the other RB.

Obviously the first thing you need to do against this passing is slow down Julio and DeSean deep balls.  We're basically playing a cover two shell for most of the game with our physical outside corners playing inside coverage with help from the safeties outside over the top.  We trust nrc one on one with a hobbled Cobb on the inside. If Humphrey doesn't play, Jackson will get Eh Jackson with prince having Julio duties. Otherwise Humphrey gets Julio.  Moseley or Milano gets the RB when cook is out and the TE when cook is in. Lve takes the other responsibility.

We'll also throw in some zone blitzes on about a quarter of the plays to not get too predictable and give our corners a break from running around the field after the wr. We'll also sprinkle in some cover one robber with off coverage on the outside

Tl/dr    Don't allow deep shots.  Force the wr against the boundaries to use it as an extra defender.  Trust the front four to get home

 

 

 

Cuba Smugglers

We enter this week coming from our first home win (1-3). It is always an important game against Rome. They bring the top offense we have seen this year. They gave us a manhandling the last time we played them. We remember the feeling very well.

Offense 

Kirk Cousins directs the way to success. We are eager to get balanced on offense. Julio Jones being matchup proof is important against three quality starting CBs. We move Julio in different spots on for knowledge on whether they’ll shadow amongst other presnap variables. His target share ranges from 10-14. He will be in the slot for half his reps. Jack Doyle’s return gives Rome one more viable target to dampen Leighton Vanden Esch or CJ Mosely from occupying themselves toward Jones in the slot. DeSean Jackson is a new deep threat for Kirk Cousins. He’ll play about 40% of the snaps as we acclimate him into the team. Both of our receivers had success against William Jackson. His route tree starts with deep shots, and his lid lifting ability will help in the run game. Donte Moncrief wins on underneath crossers and has developed into his RL teams top target. His lack of double coverage makes him a safe third read. Randall Cobb works a limited snap share. On his 30 snaps he can expect four targets with screens and flats getting YAC opportunities. Kelvin Benjamin will get a portion of snaps as a boundary receiver. We will give him 2-4 opportunities to take advantage of that. Jenoris Jenkins has been beat a couple times year and we think Benjamin could beat him. If it’s Johnathan Jones, Benjamin can at most double his target share with similar beliefs. Finally DJ Chark has taken the steps to becoming a prominent role player with Jacksonville. Moving Jones to the slot helps Chark who should face single coverage. He almost scored and more importantly is a deep threat while Jackson comes along. We think for 37-40 passing attempts Kirk Cousins can efficiently maximize players production.

 

With 70% the snaps being 11 and 10% being 10 personnel, our backs will be heavily factored weapons. Latavius Murray will be an early down work horse. Provided we are playing with a reasonable ganescript, the ability of Murray is we have someone capable of wearing down opposing defenses. He’s a good alternative for Cousins to occasionally get tempo going and carries on audibles. We can sub him for TJ Yeldon, one of the top receiving backs. In 11 personnel adding a WR should take a LB off the field and Cousins a chance to spread the wealth of targets to open targets and play within a flow. Dalvin Cook and Frank Gore share scraps, and Gore has the chance for more reps if he can manage something with his 3 touches in the first half.

 

For our openness of balance, it’s no secret the offensive line has to hold up better. Jason Peters had the best game of his season while Marcus Davenport is a big loss. Rome has one high level pass rusher in Carlos Dunlap but Rob Havenstein has played at all pro level. Without a quality number two pass rusher we can go pass heavy and it’ll be harder for Rome to stop our weapons if they have to cover for 5-6 seconds consistently. We hope that is the case today.

 

TLDR: Pass 65%, Run to not be extremely predictable. We can protect our passer. We will target Julio Jones everywhere he lines up (Tedric Thompson help does not fear us). We will move Julio inside and let our lid lifters go deep if Rome want to double Julio consistently. Use these options to eventually face two man under and get the running game going.

Defense

We’re dedicating a majority of our resources to Todd Gurley. He is a threat out the backfield and similarly as a receiver on the boundary. Rome uses him as a workhorse and he’s a valuable presnap asset for Drew Brees. While Brees can get hot, we think Rome will bank on 22 formations and some form of balance. Play action threats could be lethal if they get that balance established. Luckily, our safeties can move around without being obvious in presnap for Brees. The uniqueness begins with Derwin James. He can come into the box and his moving around with Gurley doesn’t distinctly mean man coverage. This motion disguise can hopefully lead to an INT or sack as tricking Brees will eventually get the read correct. It’s one of a few motions they like but we feel confident in that specific check. Otherwise, we think we match nicely with their air raid approach. Julian Edelman playing against Bryce Callahan is one of the defining matchups. We can play two man under with longer 3rd down conversions but we may use a high amount of cover 3 as bringing the safety down to stop the run is important. Rome frequently discusses having Brees pick apart teams with zone, so that wrinkle can aid in limiting the carries Gurley receives. Richard Sherman has been fabulous with the limited times he gets targeted. That number can always increase here but he can limit a side completely. He will man JuJu Smith-Schuster on some occasions. Kenny Moore likely gets the safety help from LaMarcus Joyner. We think he can have some success against Marquise Goodwin, but between him or Amari Cooper, that receiver will see two guys more than usual as we try to avoid deep plays, particularly in spread sets. 

 

The TEs will likely have major roles. We have Thomas Davis and Preston Brown starting whom weren’t available in the first meeting. Brown functions as an early down run defender who leaves the field for Morgan Burnett or Ronnie Harrison in sub packages. If OJ Howard or Jordan Reed become game changers our plan is limiting Derwin James assignment on Gurley and having him switch with Morgan Burnett as an in the box coverage LB. Ultimately, this team is a high level and we have to play well to give ourselves a chance.

 

TLDR: HoF QBs like Brees are partially beat by confusing them a couple times and beating them when they know what’s coming. Attempt to stop Gurley, but not at all costs. Looking forward to Fletcher Cox and Calais Campbell playing together inside trying to force iso matchups with Braden Smith.  Mix two man under coverage with cover 3 when Derwin Janes comes into the box. We don’t shadow for most of the game, but big plays and situations will have JuJu covered by Sherman. Safety attention to Goodwin or Amari Cooper. Prepare for two TEs where we James helps bring the run and we can be more pressed on play action deep reads. 

 

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I think Rome was smart to attack the interior of Cuba with Gurley given it's lack of depth. Jason Peters has been hurt for Cuba all year and has been a serious liability while in game because of it, and I think these two areas are tipping points in a close game.

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1 minute ago, Jlash said:

A whining post not about Benjamin. Pleasant surprise.

I didn’t start him this week. More importantly Rome is so good they can claim Sherman can’t cover speed weapons like JuJu Smith Schuster (4.54 40) and incorrectly start solid Edelman instead of speedsters like Cooper and Goodwin. 

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2 minutes ago, MD4L said:

I didn’t start him this week. More importantly Rome is so good they can claim Sherman can’t cover speed weapons like JuJu Smith Schuster (4.54 40) and incorrectly start solid Edelman instead of speedsters like Cooper and Goodwin. 

Man you've been brutal lately.

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8 minutes ago, Jlash said:

Man you've been brutal lately.

I think Amari Cooper is a respectable talent. Same with Goodwin. Both guys are very fast guys that force safety help and can stretch the field. Edelman is very good in all facets but one asset of his ability that doesn’t strike as elite is his speed. 

That is nothing derogatory. It’s respectable commentary from an opponent leading by four votes. You don’t like it, I don’t care.

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On 11/4/2018 at 1:12 PM, Whicker said:

Edelman is gonna get a bunch of looks on the other side if Richard isn't on him

 

5 minutes ago, MD4L said:

Edelman is very good in all facets but one asset of his ability that doesn’t strike as elite is his speed. 

You see how he doesn't mention anything about Edelman's speed? He said he's going to AVOID Sherman if that's the match up.

 

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