BDL 2018 Week 12: Wichita Woodpeckers @ Sydney Dingos

[Whicker]

BDL 2018 Week 12

Vote for who you think would win the game.

Rules:
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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.

[Whicker]

Wichita Woodpeckers

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

QB - Teddy Bridgewater
RB - Ito Smith
RB - Cameon Artis-Payne
WR - Michael Crabtree
WR - Jordy Nelson
TE - Kyle Rudolph
OL - Julian Davenport
OL - Brett Jones

Defense:
DE - Brandon Graham
DT - A'Shawn Robinson
DT - Jonathan Allen
DE - Olivier Vernon
LB - Luke Kuechly
LB - Haason Reddick
CB - Eli Apple
FS - Harrison Smith
SS - Jabrill Peppers
NCB - Brian Poole
CB - Tre Flowers

DE - Adrian Clayborn
DE - Alex Okafor
DT - Kyle Williams
LB - Raekwon McMillan
LB - Ben Niemann
CB - Sam Shields
CB - Rashaan Melvin
S - Jaquiski Tartt

 

 

Sydney Dingos

QB1: Ben Roelthisberger
RB1: David Johnson
WR1: Golden Tate
WR2: Calvin Ridley
WR3: John Brown
TE: Jimmy Graham 
LT: Nate Solder
LG:  John Miller
C:  Cody Whitehair
RG: Brandon Brooks
RT: Chris Hubbard

Bench:

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

Sydney Defense:

LDE: Whitney Mercilus
3T:  Malik Jackson
DT:  Leonard Williams
RDE: Mario Addison
WLB: Alec Ogletree
MLB: Myles Jack
CB1: Byron Jones
CB2: Donte Jackson
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: Marcus Peters
CB5: Steven Nelson
S3: Vonn Bell

 

[Whicker]

Wichita Woodpeckers

Offense:
This week our RPO based offense takes on a different look as we bring two of our most dynamic playmakers onto the field at the same time in Fournette and Peterson. By having both Peterson and Fournette on the field it forces Sydney to have three LBers on the field OR have a CB cover a TE or a RB in coverage which out weigh and size Logan Ryan who is Sydney's NCB. Sydney's LBing core is terrible in coverage. With L. David out, Ogletree, Jack, Hodges and Correa make up their LBing core. I look to take advantage of the secondary level early and often with throws out of the RPO offense to the RBs and TE Olsen. This will force Sydney to provide safety help and put our WRs in single coverage. If Gabriel is put on single coverage with Dontae Jackson, we will do some speed verticals with him to burn Jackson down the field. We will also look to have a steady balanced run game with Peterson and Fournette and Peterson to the edge and to the inside. By keeping an up tempo offense and not allowing Sydney to come off the field by not having substitutions for most of each drive, we will look to wear down the defensive line and get some open holes.

Occassionally we will bring on some 2 TE looks, but this again will be used primarily to take advantage of their LBing core, especially near the red zone. 

 

Defense:
Things to note for Sydney's offense:
- Their O-Line has been abysmal in pass blocking all season especially their OTs. Big Ben will not have a lot of protection in the secondary.
- Jimmy Graham has a broken thumb. While he is active, his actual pass catching ability could be limited. 
- Golden Tate and John Brown have disappeared for weeks now. They are not elite receiving threats. 

Our game plan this week is to collapse Sydney's oline by sending overload blitzes especially off the edge. This can come from our Nickelback, our safety Harrison Smith, or from our LBing Core. Brandon Graham will face off with Solder, while Vernon takes on Hubbard on the right side. We will also be starting our two stellar pass rushing DTs in Allen and Robinson to collapse the middle of the pocket and not allow Roethlisberger room to maneuver or escape out of the pocket. To give our pass rush even more time to get to Ben, we will be playing bump and run coverage by jamming the receivers at the line. This will delay Ben from throwing to his RBs.  Eli Apple will blanket Ridley while Flowers takes on Tate. With Graham's injured hand playing a factor we will have Reddick cover the TE and Kuechly will have the RB coverage. Smith will pick up the coverage for the additional blitzer unless he his blitzing himself. Peppers will play the deep safety in this look just in case Big Ben somehow breaks contain and tries to throw deep. 

Since Smith is playing a LB level for this game this will keep an extra helmet up front in the effort that Sydney runs the ball. Since we have an emphasis on pass rushing and blitzing it does make us a bit more susceptible to the run this week from Johnson and Eckler, but I believe our front seven is capable of corralling it. 

 

 

Gameplan:  Warning, may strain your eyeballs if you read at a slow pace.

Motivation:

• We're 2-9, we'll try this week to pull the upset against Wichita.

Sydney Offensive Strategy:

• We're going to come out throwing the ball early and often, we'll establish a deep passing game early and use our RBs/TEs to continue moving the chains via screens+checkdowns and attacking Wichita's secondary where their defense is weakest.
• David Johnson will be a big piece of the puzzle here as we'll look to use him as a pass catcher/protect out of the backfield to help set up the offense, he'll more or less function as James Conner does for Pittsburgh.

Scheme;

• Slow paced run first offense that will focus on establishing Johnson+Jones early and often, we'll look to establish a lead in the first half and to win the TOP battle to keep Goff off the field.

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 weak Wichita 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 8+ targets no matter who covers him. 
• 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 Wichita 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 Wichita's DBs.
• 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. If Graham doesn't suit up we won't use 2 TE sets.
• 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 25+ 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 medicore Wichita pass rush, Johnson playing in my offense will be used a lot better and be given the proper blocking/usage.
• Aaron Jones will get a lot more touches this week, I'd expect he'll get around 10 to show off his playmaking potential and if he makes big plays early it could lead to a 50-50 split with Johnson.
• I know my WRs can win their match-ups on the outside and in the slot, we should be able to make plays all game long and give Ben plenty of time to pick apart Wichita's defense using with the slow methodical pace we'll be running this week.

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 Wichita  on the edge along with getting our RBs in space.
• 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, Iupati plays OT etc. I'll most likely mention who plays where in the comments if not mentioned already.

TDLR:

• Let Ben work his magic, get David Johnson the ball in space, let our WRs+RBs+TEs take advantage of a Wichita defense that lacks speed on the edge.

Sydney Defensive Strategy:

• We'll be playing mostly zone coverage this week since none of Wichita's WRs command the respect of man coverage at their age.

Formations;

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

Scheme;

• Zone coverage for about 60% of the game, mixing in man here and there and our main base defense will be nickel.

Ratios:

• 60 Zone Coverage to 40% Man Coverage, blitzing on 15% 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 Crabtree with some help over the top on occasion we feel Jones is is more than capable of erasing Crabtree, Marcus Peters was recently benched in favor of Donte Jackson who has played very well for a rookie CB, he will man the no.2 CB spot and will be tasked with covering Wichita's no.2 WR, he will of course be given help more often than Jones will be.
• Logan Ryan is the no.1 CB for the Titans and he'll man the slot this week, In 3 wide Ryan covers the slot with Jackson+Jones manning the outside positions, Peters comes in for 4 wide. 
• Covering Goff's slot WR is very important given his nature to force the ball to that position, hence why Fitzgerald will occasionally be jammed at the LOS. 
• Our secondary is the strength of our defense and we feel we can limit Wichita's medicore in the passing game since we have the personnel to limit them and keep them from making plays downfield, plus them not having any downfield threat (Taylor Gabriel exists but he sucks) and all of their WRs lost their speed years ago. Greg Olsen has also broken his foot 3 times in the past 2 years so he's lost all of his speed and playmaking ability as well.
• Reshad Jones will be tasked with playing his usual SS role, he'll help cover in the redzone and on 3rd downs other than that he'll play his normal coverage assignments. 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 Vonn Bell takes over at S, we'll mostly focus on playing a Cover 2 look in zone, with some man coverage mixed in. However we will of course mix this up with zone blitzes and other coverage.
• Wichita is probably going to come out throwing early and often so can they let Ryan establish the offense and try and figure out our defense early, we expect this and will counter this by changing our entire gameplan at halftime. If we have a lead at halftime we'll be fully aggressive in getting after Goff and we'll dial up the blitzing.
•  Myles Jack+Lavonte David  Ogletree form one of the best LB duos in BDL and should be able to handle the responsibility of covering Wichita's RBs+TEs whenever given that assignment and are more than capable of containing Kamara+Coleman.

The Front Seven Strategy: 

• Wichita's RBs are all injured or old, Fournette is far from 100% and given his lack of use in the passing game I don't expect much out of him in this game. We'll of course do our best to limit their run game and contain Goff's checkdowns. 

TDLR;

• Read it. 

Special Teams:

• LaQuan Treadwell will return kicks and punts, Dak Prescott will line up at cheerleader, A cardboard cutout of a Dingo will call the plays on offense.

Sponsorship:

• The IRS. never skip out on paying taxes on golden statues.

[TedLavie]

This one is pretty close. I like PR strategy of going after Sydney LBs, but I would prefer the 2TE sets here. Had PR involved Rudolph more I think this was a great opportunity to run the ball with ease against a lighter front. Big missed opportunity here. Wichita OL protects Goff very well though and against zone that should pay off.  On the other end Wichita aggressive gameplan and advantage in the trenchea should lead to pressure and turnovers. I think Sydney gets some big plays too as I like their WRs a bit 1vs1 vs press cover corners. But not enough. 

Wichita 30-21 with a defensive TD 

[Ragnarok]

A struggling OL and weapons sink Sydney here.  

[Xmad]

Sydney's o-line has 3 below average starters, their WR corps has one good starter.

Their running game is good but it's not enough to carry them here, Wichita.

[ny92mike]

The Woodpeckers finally have their running game back on track, Fournette and AD create the personnel needed to sink Sydney.

[Jlash]

Witchy-Ta!

[SirA1]

Wichita tastes victory again.

[bcb1213]

Another team with two RB and an rpo offense.  Stop that. 

Despite that Wichita has the better squad at the moment 

[Whicker]

Two RB and RPO is the future of BDL.

Sydney O-line is poor as others have stated. I also don't like their linebackers without David and their linemen have never been inspiring to me. Fournette and Peterson grind out the win for Wichita.

[Scoundrel]

Sydney and OLine ouch. Not a BDL level oline and it won’t suffice for their gameplan. Peckers here.

[DingoLadd]

This is just cruel. 

[MD4L]

I’m in the minority but Dingos team has a real chance to stay competitive. I really dislike featuring Fournette and Peterson bc without the ball one of those guys are not utilizing the strongest asset of their ability.

I don’t think the Dingos are mistaken for Orlando offensively but they can have some success. Still in the David Johnson is awesome camp and Big Ben can have some success with his weapons. This game won’t mean much for the playoffs but I’ll take the home team in a slight upset.

[RuskieTitan]

10 hours ago, MD4L said:

I’m in the minority but Dingos team has a real chance to stay competitive. I really dislike featuring Fournette and Peterson bc without the ball one of those guys are not utilizing the strongest asset of their ability.

Agreed.

If you run the ball, neither of these guys are a lead blocker. I understand the intent behind the RPO with them both, but I just feel that ultimately it just ends up being an additional player who doesn't make the same impact without the ball in his hands that a WR pulling a defender out of the box or TE/FB that can block.

Peterson has gotten better in the passing game, but both these backs are guys that need to be fed the ball. It's a case of too many chefs in the kitchen.