BDL 2019 Week 5 - Lancaster Werewolves @ Portland Horned Owls

[SirA1]

BDL 2019 Week 5

Match:  Lancaster Werewolves @ Portland Horned Owls

Away Owner: @rackcs

Home Owner: @SwoleXmad

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 October 5, 2019 by SirA1

[SirA1]

Lancaster Werewolves

QB: Philip Rivers
RB: Alvin Kamara
WR1: Mike Evans
WR2: Odell Beckham Jr. 
WR3: Sterling Shepard
TE: Jonnu Smith
LT: Taylor Lewan
LG: Quenton Nelson
C: Frank Ragnow
RG: Cody Whitehair
RT: Lane Johnson 

QB2: Baker Mayfield
RB2: Ronald Jones II
RB3: Royce Freeman
WR4: Willie Snead IV
WR5: Dante Pettis
TE2: C.J. Uzomah
OL: Trent Brown
OL: Nick Martin

DE: T.J. Watt
DT: Kenny Clark
DT: Ndamukong Suh
DE: Joey Bosa
WLB: Kwon Alexander
MLB: Bobby Wagner
CB1: Jaire Alexander
CB2: James Bradberry
SCB: Brian Poole
FS: Eddie Jackson
SS: Vonn Bell

DE: Jabaal Sheard
DE: Emmanuel Ogbah
DE: Clelin Ferrell (Q)
INT: Christian Wilkins
LB: Fred Warner
CB: Kevin King (D)
S: Xavier Woods
S: John Cyprien

 

Portland Horned Owls

QB1: Patrick "MVP" Mahomes II
RB1: Christian McCartney
WR1: Marvin Jones 
WR2: Mike Williams
WR3: KeeSean Johnson
TE1: Will Disly
LT: Laremy Tunsil
LG: Will Hernandez
C:  Matt Paradis
RG: Andrew Norwell
RT: Alejandro Villanueva

Reserves:

QB2: Jacoby Brisset
RB2: Devonta Freeman
RB3: Peyton Barber
WR4: Pharoh Cooper
TE2: Drew Sample
TE3: Stephen Anderson
OL6: Ben Jones
OL7: Kelvin Beachum

Portland's 4-2-5 Defense:

DE: Clay Matthews
3T: Linval Joeseph
DT: Michael Pierce 
DE: Whitney Mercilus
WLB: Jayon Brown    
MLB: Blake Martinez
CB1: Desmond Trufant
CB2: Logan Ryan
SCB: Eli Apple
FS: Reshad Jones
SS: Malcolm Jenkins

Reserves:

SLB: Zach Brown 
RLB: Vic Beasley
CB4: Brandon Facyson
CB5: Morris Claiborne
S3: Marcus Maye
DE3: Dee Ford
DT: DaQuan Jones
DL: Hassan Ridgeway

Edited October 6, 2019 by SirA1

[SirA1]

Lancaster Werewolves

Lancaster Offensive Strategy: This week we want to be very balanced on offense and focus on eating up the clock. We feel that the Portland defense has some weaknesses that can lead us to long sustained drives. We plan on running the ball with our stable of our RBs to both eat up the clock and set up the passing game. We want to have a 55-60% passing offense.

The Passing Strategy: Portland’s pass rush is lacking and so we think that Rivers will have plenty of time to pick apart the Portland secondary. We also plan on doing lots of play action and because we’ll be running the ball a lot we feel that this will help us open things up in the passing game as well. Without the need to keep a RB in as a blocker we will have Kamara acting as a receiver often both from the backfield and by flexing him out as a receiver occasionally. As far as the plan of attack goes with the WR’s, we plan on running a variety of routes throughout the game with a slight focus on short routes so that, again, we can eat up the clock and have sustained drives. Obviously there will be deep throws thrown in periodically so that we can catch Portland slipping.

The Running Strategy: With Pierce and Joseph making up Portland’s new and improved interior DL, we definitely will be looking to avoid the middle. Again, Portland’s edge guys are a definite weakness and so that’s where we’ll be looking to run. We also have pretty good blocking WR’s so that will be a boost to this strategy. We will be rotating our backs around with Kamara being the obvious feature guy. We have also started Jonnu Smith this week because of his blocking ability, which should help us as we run to the outside.

Carolina Defensive Strategy: Patrick Mahomes is obviously an incredible QB but luckily for us Portland has some key injuries on offense this week that we think will help us keep him in check. We want to focus on getting to Mahomes and pressuring him in the pocket, keeping his receivers from having time to get open. We also want to limit McCaffrey’s abilities by keeping guys in the box.

The Pass Defense Strategy: We’re unsure of what personnel Portland will be coming out with this week due to his offensive injuries. No matter what we’re going to be using our 4-2-5 man coverage base defense. If he runs with 3 WRs, we’re going to have Alexander on Mike Williams, James Bradberry on whichever other receiver plays on the outside and Brian Poole on whoever the receiver in the slot is. Brian Poole draws the start this week with Kevin King being doubtful but we feel very confident in his ability in the slot. If King does play he’ll be spelling all 3 corners. Eddie Jackson will be playing a deep zone and occasionally doubling Mike Williams. Kwon Alexander will cover Will Disly. Vonn Bell will be playing in the box and will be covering McCaffrey with help from Wagner. If they run a 2 TE offense we will keep the same base defense. Poole will then actually help Vonn Bell with covering McCaffrey while Wagner will handle Drew Sample even though he isn’t much of a receiving threat. And for one final possible scenario, if he runs with 2 RB’s it will be similar to the 2 TE set but with Wagner handling the 2^nd RB. Occasionally we’ll also be blitzing Bell, Wagner, or Alexander by having only one person on McCaffrey and Disly.

The Run Defense Strategy: We’re going to have 2 guys watching McCaffrey every play. Vonn Bell is going to be playing in the box where he excels in run stopping. He and either Wagner or Poole will be watching McCaffrey every play which should help them with stopping the run.

 

Portland Horned Owls

 

Motivation: It's week 5 of the BDL season and we're coming off back to back close losses against some tough teams, we look to right the ship this week by taking on a Lancaster team that has clawed it's way back into being a decent team. Also winning cause 2-3 would be a bad start to the year, also we're playing at home so home field advantage. 

Portland Offensive Gameplan: Attack Lancaster's back seven, run the ball to keep the offense balanced and to keep Lancaster's defense from blitzing, focus on getting our WRs in single coverage and in favorable situations as well as scheme ways to get them open, use McCartney as the engine of our offense and use him more often to offset our issues at WR, Use Barber more as a runner so McCartney can line up out wide, use Dissly in the redzone, keep Lancaster off the field by converting on 3rd down and sustaining long drives. More or less this boils down to a run heavy offense that will utilize our RBs/TEs more to supplement a banged up WR corps. 

Formations: Shotgun, I-Form, 3 wide, 4 wide, 2 TE, 3 TE etc. We'll use a variety of formations. | Scheme:  Pass 50% to run 50%

The Passing Game: 

Patrick Mahomes will be given full command to make audibles along with making adjustments as required to effectively use our players to the best of their talents, as well as adjust protection if it is required. Now let's talk about the key match-ups and plan of attack, Marvin Jones takes over as the no.1 WR with Ross out along with Adams being out. He'll obviously be the main WR in this game given he is our best and most healthy WR, he'll command 10+ targets at least despite going up against Alexander who has proven to be quite decent, we'll try and get take a few deep shots to Jones given his ability to make circus catches as well as use him in the slot on occasion. Mike Williams will be our no.2 WR and he will command lots of looks in the redzone along with getting at least 8+ targets. Now let's talk about who our no.3 most targeted player will be, McCartney and honestly he could lead us in targets if Lancaster gives us the opportunity to with injuries to our WRs and the forced use of scrubs at the 3rd and 4th WR position we're forced into giving McCartney more passing game work along with lining him out wide (if he does line up out wide it will be replacing a WR and we'll have Freeman/Barber in as the RB) he's even more key than he normally would be this week. KeeSean Johnson is pretty fast and will occasionally get a deep shot but he'll mostly be out there as as a body along with Pharoh Cooper. 

Peyton Barber will mix in here and there to keep McCartney fresh and we'll try to keep a balanced offense so Lancaster doesn't get blitz happy, given the issues at WR McCartney will play 90% of the snaps but that won't be exclusively at RB so expect Barber to see more work as a RB along our 3rd RB. We'll use more 2 TE sets as well to help in the running game and rest our WRs on occasion. 

With Njoku out due to a wrist injury we'll be using our TEs/RBs more often as well as Dissly who has proven to be a functional pass catching TE and a good redzone target, thus Dissly+McCartney will get more looks. With Ramsey out again this week along with some issues in the secondary Lancaster looks to be perfect for some big plays this week which we hope to execute when possible. 

No denying Lancaster has a solid defense with some of the best defenders in BDL and some former Portland studs in T.J watt, but we feel our O-line is up to the task and should be able to win their match-ups in the running game and pass blocking. As mentioned earlier Mahomes will adjust protection as needed and we will make sure T.J Watt/Bosa are given the extra attention they deserve and will be given the appropriate attention whether that's via guard help, a RB/TE chip or them helping to block. 

The Running Game: 

McCartney will of course be receiving the majority of the carries but to keep him fresh expect an 55:45-ish split so he can work more as a WR, obviously Barber and company will mix in to run the ball. 

The Blocking Unit: 

We'll execute blocking assignments as necessary, while our o-line has a tough task this week we are confident in their ability to block. In a pinch Ben Jones will plays C/G, Beachum plays OT etc. 

TDLR; 

Control the LOS, Win against DBs, make plays, no penalties, long drives, execute our assignments, finish in the redzone, score points, capitalize on turnovers etc. 

Portland Defensive Gameplan: Cover 1 man, Cover 3 zone with the focus of keeping Lancaster's passing game in check. Dominate the LOS and control the game from there, we expect our d-line to win and get after Rivers who is more or less a statue at this point. 

Formations:  4-3 [Base Defense] / 4-2-5 [Nickel] along with other various formations that depend on down&distance&situation| Scheme: 40% man to 60% Zone coverage, Cover 1, Cover 3, Cover 2 etc. 

Pass Coverag

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by SirA1

[SirA1]

@SwoleXmad Please post the rest of your defensive gameplan in the thread. It got cutoff and wasn't on the other PM I got either.

[rackcs]

Gonna be tough to win this one. Portland is running their whole offense through McCartney and I didn't account for him at all!

[Xmad]

55 minutes ago, SirA1 said:

@SwoleXmad Please post the rest of your defensive gameplan in the thread. It got cutoff and wasn't on the other PM I got either.

Will do. Don't know what happened to the PMs but I sent you the full thing last night, will send when I get access to my pc. 

Also Christian McCartney wtf spellcheck. I put my game plan through a spellcheck on word but thats never happened before. 

[Xmad]

For some reason my gameplan cut off in PMs, here's the full thing I don't know where the McCartney came from cause that was not on the version I sent to SirA/the restored version from the PM. No edits because that would be scummy and I don't need to cheat to win. 

 

Motivation: It's week 5 of the BDL season and we're coming off back to back close losses against some tough teams, we look to right the ship this week by taking on a Lancaster team that has clawed it's way back into being a decent team. Also winning cause 2-3 would be a bad start to the year.

Portland Offensive Gameplan: Attack Lancaster's back seven, run the ball to keep the offense balanced and to keep Lancaster's defense from blitzing, focus on getting our WRs in single coverage and in favorable situations as well as sceheme ways to get them open, use McCaffrey as the engine of our offense and use him more often to offset our issues at WR, Use Barber more as a runner so McCaffrey can line up outwide, use Dissly in the redzone, keep Lancaster off the field by converting on 3rd down and sustaining long drives. More or less this boils down to a run heavy offense that will utlizie our RBs/TEs more to supplement a banged up WR corps. 

Formations: Shotgun, I-Form, 3 wide, 4 wide, 2 TE, 3 TE etc. We'll use a variety of formations. | Scheme:  Pass 50% to run 50%

The Passing Game: 

Patrick Mahomes will be given full command to make audibles along with making adjustments as required to effectively use our players to the best of their talents, as well as adjust protection if it is required. Now let's talk about the key matchups and plan of attack, Marvin Jones takes over as the no.1 WR with Ross out along with Adams being out. He'll obviously be the main WR in this game given he is our best and most healthy WR, he'll command 10+ targets at least despite going up against Alexander who has proven to be quite decent, we'll try and get take a few deep shots to Jones given his ability to make circus catches as well as use him in the slot on occasion. Mike Williams will be our no.2 WR and he will command lots of looks in the redzone along with getting at least 8+ targets. Now let's talk about who our no.3 most targeted player will be, McCaffrey and honestly he could lead us in targets if Lancaster gives us the oppurtunity to with injuries to our WRs and the forced use of scrubs at the 3rd and 4th WR position we're forced into giving McCaffrey more passing game work along with lining him out wide (if he does line up out wide it will be replacing a WR and we'll have Freeman/Barber in as the RB) he's even more key than he normally would be this week. KeeSean Johnson is pretty fast and will occasionally get a deep shot but he'll mostly be out there as as a body along with Pharoh Cooper. 

Peyton Barber will mix in here and there to keep McCaffrey fresh and we'll try to keep a balanced offense so Lancaster doesn't get blitz happy, given the issues at WR McCaffrey will play 90% of the snaps but that won't be exculusively at RB so expect Barber to see more work as a RB along our 3rd RB. We'll use more 2 TE sets as well to help in the running game and rest our WRs on occasion. 

With Njoku out due to a wrist injury we'll be using our TEs/RBs more often as well as Dissly who has proven to be a functional pass catching TE and a good redzone target, thus Dissly+McCaffrey will get more looks. With Ramsey out again this week along with some issues in the secondary Lancaster looks to be perfect for some big plays this week which we hope to execute when possible. 

No denying Lancaster has a solid defense with some of the best defenders in BDL and some former Portland studs in T.J watt, but we feel our O-line is up to the task and should be able to win their matchups in the running game and pass blocking. As mentioned earlier Mahomes will adjust protection as needed and we will make sure T.J Watt/Bosa are given the extra attention they deserve and will be given the approiate attention whether that's via guard help, a RB/TE chip or them helping to block. 

The Running Game: 

McCaffrey will of course be receiving the majority of the carries but to keep him fresh expect an 55:45-ish split so he can work more as a WR, obviously Barber and company will mix in to run the ball. 

The Blocking Unit: 

We'll execute blocking assignments as necesary, while our o-line has a tough task this week we are confident in their ability to block. In a pinch Ben Jones will plays C/G, Beachum plays OT etc. 

TDLR; 

Control the LOS, Win against DBs, make plays, no penalties, long drives, execute our assigments, finish in the redzone, score points, capitalize on turnovers etc. 

Portland Defensive Gameplan: Cover 1 man, Cover 3 zone with the focus of keeping Lancaster's passing game in check. Dominate the LOS and control the game from there, we expect our d-line to win and get after Rivers who is more or less a statue at this point. 

Formations:  4-3 [Base Defense] / 4-2-5 [Nickel] along with other various formations that depend on down&distance&situation| Scheme: 40% man to 60% Zone coverage, Cover 1, Cover 3, Cover 2 etc. 

Pass Coverage: 

Our defense while not at full strength with Short out is still very talented and should allow us to keep Lancaster's weapons from being too damaging, we'll mostly be playing zone simiairly to the last few weeks along with mixing in some man. 

Desmond Trufant will line up on the left side of the field in zone, he'll cover Evans in man coverage and will occasionally cover the slot if Evans is used there, Logan Ryan will man the right side in zone and will cover Odell in man. We feel confident Trufant can keep Evans in check but even if we stop one weapon Lancaster has a lot of ways they can beat us so we won't overcommit to defending one aspect of their offense, we still expect them to make plays because of their offensive personell but we will hold up in the redzone. Eli Apple will man the 3rd CB spot and the slot again this week, Alexander is out again this week so Facyson will man the 4th CB slot and come in for Brown in dime packages. Reshad Jones is returning this week and will man his usual FS spot and will make adjustments to the coverage if need be, he'll fill whatever role the coverage asks him to and if he can't suit up Marcus Maye will take his spot expect him to be very important given how good of a safety he is. Malcolm Jenkins will be tasked with being the SS who plays whatever role is alotted to him depending on the coverage, Jenkins will also occasionally cover Kamara in obvious passing situations. 

There is no denying Lancaster has some very talented RBs and a good o-line we feel our pass rush can still get after Rivers, I expect they'll use Kamara as the main RB with Carson mixing in as their main runner. Pretty sure Lancaster will go pass heavy this week because of the injuries in previous weeks to our secondary so they'll attempt to capitalize on that so we'll be ready. Lancaster's TEs aren't much fo a cocnern given they're pretty blegh in terms of pass catching ability and while Shephard is a decent 3rd WR Snead a no.4 WR is hot garbage. 

In dime packages Blake Martinez remains on the field, he will also be the defensive signal caller for this game and make adjustments if needed, we'll also use more run defense heavy packages when possible to help defend against Lancaster.

Front Seven/Run Defense: 

This is where we hope to change the outcome of the game, this game depends on winning at the LOS and controlling the trenches on both sides of the ball here. We trust our front seven to be able to handle their RBs in the running game, it sucks we some key defenders to IR on the interior but Linval Joeseph adds some reinforcements to help Pierce and our d-line to handle the run game.  There are some tweaks to the d-line this week with Clay Matthews drawing the start because he's a better run defender than Ford at this point (also has more sacks) but Ford will still rotate in on 3rd downs and obvious passing situations. We will be able to handle Gotham's o-line, as well as free up our LBs to make the plays they need to with the changes to the d-line this week. 

Their RBs are pretty talented and honestly Kamara might be as good a receiver as McCaffrey but that doesn't change the fact he's not a workhorse and never will be, Javon Brown draws the start at WLB and has quickly proven himself to be one of the Titan's best young LBs, we'll get after the QB as well but we won't be blitzing often but we will play disciplined football and stay in our lanes. We'll rotate our DL+LBs+DBs etc as necesary to keep them fresh and change personell for coverages/schemes/situations as needed. 

The Pass Rush: 

Rivers is as expierenced as they come and won't have any difficulty reading our defense but there's one thing he won't expect and I won't give it away here but it should be obvious to those who have been reading.  I expect our edge rushers will be able to get some pass rush going against Lancaster's o-line, Vic Beasly will be used as a blitzing LB on occasion and will rotate in with Mercilus+Ford+Matthews on occasion as well to keep them fresh. 

TDLR; Play good defense, control the LOS, dominate the running lanes, force turnovers, get after the QB, don't blitz often, contain Lancaster and the running game, play smart football, mind the down&distance etc. 
 

[VigilantZombie]

A couple things stand out here.

Because of some 'controversy' Devonta Freeman isnt even on Portlands team.

Clay Matthew's is inactive.

[VigilantZombie]

I like Lancaster in a shootout.

35-28 Lancaster 

[Xmad]

3 hours ago, wwhickok said:

A couple things stand out here.

Because of some 'controversy' Devonta Freeman isnt even on Portlands team.

Clay Matthew's is inactive.

This is true.

Nah he starts this week, he played thursday after all. 

[VigilantZombie]

58 minutes ago, SwoleXmad said:

This is true.

Nah he starts this week, he played thursday after all. 

Oh, is thursday when the injury happened? I didnt base my vote on him cuz its next man up.

[Whicker]

Yes Matthews was injured on Thursday and should be considered fully active this week 

[VigilantZombie]

1 hour ago, Whicker said:

Yes Matthews was injured on Thursday and should be considered fully active this week 

I considered His backup however, his backup imo might actually be better than him

[PR]

Rivers gets clobbered on medium and long throws due to Lewans rust but succeeds on the short pass game versus zone. On flipside, Portland's only hope is blanketed by two players all game. Putting more guys in the box to stop the Portland run game makes Lancaster more susceptible to longer throws, but Lancasters secondary locks down Portland's main WRs.

[Whicker]

I’m going Lancaster. 

Portland is just a little too beat up to win this game against a very strong opponent that planned well. 

KeeSean Johnson is just not someone I want to see in a BDL starting lineup. He plays in the most WR heavy team, he needed an injury to a guy named Damiere Byrd to see a ton of snaps, and even with that injury he splits snaps with a guy named Trent Sheffield. Any BDL corner is going to win against him IMO. I don’t see Jones or Williams going off although Mahomes will put up some yardage. McCaffrey is well contained and Dissly is a red zone threat only from what I’ve seen. 

I really don’t like the copy/paste job from portland and for the record to all I’m going to penalize people HARSHLY this year if you put the wrong opponent in your plan. If you’re going to be lazy and c/p then AT LEAST take the time to make sure you use a find and replace or something. It’s especially bad when you talk about how bad the opposing O-line is when you’re going against a great one. Also I’m super super not a fan of the “well there’s one thing he won’t expect but I’m not going to give away what it is.” I don’t care how “obvious” you allegedly make it. This isn’t the place to be coy and I don’t understand why you would.