BDL 2018 Week 14: Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Rome Eternals

[Whicker]

BDL 2018 Week 14

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]

Ivory Coast Black Rhinos Lineup:

QB- Andrew Luck
RB- Nick Chubb
WR- Alshon Jeffery
WR- Brandin Cooks
WR- Curtis Samuel
WR- Robby Anderson
LT- Trent Williams
LG- Vladimir Ducasse *INACTIVE*
C- Jason Kelce
RG- Zack Martin
RT- Rick Wagner

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RB- Jalen Richard
FB- Anthony Sherman
TE- Vernon Davis
TE- Luke Stocker
WR- Jarius Wright
WR- J.J. Nelson
OL- Dion Dawkins
OL- Eric Kush

 

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DE- Khalil Mack
DT- Da'Ron Payne
NT- Larry Ogunjobi
DE- Myles Garrett
MLB- Wesley Woodyard
WLB- Jerome Baker
CB- Tre'Davious White
CB- Adoree' Jackson
CB- Malcolm Butler
SS- Tony Jefferson *INACTIVE*
FS- Devin McCourty

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DE- Terrell Suggs
DT- Maurice Hurst
DT- Robert Nkemdiche
DT- Maliek Collins
NT- Dontari Poe
CB- Camerson Sutton
CB- Brandon Williams
S- Eric Reid

 

 

 

Rome Eternals

QB Drew Brees

RB Todd Gurley

Slot WR Julian Edelman

WR JuJu Smith Schuster

Slot WR Amari Cooper

WR Marquise Goodwin

LT Tyron Smith q

LG Ramon  Foster

C Justin Britt

RG Braden Smith

RT Ryan Ramczyk

 

TE Jordan Reed

WR Dontrelle Inman

OL  Evan Boehm

RB Phillip Lindsay

RB Marlon Mack

FB Zach Line

OL Greg Robinson

TE Matt LaCrosse

 

Edge Marcus Davenport

DT Dalvin Tomlinson

NT Mike Pennel

Edge Carlos Dunlap

LB Leighton Vander EscH

LB Matt Milano

LB CJ Mosley

CB Prince Amukamara

CB Marlon Humphrey   q

Slot Nickell Robley Coleman

S Tedric Thompson

 

S Jahleel Addae

Edge Dante Fowler

Edge Samson Ebukan

DL Michael Brockers

DL Matt Ioannidis. Q

CB William Jackson

CB Janoris Jenkins

LB Alex Anzalone

[Whicker]

Ivory Coast Black Rhinos Gameplan:

Offense
Primary Formation: 4 Wide "10" Personnel- We are going to come out with 4 receiver set to try and spread out Rome. We will rely on Andrew Luck to determine which matchups he likes for each play, and we'll give him the freedom to audible to run or pass based on what the defense is presenting. Curtis Samuel and Brandin Cooks will primarily take the slot roles, with Alshon Jeffery and Robby Anderson outside. We'll be operating out of the shotgun a lot for this game, and running a semi-hurry up, getting to the line quickly and allowing Luck to diagnose the defense.

Running Game Focus- Nick Chubb will get the bulk of the opportunities in the backfield, and against a spread defense he should have a chance to deal some damage. We're going to operate primarily out of a single back set, allowing our offensive line to set up blocks for Chubb to pick his hole. We'll be using some draw plays to keep the defense honest, and we'll have several RPO plays that feature Chubb as well. We'll give the ball on a jet sweep a few times to Cooks / Samuel (as well as use them as fakes).

Passing Game Focus- Quick hitting passing game designed to wear down Rome's defense before taking the lid off with one of our speedsters. We want to use flood route concepts against zone, and rub routes against man coverage. We'll usually have one man in motion to assist Luck in determining the defense. There isn't any one specific matchup that we want to exploit, it's all about giving Luck at least 4 men running routes and seeing how the play unfolds. We'll sprinkle in some screen passes to Chubb, and he will alternate between: 1. chipping and being the checkdown option; 2. straight up blocking if they are getting a lot of pressure; 3. wheel route out of the backfield.

X-Factor on Offense: Giving Andrew Luck full control- We're going to let Andrew Luck be the on field general in this matchup, determining which defensive set would be best attacked through the air or on the ground. If he sees a matchup he likes, he's got the freedom to hotroute and take advantage of it.

 

Defense
Defensive Formation: 4-2-5 Defense- We anticipate that Rome will likely come out with 3 wide, so we counter with a 4-2-5 Nickel look. Khalil Mack and Myles Garrett will hold up the edges. In the secondary we will have Adoree' Jackson handle the slot, with Malcolm Butler on the outside. When Rome goes with a heavier set, we'll revert to a 3-4 look, bringing in Maurice Hurst to the inside of the defensive line and taking out Malcolm Butler. If Rome wants to feature a receiver more heavily, we will stick Tre'Davious White on them.

Secondary Coverage: Cover-2 Man- Our corners will be operating primarily in man coverage, with the safeties providing help over the top. We don't want to give up any deep plays, and make them work for it coming down the field. If any receiver starts to get hot, we'll have White start to shadow them. Jackson will handle the slot duties while Butler stays outside, but when we go to the 3-4 Butler will come off the field.

Defensive Box- We're using Khalil Mack and Myles Garrett off the edges, with Suggs rotating occasionally. We will be relying heavily on those pass rushers to get to Drew Brees and contain Todd Gurley, but we are confident they are the best duo in the business to handle that. Our interior defensive linemen will get 1-gap responsibilities, designed to shoot in and disrupt the pocket, or blow up the running play. We will have Wesley Woodyard on Todd Gurley; if they start focusing heavily on him we'll adapt and switch to a cover 1 scheme with Tony Jefferson assisting in containing Gurley (Or Reed). Jerome Baker will handle Jordan Reed in coverage.

X-Factor on Defense: Defensive line rotation- We need to constantly rotate our defensive interior as we are asking them to go all-out in gap penetration, and we come prepared with several defensive linemen. By keeping fresh bodies rotating, we hope to sustain pressure well into the 4th quarter, and nothing frustrates a quarterback more than immediate pressure up the middle.

 

Summary:
Offensively, we spread the ball with 4 receivers, letting Andrew Luck pick the matchup he likes as well as having the freedom to audible to run or pass based on what the defense is giving us.

Defensively, we prepare with the 4-2-5 against a 3 receiver set, with a plan to go 3-4 whenever Rome comes out with a heavier set. We'll be using a man coverage Cover 2 look this game, and rely on our defensive line to generate pressure.

 

 

 

Rome Eternals

Motivation

We need this win the try for the number one seed and will be playing hard to achieve it

 

Offense

This week we welcome in Ivory Coast and their excellent defensive line.  However, their secondary lacks depth and we feel we can take advantage. We also plan on tempo tempo tempo to tire out the IC pass rushers

We will generally open up the formation with four wr  and bring Edelman in motion to the wide side of the field.  This motion will let us know when Ivory is in man as we like the majority of our match-ups and will attack any non Jackson corner with emphasis at going after corners 3 and four White has been struggling in his second season, we all know about Malcolm Butler and Cameron Sutton is a special teamer who hasn't played defensive snaps since week 8.  If they are in press man Butler and Sutton will be targeted a lot.

This week we get back out over the top burner in Marquise Goodwin who defensive have to respect.  If we see a lot of cover one expect some deep shots to his side of the field. If it's cover two expect our underneath routes with Edelman featured to be targeted. We are gonna run some rub routes early also as IC came out in press man two in our last battle.  This could lead to some early chunk plays.

Up front, we know we have our hands full with mack and Garrett. One way we plan on slowing them down is having Gurley helping out chipping before hitting his route and sometimes downright double teaming the edge he's lined up on.  If Smith does not play, expect this to be the left side. This chipping blocking by Gurley should help mask the screen game we plan on incorporating this week as another way to slow down the pass rush. The four wide should restrict their ability to send a lot of blitzes without getting burned

Gurley is gonna get about 20 touches between the passing and running game.  We are gonna use a fair amount of draw plays to slow down the edge rushers and get the lbs/safeties moving backwards first.  

We will rotate in mack on early downs and Lindsay on third downs occasionally to give Gurley a break.  We even have a short yardage package with two te and a fb

We will also throw out a five WR look on our first drive to see if IC brought a fifth corner with them.  If not, expect us to run five wide about 10% of the time to get some mismatches If Brees reads zone from the Edelman motion he will audible to floods and seams

Tl/Dr.  Attack butler, Sutton fifth non corner .  Motion to gauge coverage, trip formations to beat zones.  Screens and draws with Gurley to get him in space

Defense

This week we welcome in a mostly impressive offensive line and Andrew Luck.

PFF stat of the week.  Marlon Humphrey has allowed a catch rate of 42.1% since Week 7, which is the best for cornerbacks in that time.  He will be in charge of Alshon Jeffrey.  Prince Amukamra gets Cooks with constant help over the top.  Nickell gets Samuel while Jackson goes speed for speed with Anderson responsibilities depending on who is in. We trust our 3 and 4 CB vs their 3 and 4 wr and our lb vs their te and RB in coverage

On the line we have some big beef in the middle for early downs as shown.  For passing downs we are shifting Dunlap inside for Pennel and putting Fowler on the edge.  Ioannidis will come in for Tomlinson in these situations if he plays, if not it's Alualu just to keep the heavies fresh.  Ekuban will occasionally spell the edges on early downs to give them a breather

As you will notice we are only playing one deep safety. This is for the te 3 wr formation as it allows moseley in the middle to either play robber underneath zone or blitz right at the LG spot manned by an Irl Backup. Davis as an extra blocker can only help on the edges.  This blitz or not will also make luck hold onto the ball to read it for an extra moment to help our rush get home. Milano has Davis responsibility and should shut him down in any routes

If it's three wide two RB we will play more cover two safeties with addae coming in for mosley.  Lb assigned to Sherman will play close to line of scrimmage and blitz if Sherman stays in which he mostly will do.

LVE has chubb duties with high alert for screens to be blown up.  We don't really fear chub in the passing game besides that so he'll be keying in on the running game

Up front we know they are solid but we feel our back end can force luck to hold onto the ball and let our rush get home.  We plan on sliding and attacking the left side of this line on passing situations as that is where the weakness lies. Also will throw in a few zone blitzes to keep the offense honest

We will mix in some zones and blitzes with zone to keep Luck guessing but mostly will roll with man.

Tl/dr    

Trust the corners with Cooks help, blitz the LG spot, bend don't break

 

[Whicker]

Vlad Ducasse and Tony Jefferson inactive for Ivory Coast.

[Hockey5djh]

Man....this is gonna be a shootout.

[Hockey5djh]

Yea, Rome takes this one. I like what IC did in their gameplan but their secondary leaves a lot to be desired, especially the depth that Rome is targeting.

[Ragnarok]

Neither team uses a TE which I hate.  Both teams want to go full on air raid.  Goodwin is meh, but the other 3 Rome WRs were excellent.  That said, IC has a definite advantage in the trenches and a couple good WRs.

This is a lot closer than I thought it would be and I think I will go IC.   

 

[Xmad]

Gimme the Romans, IC's secondary isn't great and missing a starting S and forcing Eric Reid into the lineup hurts. 

Probably the closest game of the week given this one could go either way IMO.

[bcb1213]

4 hours ago, Ragnarok said:

Neither team uses a TE which I hate.  Both teams want to go full on air raid.  Goodwin is meh, but the other 3 Rome WRs were excellent.  That said, IC has a definite advantage in the trenches and a couple good WRs.

This is a lot closer than I thought it would be and I think I will go IC.   

 

Goodwin may not be awesome but they don't have a fourth corner that actually plays football atm.  Sutton hasn't taken a snap since week 10 and Brandon Williams took one snap week 5.  That's it.   Goodwin was productive when Jimmy G was around.  Not so much much with dink and dunk Mullens 

[TedLavie]

Close game as well. I find it odd that both teams went on a light sets with their running backs. I think there are pros and cons for each. Rome exposes itself to IC pass rush but the up tempo offense might work against a front which is thin at edge. They definitely have an advantage over IC CB4. For IC it's the other way around. Rome DL isn't great but I'm not sure their wideouts get open. 

The difference for me was IC corners alignments. With this gameplan, I'm assuming Butler is on Goodwin and Sutton on Edelman or Cooper. That plus Gurley is a mismatch too great to be overcome for IC.

26-17 Rome

[ny92mike]

I'm leaning Rome in this one.  IC came prepared with a solid plan, but Rome's receivers are too much for IC

[Whicker]

Rome

[SirA1]

Rome

[Jlash]

17 hours ago, Ragnarok said:

Goodwin is meh, but the other 3 Rome WRs were excellent.

He's a pretty damn good 4th option I think. 

[DingoLadd]

6 hours ago, Jlash said:

He's a pretty damn good 4th option I think. 

That was awful.

Rome Wins.