BDL 2019 Week 3 - Berlin Blitzkrieg @ Rome Eternals

[ny92mike]

BDL 2019 Week 3

Match:  Berlin Blitzkrieg @ Rome Eternals

Away Owner: @Ragnarok

Home Owner:   @bcb1213

Vote for who you think will win this 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

Edited September 22, 2019 by ny92mike

[ny92mike]

Lineup

Berlin Blitzkrieg

Offense
QB - Tom Brady
RB - Aaron Jones
Slot - Chris Godwin
WR - Kenny Golladay
WR - Will Fuller
Slot - Marquise Brown
LT - Kolton Miller
LG - Dan Feeney
C - Corey Linsley
RG - Alex Cappa
RT - Taylor Moton

RB - Justin Jackson
RB - Corey Clement
WR - MVS
TE - Irv Smith Jr.
TE - Adam Shaheen
OG - AJ Cann
OC - Ryan Kalil

Defense
DE - Justin Houston
DT - Mike Daniels
DT - Brandon Williams
DE - Demarcus Lawrence
OLB - Tremaine Edmunds
MLB - Rashaan Evans
OLB - Blake Cashman
CB - Gareon Conley
CB - Byron Murphy
S - Tarvarius Moore
S - Juan Thornhill

DE - Deatrich Wise
DE - Za’Darius Smith
DE - Trey Hendrickson
INT - Leonard Williams
INT - Taven Bryan
CB/S - Damontae Kazee
CB/S - Lamarcus Joyner
CB - Mike Hilton

 

Rome Eternals

Offense 

QB Mitch Trubisky 

RB Todd Gurley 

Hback Cameron Brate 

WR Amari Cooper

TE OJ Howard 

TE Tyler Eifert

LT Tyron Smith 

LG Richie Incognito 

C Brandon Linder 

RG Mike Iupati

RT Ryan Ramczyk

 

WR Julian Edelman

WR  Juju Smith Schuster 

WR Marquise Goodwin

OL  Braden Smith 

RB Chris Thompson

RB Marlon Mack Q

RB Phillip Lindsey 

OL Ramon Foster 

 

Defense 

DL. Ziggy Ansah 

DL Carlos Dunlap

DL Gerald McCoy

LEO Dante Fowler Jr

LB Leighton Vander Esch

LB Jordan Hicks 

CB Marlon Humphrey 

CB William Jackson 

CB Prince Amukamara 

S DJ Swearinger 

S Tre Boston

 

Edge Takk McKinley 

Edge Marcus Davenport 

LB Matt Milano 

DL Michael Brockers 

DL Dalvin Tomlinson 

CB Nickell Robley Coleman 

CB Janoris Jenkin

S Rayshawm Jenkins

[ny92mike]

Game Plan

Berlin Blitzkrieg

Offense
Regardless of formation, we will run enough to make Rome respect it.  Look for some tosses to get to the outside(especially in our bunch sets), a few draws, and regular runs to the inside and outside.  Jones should get 12-15 carries and 5 or so targets and Justin will get 8-10 carries and a couple targets.

Dan Feeney is a massive upgrade over Ron Leary to shore up the inside of our OL.  This will help ensure that Brady doesn’t have to deal with interior pressure.  We trust our OL to be just fine against the Rome front 4.

MVS will be rotated in for any WR who needs a rest, but most of our WRs play over 90% of the snaps, so we have no worries about them staying fresh.

4 WR - Similar to last week, we are going to use a lot of 4 WR sets this game, probably 70% of the time, and challenge the Rome DBs to cover our WRs.  Also, Rome has 3 very good linebackers, so we want to get two of them off the field or force a speed mismatch.  We want to run between 35-40% from this set and will be in shotgun about 75% of the time.

Once again, we are going to use bunches to avoid press coverage so we get a free release and motion into that bunch so that Brady can see if Rome is going to play man or zone.  Our ‘bunch’ will typically be Golladay, Godwin, and Hollywood with Fuller on the opposite side of the field.  That way, Brady can take some deep shots to Fuller if Rome doesn’t provide safety help over the top.  If they do put safety help over the top of Fuller, we get an even better numbers advantage with our bunch.

If they use primarily man coverage like last week, we will use our bunches to rub off defenders and get quick hitting crossing routes and option routes that Brady excels at.  If it is zone, we will use those bunches to flood a zone and give Brady a more open target.  We will also throw some WR screens to get the ball out quickly with blockers out in front.

Our RB will serve a number of roles in the passing game.  He will stay in to block on occasion, but we will more typically use him for flare routes and check downs.  We will usually have him run a route to the side the bunch was on because then whoever is covering him will have to work through a lot of traffic to get over there.  We will also run a few RB screens to keep the Rome DL honest.

If we are in a hurry up situation, Irv Smith becomes the HB and serves a purely blocking role.  This allows us to put 6 guys on 4 pass rushers.  This will give our WRs a lot of time to get open, and no DB group can cover forever. 

3 WR - We will use this sparingly with Irv Smith as our TE/H-Back coming in for Fuller or Marquise.  This will be used in more short yardage situations to give us a lead blocker.

2 TE - We will use this more than the 3 WR set, probably 25% of the time, as it allows us to get both Irv and Shaheen on the field.  They are both top tier, excellent blockers, and we will take advantage of that.  We will move Irv around to get a numbers advantage.  We are going to run from this set around 75% of the time.  Even with their three very good linebackers, we will have 7 blockers to meet those 7 men in the box and we can get a consistent run game here.

Fuller/Golladay and Hollywood will be our WRs.  If Rome tries to put an 8th man in the box in this set, we will throw it deep to one of these two.  We trust Hollywood and Fuller to either win deep when one-on-one or Golladay to win a jump ball or back shoulder throw.  And a single high safety won’t be much use as none have the speed to get over and help in time.  This inability to get a numbers advantage in the run game will help us grind out some longer drives to aid our defense.

Defense -
Trubisky is very not good in the red zone.  So we will again go for a bend but don’t break defense.  He isn’t good enough to make us bend regularly, much less break.

Rome has two excellent OTs, but we have two excellent edge rushers that will win some reps and at the very least hold their own.  We will rotate on the edge infrequently, only when Lawrence or Houston need a break.  However, we are going to really target the interior of their OL.  Ramon is subpar at this point and Richie is playing his first game in a LONG time.  We are deep on the interior and we are going to rotate those guys consistently.  We will also slide Za’Darius inside on some passing downs for additional speed.  Adding to this is that Rashaan will come on a delayed middle blitz if he sees the RB staying in to block.  We are better inside than the interior of the Rome OL and we want to exploit that.

We are starting Tarvarius Moore this week as he allows for a bit more physicality in the box plus elite athleticism to cover deep.  Not to mention, he has played very well for SF.

2 TE - If Rome goes two TE, Byron is LCB, Gareon is RCB, and Tremaine, Rashaan, and Cashman(6 tackles, 1.5 TFL, .5 sacks, 1 PD last week) are our 3 LBs.  We will typically run a Cover 3 here.  This will allow us to play one or both of our safeties closer to the LOS so that they can help shut down the Rome rushing attack but allow one to get back in time.  We will play the CBs in off man so they don’t get beat deep.  This will allow our CBs to challenge the Rome WRs to make contested catches.  We want to make Trubisky dink and dunk because he can’t complete that many passes in a row.

We will mix in some off-man and cover 2, but also look for us to incorporate cover 6 if they split the TE out just to confuse Trubisky even more.  We will have the LB follow the TE out into the slot so Trubisky thinks we are playing man, then have the LB drop into his zone.

3 WR - Cashman comes out and Kazee comes in.  Some cover 2 and 3 again.  We will do more man coverage, especially on early downs, in this set.  Our CBs stay to the same sides, Kazee takes the slot, Rashaan takes the RB, Tremaine the TE, and our safeties will either be in Cover 1 or 2.  This will be used more on early downs to contest throws and force incompletions.  That way, we get favorable down and distance later and can play zone to tackle them short of the first down marker.

4 WR - Joyner comes in for Rashaan and plays the slot.  We mix it up between man in Cover 1or 2 and zone in Cover 2 or 3.  We trust this defensive group to handle anything Trubisky can throw at us.

 

 

Rome Eternals

Offense 

Toting the Rock

Well we are gonna pound away behind our jumbo formation here with the second level of Berlin being able to to better taken care advantage of.

It all starts up front with a some road grading offensively linemen with these return of Richie Incognito.  We appreciate their defensive line but the linebackers and safeties aren't built entirely on speed and they struggle against the the run.  Berlin generally starts glorified corners at safety so once we get past the front line we should rip off some big gains. 

We plan to use a lot of power running with inside zones, power o, and counters.  When we get the front door tired we'll get some more tosses to get our RBs on second level defenders 

We will rotate Gurley and mack pretty evenly on early downs and we'll bring Thompson in for long distances and spread formation. Lindsey will take Mack's workload if he doesn't play. 

We also plan on running some options and draws with Trubisky from a spread formation 

Passing

We don't fear any of the corners on the Berlin roster.  Our early down passing will be run off some RPO and play action.  We're gonna move the pocket on the playaction to let Mitch do what he does best 

In longer distances we'll go four wide with Edelman, Juju and Goodwin hitting the field.  We'll concentrate on comeback seam route combos on one side with slants and out routes on the other.  Thompson receives some screen passes as well as a couple wheel routes if Berlin forgers about him. If we start seeing zone expect floods and lining up three wr on one side with screen passes to Juju or swing screens to Thompson

We are looking at long sustained drives to chip away the clock and keep Brady off the field an our defense fresh 

TL/DR:  Run heavy to get tos the second level of poor run defenders.  Rpo, play action passing game, qb options rpo, play actions, and screens 

 

Defense

This week we face Tom Brady and a solid group of wide receivers   While the listed is the base formation, we know they'll probably run a lot of four wide 

The offensive line is very meh 

Our offensive tempo should allow this strategy of fresh linemen to have its best success.   Our blitzes will mainly be between the C G areas as that's a major weakness in this line and their guard they just traded for was acquired Friday and has to fly halfway across the world to  play Sunday . We will blitz from all over however dropping edges into zone blitz coverages occasionally. Per usual Swearinger plays in the boy with LVE in four wide and both lb in three wide 

In the backend we put Humphrey on Golladay.  Nickell and Jackson get the Slots and Amukamra gets the other edge.  If for some reason Golladay is in the slot Humphrey follows him and Jackson kicks outside.  We are using heavy bump in run coverage with our interior blitzing. Outside of Golladay, Berlin brings in the mini mites WR so we feel we can rough them up at the line ans through off the timing allowing our blitz to get home.  Berlin genuinely doesn't use Jones in the passing game but the non blitzing Swearinger or LB will get him. Hicks takes any tight end that may appear.  

If the running back stays in to block his responsibility will have the underneath robber zone.   Boston has the deep middle.  

We are gonna dare Brady to throw deep and virtually ignore the running game.  If they want to take the ball out of Tommy's hands we're OK with our talent and extra box defender to stop it.  We go with a light line with Dunlap Mccoy and Ziggy lining up on it with Fowler playing a predator lb blitz role that allows him to walk around the front and rush from various positions 

We will per usual mix in zones blitz, base zone and occasional zero man blitz just to keep the offense guessing as one defense against Brady is death 

Tl/dr. Blitz Brady up the gut.  Jam the wr. Throw off timing and trust the corner talent. Dare em to throw deep and beg them to run

 

[bcb1213]

Oh gooody.  Someone finally started playing the recent stats card 

 

Week three 

Berlin 

Kenny Golladay 2 catches 17 yards 

Hollywood brown 2 catches 49 yards 

Chris Godwin 3 catches 40 yards 

Will fuller 5 for 51

Aaron Jones 11 touches 23 yards 

Justin Jackson 9 touches 30 yards 

Total

Receivers

10 catches 157 yards 

RB 20 touches 53 yards 

 

Rome 

Amari Cooper 6 for 88

Julian Edelman 7 for 62 (in one half) 

Juju  3 for 81

Oj Howard 3 for 66

Marlon Mack 18 touches 88 yards 

Gurley still to play 

 

Totals 

Pass catchers 19 for 297

Running backs 18 for 88 with whatever Gurley adds 

[Scoundrel]

Jones had two TD’s. Let’s not be bias

[bcb1213]

9 minutes ago, Counselor said:

Jones had two TD’s. Let’s not be bias

When your players only get 200 yards of offense those two yarder plunges become nonexistent 

[Ragnarok]

15 hours ago, Counselor said:

Jones had two TD’s. Let’s not be bias

That's what bcb does.  Skews reality to try and get a win.

[bcb1213]

20 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

That's what bcb does.  Skews reality to try and get a win.

No reality needs skewed 10 carries for 19 yards. One run even went for seven so that leaves 9 carries for 12 yards.  Sure one of those was a one yard plunge.  So 8 carries for 11 yards 

 

If we're just judging based on touchdowns Jeff Wilson is the second best running back in football lol 

Edited September 23, 2019 by bcb1213

[Ragnarok]

13 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

No reality needs skewed 10 carries for 19 yards. One run even went for seven so that leaves 9 carries for 12 yards.  Sure one of those was a one yard plunge.  So 8 carries for 11 yards 

 

If we're just judging based on touchdowns Jeff Wilson is the second best running back in football lol 

 

On 9/22/2019 at 10:34 AM, bcb1213 said:

I'm screwed 

 

[VigilantZombie]

 So here is how I feel about the stat argument. Its, in some ways, fair. However when you put it into the context of the actual makeup of the team they are on here vs. Rl I think that's when the stat arguement becomes less effective.

Both of these teams have good and bad qualities. I like Berlins QB more, I like Romes RBs more, I think the WRs are a push tbh, maybe slightly leaning toward Rome. I dont love either teams' TEs and I think both OL are about equal overall.

Overall I also think the Defenses are about equal. This truly is a gameplan matchup.

So here is where I make my judgement. Daring Tom Brady to pass against  what is a slightly above average secondary, I think that's a mistake. Especially when you're suggesting youre going ignore the running game and dare him to pass Deep. Tom brady commands on offense that, well, doesnt run much but when they do it's very effective (IRL), now, here I have to believe at least a little of that will trickle in.

I dont love either roster for a blowout but I do like one more than the other in the redzone when the game is on the line.

Tom Brady, I hate you,, but you get the win this week imo.

17-14

 

[bcb1213]

Brady has four throws over 35 yards all season 

[VigilantZombie]

11 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

Brady has four throws over 35 yards all season 

That's a fair point but I also think that's because NE doesnt really have a guy who can stretch the field like Berlin does.

[bcb1213]

5 minutes ago, wwhickok said:

That's a fair point but I also think that's because NE doesnt really have a guy who can stretch the field like Berlin does.

What?  Dorsett ran a 4.33, Gordon also is in the 4.3s

[VigilantZombie]

15 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

What?  Dorsett ran a 4.33, Gordon also is in the 4.3s

To be fair, I forgot about Gordon.

[bcb1213]

Between linsley playing poorly this year and the lol guards l, that interior is really bad and the o line in general is not good.   Running the RB into the flats instead of blocking against a blitzing up the gut bump and run defense, I doubt those guys are getting beat deep before Brady crumples in a heap crying from having no pocket