BDL 2020 Week 1 - Gotham Gashslayers @ Cuba Smugglers

[TedLavie]

I will nitpick here and there to get a winner, but that's an excellent matchup between two great teams.

While both DL are excellent run stopping units and probably have the advantage over opposite OLs, the lack of focus on both RBs from the back 7s make me think Cook and Jacobs hit a couple of huge runs. In the end, I like Watson to exploit the space left in the middle of field for Jones and Cook more than I like Carson to make the consistent correct reads and throws to carry out Gotham plan against zone D.

24-21 Cuba

[Jlash]

On 9/15/2020 at 11:02 AM, wwhickok said:

Carson Wentz struggles to get passed his first read and too often stares down his receivers

He gets through his reads fine, he just can't decide when enough is enough and get rid of the ball. At least 3 of those 8 sacks were his fault Sunday. When he wasn't getting pressured, his accuracy declined pretty greatly after the first quarter. I don't know if he was woozy from the beating, but he was sailing passes and throwing behind guys far more often than his usual self. 

[VigilantZombie]

2 minutes ago, Jlash said:

He gets through his reads fine, he just can't decide when enough is enough and get rid of the ball. At least 3 of those 8 sacks were his fault Sunday. When he wasn't getting pressured, his accuracy declined pretty greatly after the first quarter. I don't know if he was woozy from the beating, but he was sailing passes and throwing behind guys far more often than his usual self. 

Several times he was just going with his first read and throwing the ball.

he threw 2 into doing exactly that. 

[Jlash]

56 minutes ago, wwhickok said:

Several times he was just going with his first read and throwing the ball.

he threw 2 into doing exactly that. 

Both times his first read was the intended target and he just threw it poorly. 

[Jlash]

Even though Wentz struggled this week, his offensive cast is head and shoulders better and the game plan works too. I like Frogs idea to move Julio around if he's doubled, but with his gameplan and pheltz plan combined he'll be running lots of crossers and such and Pheltz has the personnel to keep those gains from being back breaking. Gotham in the best matchup of the week to me.

[RuskieTitan]

I like Gotham in this one.

[The Orca]

Cuba got the offense rolling early

Cuba 35-28

[Ragnarok]

Everyone in Gotham defensive front is excellent against the run and I think they force Cuba to be one dimensional as DeCastro being out is a big blow.  I also don't trust Marvin and Ian to be effective enough when the other weapons are covered.  I think Gotham will be more effective running the ball to keep them from being one dimensional.

Gotham gets this one in an excellent game by both teams.

[WFLukic]

Two excellent teams and very evenly matched.

I look at Gotham and the only real weaknesses I see from top to bottom are TE and CB. Howard is good but Rhodes and Arnette got smoked this week. The bracketing was smart, though and I think Jones v Rhodes is one which I give the edge to Jones, but not a critical issue. I also do think that Gotham line in the nascar set is nasty and really brings the heat on Watson. He does have escapability and the use of Cook on counters and tosses, as well as in the passing game was clever. Is it enough to offset that DL entirely? I'm not too sure though. For the record  I think it would've been clever to incorporate some option runs for Watson in anticipation of the double coverage outside. 

On the other side of the ball, that Cuba D is pretty nasty. I don't see any weakness and even though Gotham has some really talented skill players, Cuba matches up pretty well. While I don't think Wentz is surgical enough to rip through Cuba, Cuba is demanding a lot of its players and with guys like Hill and Jeudy on the field, a small miscommunication or bust in coverage will mean 6.

Like with all other week 1 matches, I think who runs the ball and controls the clock will be important given there's been a shortened pre-season and I think between Gotham's better offensive line and Jacobs being the better back between the tackles, I have to go with them by a whisker. Put this same match in front of me in Week 9 and maybe it goes the other way.

Anyway, Gotham 19 - 17 Cuba.

 

[rackcs]

I was originally leaning towards Cuba but I kind of talked myself into going Gotham. I really think Watson is going to have plenty of success against the Gotham CBs even with the extra help they're getting. However the extra attention is going to limit his effectiveness. At the same time I agree that Dalvin Cook is going to struggle a bit going against that front 7 and with DeCastro out. So while I think this will be a close one, I think due to some small injury unfortunateness and a good game plan from Gotham, Cuba doesn't have quite enough offensive success.