BDL 2017 Week 2: Gotham Gashslayers @ Camden Hood Rats

[TedLavie]

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 people 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.

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

[TedLavie]

Gotham

 

QB - Matthew Stafford

RB - Derrick Henry

WR - Demaryius Thomas

WR - Jarvis Landry

WR - Chris Conley

TE - Tyler Eifert

LT - Jake Matthews

LG - Matt Slauson

C - Maurkice Pouncey

RG - Shaq Mason

RT - Mitchell Schwartz

 

RB - Jacquizz Rodgers

WR - Breshad Perriman

OL - AJ Cann

OL - Andrus Peat

QB - Carson Wentz

 

DE - J.J Watt

NT - Bennie Logan

DT/DE - Muhammad Wilkerson

DE/OLB - Ziggy Ansah (Q)

ILB - Bernardrick McKinney

ILB - Navorro Bowman

CB - Josh Norman

CB - Xavier Rhodes

CB - Xavien Howard

FS - Eric Reid

SS -  Kam Chancellor

 

EDGE - Leonard Floyd

CB - Demaryius Randall

LB - Reuben Foster

LB - Mason Foster

S - Justin Simmons

DL - Austin Johnson

DL - Vernon Butler

 

Camden

 

QB- Drew Brees

RB- Devonta Freeman

WR- Odell Beckham Jr

WR- Mike Evans

WR- Cole Beasley

TE- Evan Engram

LT- Tyron Smith

LG- Ronald Leary

C- Wesley Johnson

RG- Brandon Fusco

RT- La’El Collins

_____________________

RB- Duke Johnson 

RB- Eddie Lacy

WR-Paul Richardson

WR- Braxton Miller

TE- David Njoku

TE- Virgil Green

OL- T.J. Johnson

OL- Cedric Ogbuehi

 

DE- Chandler Jones

DT- Sheldon Richardson

DT- Akiem Hicks

DE- Yannick Ngakoue

LB- Anthony Barr

LB- Jake Ryan

CB- Aqib Talib

CB- Kevin Johnson

CB- Vernon Hargreaves

S- Kevin Byard

S- Jamal Adams

____________________

DE- Michael Bennett

DE/DT- Solomon Thomas

DE- Preston Smith

DT- Grady Jarrett

LB- Ben Gedeon

LB/S- George Iloka

CB- Marcus Cooper

CB- Chidobe Awuzie

[TedLavie]

Gotham

 

OFFENSE

 

This week we come out in our 3 wide set with the aim of sustaining drives, moving the chains and finishing in the red zone.  We will attack Camden’s weak defense in the middle of the field in the pass game and pounding the rock between the tackles against a thin interior D Line.

 

Derrick Henry and Jacquizz Rodgers will both have significant roles out of the backfield, with each getting 15 - 20 touches both rushing and receiving.  We feel we can take advantage of Camden’s weak linebacking group and break some big plays up the middle.  If Camden loads the box with a safety to compensate, Stafford will audible out and attack 1 on 1s with little or no over the top help in their secondary.

 

Tyler Eifert will be a focal point in the intermediate pass game as Camden doesn’t have a defender with the size/speed combo that can cover him off the line outside of Talib. Expect Eifert to get 10+ targets and particularly in the red zone.  If Talib comes off Thomas and is left in single coverage, Stafford will target him on intermediate and deep routes.  Landry will be used as a possession receiver out of the slot, again hoping to take advantage of single coverage.  We trust Stafford to make good decisions and find the open receiver and continue his hot start.  

 

DEFENSE - 34 Hybrid Nickel

 

On defense we are moving to a nickel base to match up with the Hood Rats 3 wide base.  With a running game that’s not very intimidating, we expect Brees to take to the air often.  I think we can get pressure on him with our front 4, but we will also mix in blitzes from McKinney and Bowman, especially on third downs.

 

With ODB nursing a bum ankle, we turn our attention to Camden’s biggest threat, Mike Evans.  Norman will play him physically off the line in man, with Xavier Rhodes on Beckham (Or his replacement).  We will bracket Evans with Chancellor or Reid over the top on most plays, we want to eliminate him from Camden’s game plan.  Considering Rhodes shut down a healthy Beckham last year, I don’t see him having an impact in his condition.  We’re going to put Xavien Howard in the slot on Beasley and play him physically off the line.  Not even sure how Midget Brees would even see Miniscule Beasley down the field, but he can expect some headhunting if he thinks he can get off the line on slants over the middle.

 

The rest of Camden’s weapons are pedestrian.  I don’t see Freeman getting any traction against my D Line and backers, while Evan Engram is a non event at this point.

 

Camden

 

Offense

This week we take on our old pals Gotham. Literally, old. They boast one of the better defenses in the league, so today's match up will force us to get creative. Here are some ways we'll do that.

Spread/Protect- We're going to spread the field with as many 4 wide, 3 wide/big slot sets as we possibly can. The less people Gotham can jam up close to the LOS the less they can disguise to come after us. Keeping our RB's in the backfield to give Brees a little extra help should aid as well. 

Motion- To expose Gotham's game plan further, we'll be using lots of motion to get an idea of what kind of coverages Pheltz is hiding. 

Variety- To keep Gotham guessing we'll be moving players all over the formation. Aside from the constant motion, guys like Beckham, Evans and Engram will constantly be shifting around the offense so they can't be keyed on. We'll have formations with both Beckham and Evans in the slot with Engram flexed out wide, formations with Beckham and Engram side by side in the slot and even moving them to the backfield from time to time.

Delays/Draws/Screens- With the plan to spread Gotham out, they'll undoubtedly be doing everything they can to get to Brees. They'll try to attack the interior of the OL with blitzes and stunts at times too. We can combat this using Freeman and Duke Johnson's ability on delayed hand offs and screen plays. Our interior isn't very powerful, but they're athletic so we can use this to take advantage of Gotham's aggression. 

 

Defense

Gotham knows we boast a strong pass rush all the way across the defensive line, so I'd imagine he's either going to try to pound the ball to soften us up, or spread the field out and run his quick strike offense. Here's how we plan on negating those.

Mix up zone/man looks- Gotham likes to run a quick strike passing attack to combat pass rushes. That makes sense, it's a common strategy. But this week we'll be switching back and forth between man to man looks on the outside to quarters coverages. This will make Stafford take time after the snap to figure out the coverage, he can't just rely on it being man coverage and throwing a quick slant or something. Now he's got to worry about a linebacker or another CB drifting into his throwing lanes. We'll rotate safeties and our nickel LB on Tyler Eifert as well.

Vary defensive line looks- Our defensive line is deep, and it has multiple players who can move inside and outside, so we'll take advantage of that. Expect to see some passing downs with Chandler Jones lined up next to Michael Bennett, and Yannick Ngakoue on the outside next to Sheldon Richardson. We think the fact we can mix all these players up to rush from different spots keeps them fresh and gives up mismatches all over the line.

Staying home- Gotham tries to spread you out and then rush big boy Henry on a softened front. If Henry is staying, in, we'll know staying disciplined is important to not get burned by Henry. Luckily our defensive line is a very good run stopping unit, so we won't be at that big of a tactical disadvantage when we vary our defensive line looks. 

 

 

[TedLavie]

Once again @PSID412 if you could re-vote for Camden in this one that'd be great. Sorry about that

[pheltzbahr]

I mean Stafford hasn't even played yet this week and you've made up your mind?  Ok.

[Jlash]

6 hours ago, pheltzbahr said:

I mean Stafford hasn't even played yet this week and you've made up your mind?  Ok.

I think he knows Stafford is 3-11 in primetime games.  

[pheltzbahr]

3 hours ago, Jlash said:

I think he knows Stafford is 3-11 in primetime games.  

1-0 this year!

[DingoLadd]

I like gotham's matchups against Camden's weak secondary. Plus there's no way Camden's running the ball.

[Jlash]

6 hours ago, DingoLadd said:

I like gotham's matchups against Camden's weak secondary. Plus there's no way Camden's running the ball.

Anything in particular, or just ALL of them? 

[Taylor091]

Gotham 31 – 16 Camden

75F, No Wind

Scoring Summary;

1st Quarter

GOT       7:02       TD          Jacquizz Rodgers 7 yd. run (XP kick)      7-0

CAM       4:02       TD          Duke Johnson Jr. 46 yd. run (XP kick)     7-7

CAM       1:39       FG           FG 42 yds.           7-10

2nd Quarter

GOT       11:27    TD          Demaryius Thomas 1 yd. pass from Stafford (XP kick)  14-10

CAM       6:30       FG           FG 37 yds.           14-13

GOT       0:22       TD          Jarvis Landry 7 yd. pass from Stafford (XP kick)              21-13

3rd Quarter

CAM       9:17       FG           FG 48 yds.           21-16

GOT       3:11       TD          Demaryius Thomas 8 yd. pass from Stafford (XP kick)  28-16

4th Quarter

GOT       4:07       FG           FG 24 yds.           31-16

 

Key Stat Leaders;

Passing;

GOT: Matthew Stafford – 16/24, 144yds, 3TDs, 1Int

CAM: Drew Brees – 15/26, 183yds, 0TDs, 2Ints

Rushing;

GOT: Jacquizz Rodgers – 23 car, 110yds, 1TD

GOT: Derrick Henry – 18 car, 89yds

CAM: Duke Johnson Jr – 5 car, 50yds, 1TD

CAM: Devonta Freeman – 14 car, 49yds

Receiving;

GOT: Jarvis Landry – 6 recs, 34yds, 1TD

GOT: Demaryious Thomas – 5 recs, 34yds, 2TDs

CAM: Evan Engram - 5 recs, 106yds

CAM: Odell Beckham Jr – 5 recs, 50yds

[Scoundrel]

I'm still debating this game. I really like Gotham's dline and think they could give Camden a lot of trouble. At the same time reading Gotham's play distribution on offense is interesting. The average NFL team runs about 63 plays a game. If Henry and Rodgers were to averag 17 targets/run plays each since you said they would each get between 15-20 targets each so I'll average it at 17 and then Eifert gets 10 plus targets... that leaves you with 19 other playa to other players. I'm not convinced 44 plays going to those three players could win this game for you. 

[TedLavie]

Camden right side of the OL (including C) is pretty brutal and I don't see Brees having much time in the pocket. Camden gameplan may open up a coupke of opportunities here and there, but they won't be able to keep up wit it. I understand the need to keep the RB in the backfield, but I think Freeman and Duke could have been nice weapons for Camden if they were a little bit more involved. On the other side Gotham lacks depth but has a solid OL that will come handy against Camden strong DL. It will be an interesting battle but I like Pheltz strategy to attack Camden LBs and safeties. Gotham cruising to a 27-13 win

[Jlash]

14 minutes ago, TedLavie said:

Camden right side of the OL (including C) is pretty brutal and I don't see Brees having much time in the pocket. Camden gameplan may open up a coupke of opportunities here and there, but they won't be able to keep up wit it. I understand the need to keep the RB in the backfield, but I think Freeman and Duke could have been nice weapons for Camden if they were a little bit more involved. On the other side Gotham lacks depth but has a solid OL that will come handy against Camden strong DL. It will be an interesting battle but I like Pheltz strategy to attack Camden LBs and safeties. Gotham cruising to a 27-13 win

 

I mean, I did have a section about getting them involved in the screen game as well as other delayed plays. But I knew this was a lose/lose section. Because if I didn't mention keeping them in a lot, someone would pop in with "well not keeping a RB to help protect Brees was a big mistake!".

[TedLavie]

Just now, Jlash said:

 

I mean, I did have a section about getting them involved in the screen game as well as other delayed plays. But I knew this was a lose/lose section. Because if I didn't mention keeping them in a lot, someone would pop in with "well not keeping a RB to help protect Brees was a big mistake!".

 

You talked about them in protection, in screens and in delayed runs/draws. Here I meant more as classic receivers out of the backfield in the passing game

[PR]

Solid offenses, solid defenses. This one was hard to choose. To me I believe Camden could hold Gotham's targets in check rather than vice versa.