BDL 2018 Week 12: Louisiana Jazz @ Orlando Ospreys

[Whicker]

BDL 2018 Week 12

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]

Louisiana Jazz

Offense:

QB: Tom Brady
RB: Ezekiel Elliott
WR1: Michael Thomas
WR2: Tyler Lockett
TE1: Zach Ertz
TE2: Jared Cook
LT: Russell Okung
LG: Joel Bitonio
C: Ryan Jensen
RG: Connor McGovern
RT: Riley Reiff

RB2: James White
RB3: Nyheim Hines
WR3: Sammy Watkins
WR4: Zay Jones
TE3: Chris Herndon
OL6: Bobby Massie
OL7: Matt Skura
OL8: Jared Veldheer

Defense:

DE: Jason Pierre-Paul
DT: Jurrell Casey
DT: Sheldon Richardson
DE: Jabaal Sheard
Edge Dee Ford
LB: Patrick Chung
Slot CB: Chris Harris Jr.
CB: Stephon Gilmore
CB: Kyle Fuller
SS: Micah Hyde
FS: Tre Boston

DE3: Vinny Curry
DT3: Johnathan Hankins
DT4: David Onyemata
LB2: Danny Trevathan
LB3: Will Parks
CB4: Orlando Scandrick
CB5: Justin Coleman
S3: Duron Harmon

 

 

Orlando Ospreys

O-Starter                                 

Philip Rivers, QB                                 

Alvin Kamara, RB                                

Odell Beckham, WR                                

Mike Evans, WR                            

Sterling Shepard, Slot WR                              

Rob Gronkowski, TE (Q)                                

Taylor Lewan, LT                                

Frank Ragnow, LG

Mike Pouncey, C      

Ali Marpet, RG

Lane Johnson, RT                              

O-Bench                                 

Chris Carson, RB                                

Allen Robinson, WR               

Dante Pettis, WR                                

Mike Gesicki, TE                                 

Jonnu Smith, TE                                 

Trent Brown, TACKLE                        

Cameron Erving, GUARD                               

Nick Martin, C

 

D-Starter                                 

Joey Bosa, LOLB                                

Allen Bailey, LDE

Kenny Clark, NT                                 

Ndamukong Suh, RDE                                                         

T.J. Watt, ROLB

Bobby Wagner, MLB                           

Demario Davis, WLB                           

Jalen Ramsey, CB                               

Jaire Alexander, CB                            

Eddie Jackson, SAF                            

Tashaun Gipson, SAF                                                             

D-Bench                                 

Emmanuel Ogbah, ROLB                                

Clay Matthews, LOLB                         

Henry Anderson, DE                           

Tyrone Crawford, DE

Fred Warner, ILB                                

James Bradberry, CB                          

Joe Haden, CB                                   

Antoine Bethea, SAF              

 

 

 

[Whicker]

Louisiana Jazz

Motivation:

Limited. I'm busy as **** lol.

 

Offense:

Going to run the ball a lot with Zeke, taking advantage of our strong interior OL. Tough matchup with Orlando front, but it’s imperative to keep the ball in our hands and prevent turnovers against a ballhawking secondary. We will be quick to employ heavy sets, with Veldheer/Massie coming in to give us 6 OL and potentially 3 TE sets to go with it as we can see Orlando coming out lighter than usual to try and counteract our weapons.

Brady is going to pass a lot and spread it around, we know that Cook and Ertz can win their matchups respectively and Thomas against Ramsey is a fine matchup, especially given Ramsey hasn’t been his usual self and Thomas is literally unguardable. Lockett will work as our deep threat, while Hines and White will see substantial snaps out of the backfield. I would under normal circumstances try and use Watkins, but he’s clearly banged up and we’re going to take it easy on him for this match.

Defense:

Without much of a power running game, we’re going with an ultra light back 6 and 5 pass-rushers to take advantage of an OL who will be missing it’s left tackle. We know that if we overload and rush towards Bolles’ side, there will be plenty of penalties that will kill drives and also opportunities to get hits on Rivers and force fumbles.

In terms of coverage assignments, Patrick Chung will take Gronk, while Hyde will follow Kamara in the backfield. Our deep safety will be Tre Boston and the CBs will man up with the WRs, with Gilmore on Evans, Chris Harris Jr. on Beckham Jr. and Fuller on Shepard. While Orlando boasts an amazing group of weapons, we know we have the troops to at least slow them down and against an OL which isn’t 100, our pass-rush can get to Rivers before he can release it.

 

 

 

Orlando Ospreys Game Plan

This week we face off against a formidable opponent that is strong on both sides of the ball.  We’re thankful that Owner WFLukic has allowed this game to be delayed a full day, because of the holidays…Much appreciated.

Offensively

Base Formations:  3 Wide SB Set, 4 Wide Shotgun, H-Back (2 TE)

Offensive Line

The Jazz defense has solid pieces at basically every position.  In the rushing game, we’ll use two tight-end sets using both Rob Gronkowski and Jonnu Smith to get the maximum out of our running game.  We’ll motion our Tight ends dependent upon the defensive lineup in an attempt to open up lanes off tackle. 

In the passing game, our front five will get tasked with protecting Rivers in a high tempo quick passing attack.  Using the chip block from the TE and assigned tailback blocking as needed to give Rivers adequate time to find his target.

Passing

Our focus this week is to get the ball in our playmakers hands as fast as possible using quick passing plays and getting into slightly deeper routes in shotgun.  We want Rivers throwing bubble screens, quick slants, shallow outs, double move, and dig routes and letting the talent in Odell Beckham, Mike Evans, Rob Gronkowski, Shepard and Alvin Kamara fight it out against some solid competition for catches and YAC.  We want to flood the field with receiving options for Rivers. 

Rushing

We’ll use a combination of delayed handoffs and pure speed from Kamara to get our running game going against this defense.  We’ll focus on the inside rush, pulling tackle/guard to get a line block and letting Kamara find the chains after that.   

 

Defensively

Scheme:  34 Base / 425 Nickel  

Our focus on defense this week is limiting the running game first, Brady is one thing but Brady and a powerful runner like Ezekiel can eat you alive if you allow it.    

Defensive Front

Against the rush, our 3 interior linemen will be tasked with clogging the middle of the field using MLB Wagner and/or Demario Davis to chase down any open lanes.  Wagner will play inside the box coverage over the middle, spying the tailback (Zeke, White, Morris) while Davis is assigned short zone Tight end coverage. 

Against the rush, our outside linebackers, Bosa / Watt will be tasked with keeping the rushing game inside.  While in the passing game, assigned to generating pressure on Brady, we’ll mix it up with Bosa and Watt changing spots and subbing in Clay Matthews and Ogbah to keep this group hot the entire game. 

Man - to- Man   

Cornerback Coverage Assignments

Michael Thomas – Jalen Ramsey

Tyler Lockett – Jaire Alexander

Sammy Watkins – James Bradberry

Ertz – Eddie Jackson

Kyle Rudolph - Tashaun Gibson

Jared Cook – Gibson/Bethea

Passing

We think that our interior can put pressure on Brady from inside the tackles, so don’t expect an overly aggressive edge rush as this week our focus is stopping the running game, and Brady’s ability to pass to his backs.

LB Davis and our safeties will be assigned to stopping their passing game to the tight ends while our corners will match up against their wide receivers, doubling Thomas at times.   

[Xmad]

Orlando, their offense is more than enough to outscore Brady and friends.

[Ragnarok]

I just don't think the OL for Louisiana, specifically the OTs, can hold up in this one.  Orlando takes it.  

[Jlash]

Orlando's offense is on par with Romes right now, and brings a very very good defense with it. They're rolling right now.

[SirA1]

Trading Mahomes earlier in the season doesn't look as bad right now. How does Sydney feel about letting Rivers go?

[Scoundrel]

Rivers may never get a super bowl but this may be the year he gets a bizz bowl. A lot of talent around him and he had a heck of a week. 

[ny92mike]

3 hours ago, SirA1 said:

Trading Mahomes earlier in the season doesn't look as bad right now. How does Sydney feel about letting Rivers go?

Mahomes is playing some amazing football, definitely not what I was expecting to see the entire year, but surprisingly his success hasn't carried over to BDL.   

I personally don't think I'd be where I'm at standings wise if I hadn't made that trade to acquire Watt.  With Bosa out most of the season, my team lacked a pass rusher, adding Watt and his 10 sack season helped out big time.    

[MD4L]

Orlando’s offense is overkill. That unit is rolling. I don’t like their defensive hand plan bc it seems like their man schemes are cover zero, but I think their success targeting Kamara and Gronk is the difference.

[DingoLadd]

3 hours ago, SirA1 said:

Trading Mahomes earlier in the season doesn't look as bad right now. How does Sydney feel about letting Rivers go?

I mean Staley would've been nice to have right about now but other than that, I don't regret it. Rivers/Ben is about equal in BDL IMO...trading Gordon still hurts but at least I got Ekeler.

Orlando here, The Jazz's defense just gets nuked.

[MD4L]

18 minutes ago, DingoLadd said:

I mean Staley would've been nice to have right about now but other than that, I don't regret it. Rivers/Ben is about equal in BDL IMO...trading Gordon still hurts but at least I got Ekeler.

Orlando here, The Jazz's defense just gets nuked.

You haven’t made any questionable trades since dealing Gurley in the 2017 leauge draft.

[Whicker]

I think you're much better off leaving motivation off entirely if it's negative. I can assume you're interested in winning if I don't read anything, but it's hard to ignore when you blatantly state it.

Also, one half of Louisiana's defensive gameplan talks about taking advantage of a missing left tackle that was not missing. I think Orlando's offensive line holds up very well against Louisiana's defensive line. I think they have mismatches in coverage with Gronk and Kamara, and Odell and Mike Evans will win their share against the Louisiana corners which are excellent. Louisiana also went very light with Chung at LB and Orlando's 2 TE set is able to generate some rushing. I would like to see Chris Carson involved some.

Louisiana will be able to generate offense despite a very good Orlando defense. However, it's not enough given the above and the fact that they are on the road and flat from lack of motivation.

 

 

[TedLavie]

I'm exactly on par with Whicker here. I will also add that I didn't get a good idea of what the Jazz wanted to do. It's we're going to run a lot but pass a lot too. And every weapon will be involved a lot. There was no clear direction for me. 

I don't think it is close. Orlando 31-17

[RuskieTitan]

Looks like my comment last night didnt post, but I had voted Orlando. Both teams are elite, lots of playmakers for both squad on both sides of the field, but Orlando's offense is truly terrifying at this time, and getting Gronk back gives them an edge.