BDL 2017 Week 2: Louisiana Jazz @ Long Beach Leprechauns

[Whicker]

Vote for who you think would win the game.

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Players that have a (D) next to their name indicate that they are doubtful or unlikely to play. Players with (GTD) are game-time decisions

[Whicker]

Louisiana Jazz

Offense:

QB: Tom Brady
RB1: Ezekiel Elliott
WR1: Jordy Nelson
WR2: Michael Thomas
WR3: Emmanuel Sanders
Slot WR: Doug Baldwin
LT: Laremy Tunsil
LG: Josh Sitton
C: Travis Frederick
RG: Trai Turner
RT: Menelik Watson

QB2: Dak Prescott
RB2: BilalPowell
RB3: Darren Sproles
WR5: Torrey Smith
TE1: Zach Ertz
TE2: Eric Ebron
OL6: Cody Whitehair
OL7: Joe Barksdale

Defense:

DE: Brian Orakpo
NT: Damon Harrison
DT: Jurrell Casey
DE: Cameron Wake
LB: Jamie Collins
LB: Lawrence Timmons
CB: Chris Harris Jr
CB: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
CB: Logan Ryan
S: Reshad Jones
S: Eric Weddle

DT3: Chris Jones
DT4: Tyrone Crawford
DE3: Alvin Dupree
DE4: Jabaal Sheard
LB3: Todd Davis
CB4: Davon House
CB5: Nolan Carroll
S3: Jimmie Ward

 

 

Long Beach Leprechauns

Offense:

QB- Aaron Rodgers

RB- Christian McCaffrey

WR- DeAndre Hopkins

WR- Marvin Jones

WR- Cooper Kupp

TE- George Kittle

LT- Russell Okung

LG- Joe Thuney

C- Max Unger

RG- Andrew Norwell

RT- Chaz Green

 

RB- Mark Ingram

RB- Jamaal Williams

TE- Dwayne Allen

WR- Adam Humphries

WR- Sammie Coates

OL- Ty Nsekhe

OL- Quinton Spain

OL- Hal Vaitai

 

Defense:

LE- Cam Jordan

NT- DJ Reader

UT- Javon Hargrave

RE- Cliff Avril

SLB- Clay Matthews

MLB- Joe Schobert

WLB- Jarrad Davis

CB- Trumaine Johnson

CB- Bradley Roby

FS- Darian Thompson

SS- Landon Collins

 

DE- Trey Flowers

DT- Abry Jones

DT- Jaye Howard

LB- DeVandre Campbell

LB Avery Williamson

CB- Artie Burns

S/NB- Budda Baker

S/CB- Kareem Jackson

[Whicker]

Louisiana Jazz

Offense:

The offensive gameplan is pretty straightforward here against Long Beach. Run the ball and often. The strength of our interior OL, combined with the weakness of their defensive interior makes it an easy option. Elliott will see the bulk of the work and hopefully as many as 30 carries, with Powell getting a few to keep Elliott fresh.

We’ve opted with the 4 wide set as opposed to the 3 WR 1 TE package for a few reasons. Firstly, it spreads out the field and ensures that we’ll be getting limited stacked boxes, which as a result will allow the strength of our interior to shine through against a defensive front which is not designed to stop the run at all. Secondly we’d much rather take our chances against a thin cornerback group with a quartet of top 25 receivers than throw towards Landon Collins, because although we like Ertz & Ebron at TE a lot, it’ll be productive looking wide. Lastly, this will let us take advantage of play action as the back 7 will cheat forward to try and clamp down on the run, giving Thomas and Nelson plenty of opportunities in 1 on 1 situations to find the deep ball and Sanders + Baldwin can have success with slants, crossing and hitches.

Defense:

Not a great deal to say here, but we might on occasion go a bit lighter on the defensive front and sacrifice a player on the DL for an extra safety or linebacker, simply because we aren’t too concerned with running threat from Long Beach but have to be mindful of pass catchers out of the backfield and also Rodgers hitting deep strikes as that is their best hope of scoring against us. For this reason Weddle will largely patrol deep, while we’ll look to double Hopkins on the most likely passing downs. Beyond this, we don’t have too much to add apart from targeting what could be a weak tackle pairing if Bulaga is out again and simply trying to cover as well as possible. Rodgers throughout his career has been largely effective when being sent a lot of pressure as he is evasive and able to take advantage of space in the secondary, but if we’re tight in our coverage and drop men back we should be able to limit the damage.

 

 

Long Beach Leprechauns

Keys on Offense:

We are looking to bounce back from an 0-1 start. Aaron Rodgers is prepared to have a big game at home and bring the wrath of the Leprechauns with him!

The keys for the Leprechauns offense for week two are to spread it out and ball control.

Pass Game Spreading it Out:

Skill Player Matchups:

Our base offense this week will be a three wide set with one back and one tight end. We will utilize some four receiver sets with a back in the back field as well as some empty back sets with McCaffrey splitting out. Our passing attack is a balanced passing attack that will take advantage of man coverage utilizing matchup nightmares. Against zone we will attack multiple levels of the defense using multiple weapons all over the field and stacking routes creating options at every level of the field in spots of the open zones. We will be looking to attack all over the field and will adjust accordingly but we see a nice area to attack in the middle of the field and will gameplan towards that. Louisiana has some weaknesses at the corner position. Chris Harris Jr is a stud but he can be beat like he was by Keenan Allen last week. DRC and Vontae Davis are not the players they used to be. Rodgers will bully this group with matchups across the board with DeAndre Hopkins, Marvin Jones, Cooper Kupp, and Adam Humphries. We will once again split McCaffrey out wide and in the slot as not a single linebacker or safety for the Jazz can cover him (Timmons is old and slow, Collins can’t do it he free lances and doesn’t have the discipline, Jones can’t matchup one on one, and Weddle doesn’t have the juice anymore). If they put a corner on him it opens up more matchups for Rodgers to exploit. If Chris Harris shadows Hopkins, Hopkins will line up outside forcing DRC, Davis or Logan Ryan to lineup in the slot. This will give me matchup advantages all day in the slot with Kupp, Humphries, and McCaffrey as none of those three are successful nickel corners. This makes the middle of the field the likely buffet zone for Rodgers where he will feast all day long. If Chris Harris stays outside and/or plays on one side of the field we will utilize Hopkins in the slot as well to satisfy Rodger’s appetite. If they starts crunching down on the middle we will utilize digs or posts from our outside receivers, while sending slot guys on outs and arrows underneath those posts to attack the sidelines reopening up the sweet sweet middle of Louisiana's pie. George Kittle gets the start at tight end this week. His athleticism will come in handy in attacking those short zones and beating coverage. Kittle will also play as an Hback in some four wide sets providing a blocker for Rodgers in the backfield but will line up on the line in most sets and provide extra protection for our tackles on many pass plays.

Oline on Passing Downs:

We still likely are without Bulaga this week so we will look to Chaz Green to play right tackle. Chaz currently starts at LG for Dallas but has plenty of game experience playing both tackle spots as he was Tyron’s backup and was effective when playing. Chaz is long at 6’5 and 315 pounds and has the athleticism to hold up in pass pro. Hal Vaitai the Eagles swing tackle will be his backup. Okung gets the start at LT again this week and will be backed up by Ty Nsekhe. Okung held his own pretty well against the Broncos pass rush last week. George Kittle will often provide a chip or stand in protection on the side where Cam Wake lines up. I trust either tackle to matchup against a slowing down Orakpo. The interior of the Louisiana Dline is not a huge threat against my interior oline. Unger is one of the best centers in the game and Thuney is an athletic Guard that can move with Chris Jones or Casey and neutralize their athleticism. Norwell has the power to hold up against Harrison with Unger. If Thuney or Norwell can handle Chris Jones or Casey effectively Unger will slide over for extra protection for whichever guard is matching up with Harrison and vice versa against four pass rushers. If Casey does play he will be slowed down by his back injury that he missed practices for this week. The ability for my oline to hold up in the interior in the passing game will allow Rodgers to step up in the pocket and attack the middle of the defense. I expect to see Collins or Timmons come on some blitzes and they will be picked up in the middle and if they vacate from the middle that opens up my attacking zone even more. Ingram will be used some as a pass blocker in the back field to add extra protection for Rodgers is the pressure is starting to mount up in some four wide sets with McCaffrey out wide or three wide sets with Kittle at tight end.

Running Game Ball Control:

Skill Players:

We will be using McCaffrey and Ingram heavily in a zone running offense. Being that there will usually not be a fullback we are attempting to spread out the Jazz defense but still play ball control. There will be a lot of off tackle runs as the presence of Harrison on their dline will clog up some running lanes in the middle and we are well aware of that. We want to make the middle of the Jazz Dline obsolete. We will also features counters and zone stretch utilizing McCaffrey’s patience and ability to stick his foot in the ground and get up field. Draws will be effective to run off tackle against two upfield attacking ends in Orakpo and Wake. These plays will be set up by the passing game and will allow Wake and Orakpo to run themselves out of the running game in pursuit of Rodgers. The play action pass plays will be set up off of this and the lack of discipline of Jamie Collins will be feasted upon utilizing these draws and play action passes. The outside run plays also featuring tosses, will also help clear the middle of the field on passing plays as the defense widens out to stop these outside runs. All three of my starting receivers are good blockers and Kittle is a road grader in the run game from the tight end position. I believe our down field blocking will allow for sustained runs and longer gains from my backs. I want to utilize the run to tire out the defense making them chase down plays and hopefully controlling the clock. Rodgers also can make plays with his legs which creates an extra element for our run offense, something the Jazz don't have with Brady.

Oline on Running Downs:

The oline will be running a zone blocking scheme. I have the athletes on the line to be able to run this scheme to great success. Utilizing the athleticism helps us matchup with the power of the inside tackles for the Jazz as matching up with a power scheme would play to their strengths inside. The zone benefits us by attacking the over pursuit of Orakpo and Wake and creating cutback lanes. Getting Kittle out on the backers will help spring big runs. We have the athleticism to cut down the Jazz Dline and move onto the backers with our lineman as well. The lines ability is key to the ball control offense we are looking to run. 

Defense: Our keys this week on defense are to Seek and Destroy and Pressure from Everywhere. Bring the pain on every down and bring so much heat Tom won’t know if it’s coming from the cotton candy man, the tunnel, or the parking lot.

Run Defense Seek and Destroy:

Front 7:

An improved change to help attack the Jazz running game is the insertion of two run stoppers in the starting lineup. Zeke may be the best running back in football and he runs behind a very solid interior line. We have designed our run defense this week to try and force runs outside by bringing extra pressure from the middle and forcing plays outside where we believe we have the speed to negate big games. One might think why would you want to force plays outside? The strength of the Jazz running game is up the middle and if we can get plays going outside we have the defensive speed to beat blockers to and ball carriers to the edge. With the injury to Tuitt we have plugged in DJ Reader at nose tackle to bring a titanium wall in the middle of our D. Reader had an amazing game thursday night and showed he was a tackling force from the Nose tackle Spot. With him in a 4-3 he will be freed up even more to make plays. With this move we are moving Hargrave to Under Tackle in our Base 4-3 Under. We believe Hargrave can penetrate from this position and be a force in the run game. With the big presence and the push inside we are hoping to stop Zeke in his tracks but if he is forced to bounce plays outside we have the speed to stop plays before they get going. Cam Jordan once again will be playing the jumbo end and will be a force on the dline and can handle Barksdale in the run game freeing himself to make many plays down the line of scrimmage. Cliff Avril brings his upfield ability and chasing down and tracking play to the right side and his quickness will give Tunsil trouble as he should be very active in chasing down ball carriers. The other change is we are promoting Joe Schobert to Middle Linebacker. Schobert had a great game last week tracking down Bell and being a force in the middle of the defense for the Browns. We believe he is more of a force against the run in the middle and for our defense he will be great in attacking running lanes downhill and from sideline to sideline. Jarrad Davis moves over to weakside linebacker. In Davis’ debut he recorded nine solo tackles. Playing weakside will allow Davis to free flow to the ball and play attack and chase. His athleticism on the outside fits perfectly for our gameplan against the Jazz running game. Clay Matthews plays like a savage attacking ball carriers and will once again be playing on the strong side. We will be bringing pressure through the middle of the D attacking the strength of the offense's running game forcing plays to our speed and outside where I feel we have an advantage.

Secondary:

With the three receivers the Jazz have being good players I expect to be in nickel often. Budda will be playing a lot of nickel and will be key in tracking down ball carriers and covering backs. We still want to force runs outside as the goal of Jazz would likely be in nickel situations to run the ball right at us. If we can funnel runs to our speed we should be able to contain the run game. Where we can get speed on speed and neutralize the power inside of Louisiana. So our DB’s become key in stopping the run. I believe we have the DB’s to do this. I trust Roby and Trumaine in the run game as both like to be physical players and can beat blocks to come up and make plays. Landon Collins running the alley provides an extra linebacker with extreme athleticism to chase down those plays. Darian Thompson is a reliable back end defender who will be depended on if any runs break through the first two levels. I plan on attacking early and often with Budda and Collins on blitzes against the run to stop plays in the backfield and hit Zeke as much as possible.

Pass Defense Pressure from Everywhere:

The Front 7: 

 The Front 7 will be responsible for getting after the QB and some underneath coverage from the backers. We will be bringing a lot of heat this game from the SLB spot lead by Clay Matthews in base 4-3. On nickel and clear passing downs we will move Hargrave to NT where he can get penetration and we won’t be sacrificing anything in the run game if they decide to run out of spread formations. In Nickel formations we will be moving Cam Jordan to under tackle where his speed and athleticism will allow him to make plays inside. Clay Matthews will move to RE eliminating the SLB spot as we bring in Budda to play a rover position, and Avril will be at LE. We will use a rotation with Trey Flowers at end as well. Davis will move to MLB and provide pressure on some plays as well as Budda from the nickel and Collins from the SS spot. We will be putting a lot of pressure on the young Tunsil and average Barksdale to protect Brady. We will dial up exotic blitzes and stunts to get after Tommy and will show that his age has finally caught up to him.

The Secondary:

We will be playing more man in this game as Brady can carve up zone pretty well. On paper it may look like we are outmatched in the secondary but with the man and zone from the safeties we will be okay. Trumaine will matchup with Jordy all game long. On three wide sets and on clear passing downs Budda will play in the slot as the weakside linebacker/Safety/Nickel on the boundary side with Roby in the slot on the field side and Artie Burns or Kareem Jackson outside. Leaving Davis the only LBer on the field however walking Landon down some to play a hybrid LB/S role to provide run support. On four wide sets we will run man with Trumaine, Bradley, Budda, and Artie on the receivers. Davis will man the RB and we will have a cover two shell over top with Landon and Darian but always have options for Landon to sometimes double a receiver in a clearly bad matchup situation, play robber underneath, or blitz. Landon will sometimes man Budda’s man responsibilities especially if it’s three wide and its Ertz in at TE, allowing Budda to play robber, double another receiver or blitz. Budda and Landon’s responsibilities are very interchangeable in this pass defense. Our goal though is to free up Landon as our chess piece to move around and cover any weaknesses on the defense. Landon has the skill set to play multiple positions and is the pit bull of the defense always on the attack. It is Landon’s job to ruin Brady’s day as a robber, blitzer, deep pass disrupter, or extra coverage on Brady’s favorite matchup.

I am looking forward to people’s thoughts on the outcome of this matchup.

[Scoundrel]

Timmons was so afraid of this matchup he didn't even show up...

[Jlash]

Hahaha holy hell Counselor when you posted about how crazy long your game plan was, I had no idea it was going to be this much!

[Scoundrel]

40 minutes ago, Jlash said:

Hahaha holy hell Counselor when you posted about how crazy long your game plan was, I had no idea it was going to be this much!

Yeah, and as it goes I'll learn how to condense it more (although I said it last week and it got longer haha). I just feel like you invited me to this league and you guys all welcomed me I want to give it my all and not half butt it. I want to leave it all on the field or in the gameplan in this case and if I lose at least I can know I tried my best to do my part for the Long Beach Leprechauns! Haha I also really enjoy the gameplan process. 

[DingoLadd]

I see Long beach losing the battle in the trenches and with a weak running game, I don't they'll be able to kill the clock later in the game and that allows Brady to get a late TD for the win.

[Taylor091]

Louisiana 42 – 31 Long Beach

70F, Light Wind

Scoring Summary;

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

LOU        12:53    TD          Eric Ebron 54 yd. pass from Brady (XP kick)        7-0

LGB        7:45       FG           FG 28 yds.           7-3

LOU        4:43       TD          Michael Thomas 23 yd. pass from Brady (XP kick)           14-3

2nd Quarter

LGB        12:56    TD          Mark Ingram 1 yd. pass from Rodgers (XP kick)                14-10

LOU        11:12    TD          Bilal Powell 50 yd. run (XP kick)               21-10

LGB        8:46       TD          Mark Ingram 36 yd. run (XP kick)             21-17

LOU        2:55       TD          Zach Ertz 8 yd. pass from Brady (XP kick)            28-17

LGB        0:11       TD          Mark Ingram 2 yd. pass from Rodgers (XP kick)                28-24

3rd Quarter

LOU        0:40       TD          Zach Ertz 8 yd. pass from Brady (XP kick)            35-24

4th Quarter

LOU        10:07    TD          Bilal Powell 13 yd. run (XP kick)               42-24

LBG        7:31       TD          Christian McCaffrey 13 yd. run (XP kick)               42-31

 

Key Stat Leaders;

Passing;

LOU: Tom Brady – 14/17, 226yds, 4TDs, 0Ints

LGB: Aaron Rodgers – 18/26, 213yds, 2TDs, 0Ints

Rushing;

LOU: Bilal Powell – 12 car, 123yds, 2TDs

LOU: Ezekiel Elliott – 17 car, 103yds

LGB: Mark Ingram – 13 car, 106yds, 1TD

LGB: Christian McCaffrey – 10 car, 36yds, 1TD

Receiving;

LOU: Michael Thomas – 4 recs, 61yds, 1TD

LOU: Eric Ebron – 1 rec, 54yds, 1TD

LGB: Marvin Jones – 2 recs, 47yds

LGB: DeAndre Hopkins – 3 recs, 43yds

[Jlash]

I like Long Beach's idea of using a zone concept to try and make up for injuries and compensate for the talent mismatch. I think the Weezyana defensive line would wear them down pretty quickly though, considering they're a pretty athletic group in their own right. I made sure this was the first game I voted on so I had the will power to read @Counselor's novel about his team. I think it's a lot closer, mainly because of gameplan, than people think but a ball control offense with Tom Brady to take advantage of defense that can't key on him will get a close win.

[TedLavie]

Counselor was on point on two of his strategies: attack the middle of the field in the passing game and run outside with counters and draws in the running game. However, I think their OL is a big issue as I foresee ARod running for his life a lot in this one, and I'm still not convinced about McCaffrey abilities at this level. On the other side, I think LB succeeds in limiting the impact of Louisiana running game, but I see too many mismatches in the passing game for Louisiana and Landon Collins can't cover for them all. In the end, decent fight by LB, but Louisiana prevails 30-20

[Scoundrel]

Did y'all not see Roby shut down Dez? 

Anyways next time you guys are getting slop from me for a game plan lol. 

0-16 or however many games we play here I come haha

Implosion for Rosen

or

Scam for Sam

or

Missing in Action for Jackson

or

Last Placin for Mason

or

OhMyGosh for Josh

[Scoundrel]

Side note a lot of solid QB prospects next year 

[TedLavie]

4 minutes ago, Counselor said:

Did y'all not see Roby shut down Dez? 

Anyways next time you guys are getting slop from me for a game plan lol. 

0-16 or however many games we play here I come haha

Implosion for Rosen

or

Scam for Sam

or

Missing in Action for Jackson

or

Last Placin for Mason

or

OhMyGosh for Josh

you did play two of the best teams in BDL with a tackle out. I wouldn't count you out of the playoff race just yet

[PR]

I like Counselor's game plan a lot. Keep up the hard work. I just don't think he has he personnel personally. He does have Rodgers that is solid on the run, but he's going to be exhausted early in the game from running so much.

[Hockey5djh]

TL;DR Jazz wins.

But seriously....Lines win football games, and Louisiana has the better OL and DL, significantly. When you have to start referencing all the OL packages you're going to use in the game its not good. I also like The Jazz skill players much better than the Leprechauns