Seoul @ Singapore

[Ragnarok]

BDL 2020 Week 1

Match:  Seoul @ Singapore

Away Owner: @TedLavie

Home Owner: @SirA1

   

Vote for who you think would win the game.

Rules:
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One vote per team involved in the match. Co-owners may vote in every match up except their own.

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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

[Ragnarok]

QB Kyler Murray

RB Mark Ingram

WR Courtland Sutton (Q)

WR Tyler Lockett

TE Travis Kelce

TE Austin Hopper

LT Ronnie Stanley

LG Rodger Saffold

C David Andrews

RG Brandon Schreff

RT Russell Okung

 

Bench RB Kenyan Drake

Bench RB Chase Edmonds

Bench RB Joshua Kelley

Bench WR Sterling Shepard

Bench WR Sammy Watkins

Bench WR Russel Gage

Bench TE Gerald Everett

Bench OL Andrus Peat

 

ROLB Bradley Chubb

DE Grady Jarett

NT Brandon Williams

DE Calais Campbell

LOLB Melvin Ingram

SLB Christian Kirksey

MLB Nick Kwiatkowski

WLB Isaiah Simmons

CB Jason McCourty

CB Steven Nelson

FS Marcus Williams

 

Bench Edge Aldon Smith

Bench Edge Ifeadi Odenigbo

Bench Int Maliek Collins

Bench Int DJ Jones

Bench CB Ronald Darby

Bench CB Taron Johnson

Bench S Jacquizki Tartt

Bench S Rodney McLeod

This matchup has decided who won the division for years, you better be sure we’re ready for it

Offense

Deal with Singapore front.Unfortunately for them, Singapore appears to be thin at DE with both Hunter and Quinn out. Chandler Jones, Preston Smith and Aaron Donald still make for a pretty daunting front but after that this DL is filled with role players. To take advantage of that we will do two things: play up-tempo offense so that Singapore defense runs out of gas and multiply running attempts directly toward Donald, who is the main threat of this DL. In terms of protection, both edge rushers will be dealt one-on-one by Stanley and Okung, with an occasional TE chip in case one has a tough time. We trust our guards do be able to contain Donald but if needed, Andrews will come to help and the RB will be in charge of blitz pickup.

Target Singapore LBers and safeties.The weakness of this defense is at its center with its LB corps and safeties, and we want to target that. Depending on the personnel on the field, our offense will repeatedly target a spot or two to move the ball. 

If Singapore goes with an heavy DL (5 linemen), we will use screens (RB and Lockett) and tosses to beat that heavy defense in space. In that scenario, Singapore has one less defender in coverage and we will use that as well to target one-on-one matchups, especially Kelce and Hooper. We will also incorporate a lot of QB run options which should force Singapore edge defenders to contain instead of attack.

If Singapore goes with a 5^thDB, which they did last year when they put Jonathan Jones in coverage for Hooper, then we will go run heavy and use our power advantage to open lanes for our RB (Ingram mostly, Drake will get a fair share of carries too) or for Kyler Murray. If that’s the predominant defense used by Singapore, we will involve a lot more Sammy Watkins who is a really good run blocker instead of Shepard should Sutton be out. We would also use a lot of screens targeting Jones. 

If Singapore goes with 3 LBs, then we open up the passing game towards our TEs and RBs. If that’s the predominant formation then Drake will get more snaps and we will use his receiving skills. Same for Chase Edmonds

Target our WRs deep.Singapore has a good set of corners and we expect them to be left on islands vs our receivers. We will test early Dunbar who has had a distracting offseason, but other than that we will try to move the ball mostly with our TEs and RBs. That being said, we expect Singapore to play cover 1, and we don’t see a great centerfielder on that roster. With Tyler Lockett and Courtland Sutton/Sammy Watkins, we have guys who can run deep routes and go all the way and we will take those deep shots every now and then, especially towards Lockett. That will require additional pass protection and possibly Murray rolling out of the pocket, but we expect to get a big play or two out of this.

The Travis Kelce factor.Our best weapon is Travis Kelce, and as always, he will be heavily involved in the game plan. We will quite often spread him out with an audible to force Singapore to show their hand. If Kelce is double covered, look for us to target the other side of the field with less defenders, either through a running or passing play. If single coverage is Singapore choice, then we will target him heavily. Deion Jones is good but not good enough to stop him

Defense

Please note that the starting formation listed above is planned against a 1RB/1FB/2WR/1TE formation we expect from Singapore.

Stop the run.No matter how many receivers Singapore lines up, we want to have one more defender in the box than the number of blockers from Singapore. So if Singapore goes 3WR, Kirksey subs out for Darby (McCourty would slide in the slot). If Singap goes 4WR, Brandon Williams subs out for Taron Johnson. Singapore has a great set of RBs and we expect them to keep coming throughout the game, so we want to stop them by overpowering them both in the first and second level of the defense. Our edge defenders will be asked to hold their gap first and contain the running backs inside to keep them for getting outside the pocket.

Force Brady to beat us deep.By going heavy, we understand that there will be a lot of pressure on our defensive backs to win their matchups. We will play mostly man coverage with Nelson getting Keenan Allen, McCourty getting Singapore WR2 – or the slot receiver if Singapore goes 3WR, Simmons getting the RB, Kirskey getting the FB and Kwiato getting the TE. If one of them struggles too much, Tartt will sub in for him. In 3WR sets, Darby gets WR2. Our DBs will play press man as we want Brady to have no choice but to beat us deep. With the pass rush coming from inside, that should force Brady to make some errant throws which Marcus Williams will feast on

Rush inside. Singapore has a good set of tackles and McCoy is great center. Their guards however are not as good. We expect a lot of one-on-one matchups for Jarrett and Calais and we want them be in attack mode throughout the game. Maliek Collins is the main rotational guy as it will be important for all those guys to stay fresh. We won’t do anything fancy here, just look for 1vs1 matchups and exploit them. If Singapore keeps additional bodies in pass protection, one of our LBs will either blitz or drop back in middle zone. Expect us to rotate heavily Collins and Aldon Smith, which Campbell sliding on the edge of the DL is needed. DJ jones is Brandon Williams backup and Odenigbo will see the field on run heavy situation

 

Singapore Sentinels

QB: Tom Brady
RB1: James Conner
WR1: Keenan Allen 
WR2: Anthony Miller
TE1: Darren Waller
TE2: Jason Witten
LT: Duane Brown
LG: Matt Feiler 
😄 Eric McCoy 
RG: Nate Davis
RT: Jack Conklin
--------------------
RB2: Kareem Hunt
RB3: Chris Carson 
RB4: CEH
TE3: Darren Fells 
WR3: Cole Beasley
WR4: Lavishka Shenault Jr.
WR5: Mecole Hardman  
OL6: Bradley Bozeman

DE: Chandler Jones
DT: Aaron Donald 
NT: David Onyemata
DE: Preston Smith
MLB: Deion Jones
WLB: K.J. Wright
CB: Kyle Fuller
CB:  Quinton Dunbar
NCB: Desmond King II 
S: John Johnson III
S: Tracy Walker III
--------------------
DE3: Ryan Anderson  
DE4: Ben Banogu
DL3: Matt Ioannidis
DL4: Bilal Nichols
LB3: Kevin Pierre-Louis
CB4: Holton Hill
CB5: K’Waun Williams 
S3: Jonathan Jones

Motivation - We don’t really need motivation to play the Dragons, our greatest  rival, but defending the division title is as good a reason as any. Welcome back Tom Brady, it’s time to get back to work.

Offensive Strategy
Formations:  2 TE / Bunch formation trips 
Scheme:  Pass (50%) vs Run (50%)

Rushing
Position Depth:  James Conner / Kareem Hunt / Chris Carson

Our goal this week is to use our tailbacks to develop a stable vertical passing game.  To achieve this, we’ll be utilizing two TE and bunch formations to get more blockers near the line of scrimmage to assist in second level blocking off the edge.  We feel that increasing our rushing attempts in this game, specifically off tackle; will force Seoul  to reduce the number of times they bring the blitz off the edge (Bradley Chubb / Melvin Ingram). Brady is a master of play action and our backs have to be respected by the Dragon defense as a serious threat to take over the game if given time to get into rhythm.

Relying on a heavier run game this week James Conner will get the bulk of the carries and get spelled by Carson. Kareem Hunt will be the 3rd down back and  is an awesome weapon for Brady out of the backfield and is a threat to take it to the house on any play.

Passing
Using 2 TE sets as our primary formation this week, allowing option routes designed to find space in zone coverage.  We feel this is a great scheme to combat the Seoul defense when in zone and pre snap movement will indicate man coverage.  We favor the matchups against a secondary that Brady shouldn’t have any issues moving the chains, by employing a quick passing game that includes our backs on swing and flat routes.  While our receiving core of Keenan Allen/WR, Anthony Miller/Slot, Darren Waller/TE and Jason Witten/TE flood the field with a variety of routes (slants, crossing, dig and fly primarily).  

Eventually, we want Tom Brady airing it out against a secondary that we feel favors us and we believe combining a heavier rushing game (50/50), running both pass and rush from identical formations, option routes to find space in zone coverage, utilizing play action to freeze the linebackers ultimately gives Brady and company the edge.

Defensive Strategy
Formation:  4-2-5 Defense | 3-3-5 / 3-2-6
Scheme:  Cover 3 

Pass Defense
Our focus this week is stopping the passing game, we respect Seoul’s running game but we know that the real strength of this team lies within their quality at receiver.  This unit has several solid receivers in Lockett, Watkins and Sutton as well as threats at tight end in Kelce and Hooper.  However, we are confident that our secondary is up to the task of preventing this passing game from developing this week.   

Our main defensive formation will consist of the 4-2-5 (Nickel). In my opinion, this formation is putting our best 11 on the field thus giving our defense the best chance to dismantle their passing game.   This formation also provides our defense more flexibility in blitz packages getting safety, inside backers and even the inside corner at times involved against a pretty good offensive line in tackles Stanley and rookie Andrew Thomas.

Our LBs match up well against the Dragons TE’s but with the nickel base look, King will cover Hooper and Wright will have the running back out of the backfield. Tracy Walker gets deep coverage while John Johnson continues to play his normal “robber” role in the middle.

Coverage Assignments:
·         Lockett / Kyle Fuller - CB
·         Shepard / Quinton Dunbar - CB
·         Kelce / Deion Jones - LB
·         Hooper / Desmond King II - CB/S
·         Drake/Ingram / K.J. Wright-LB

The Blitz
Our D-Line will continue its dominance with Chandler Jones and Preston Smith crashing the edges and Aaron Donald and Daniel Onyemata stuffing the middle. The defense will be showing different looks bringing blitz packages from secondary and backer positions.  While we’ve got great respect for most of this Seoul offensive line, it does have a few question marks.  So we’ll look to exploit those areas by keeping the pressure for the bulk of the game.  Getting Aaron Donald involved in stunt blitzes and just letting him do what he does best in the 3 tech, by driving the blitz inside while providing box safety support against the rush.  In addition, blitzing off the edge by our defensive ends, we believe will be enough to disrupt things and to put a constant amount of pressure on Kyler Murray. 

The depth off the bench in Anderson and Ioannidis will make sure that Murray has no time and nowhere to run all day.   

[bcb1213]

Seoul pretty easily here. They basically game planned circles around Singapore who planned for zone coverage against Brady and pass heavy and seoul went run heavy against a light front.  In a matchup this close talent wise, I'm going with the better plan 

Seoul 24-20 

[WFLukic]

It's only subtly mentioned, but I think the use of the QB option is crucial here for Seoul to keep Singapore's excellent DL from rushing up. If Murray can get on the outside enough, he should be able to get some nice plays and at the least keep Donald, Jones and co. from getting a ton of pressure. 

I was quietly impressed with Brady this week after watching him - his deep ball was actually really good and drew a number of flags. With that said, I'm not overly enthused by the supporting cast and Seoul has both the dogs and gameplan to really cause a squeeze for Singapore.

Seoul 17-16 Singapore in one of the matches of the round as Murray gets it done with his legs and arm on a final drive for a game winning field goal.

[PR]

Going Seoul. Singapore walked right into what Seoul had planned out in this matchup. 

[Scoundrel]

1 hour ago, bcb1213 said:

Seoul pretty easily here. They basically game planned circles around Singapore who planned for zone coverage against Brady and pass heavy and seoul went run heavy against a light front.  In a matchup this close talent wise, I'm going with the better plan 

Seoul 24-20 

Did you mean Kyler?

[bcb1213]

13 minutes ago, Counselor said:

Did you mean Kyler?

Yes 

[SirA1]

Derek Carr game 2.0 is it.

[Scoundrel]

Seoul for me. While Singapore has some menacing presence on the DLine I like what Kyler and co can do in this one. Running right at Donald likely won’t solve many problems still but I think Kelce is the difference in a very close game with Brady throwing a pick to Marcus Williams as well. This game is probably decided by 3 or less points. 

[VigilantZombie]

4 hours ago, bcb1213 said:

Seoul pretty easily here. They basically game planned circles around Singapore who planned for zone coverage against Brady and pass heavy and seoul went run heavy against a light front.  In a matchup this close talent wise, I'm going with the better plan 

Seoul 24-20 

This actually completely sums up my thoughts

[Jlash]

8 hours ago, WFLukic said:

It's only subtly mentioned, but I think the use of the QB option is crucial here

I thought that was a good idea, too. 

I don't think it's "seoul easily" like I've seen a couple times on here, but I think Sing Sing did no favors starting a dead body like Jason Witten instead of literally any of the other very skilled players they have. Hell I'd like a 2 back starting set over Witten in your base package. And after CEH's debut? Ride the uber-recency bias this league always shows and get him the ball more. Conner hasn't shown anything in 2 years.  I get the heavy set and wanting to run the ball, but at least Darren Fells has proven to be a red zone threat since coming to Houston. 

With Sutton out this week, that hurt Seoul a lot more than people are pointing out IMO. I'm not a fan of Watkins, but I can't blame you if you are. So I think that eliminates some of the pressure on the secondary. 

I do think ultimately Seoul had the better game plan, but this is a 1 pt game to me. Seoul.

[The Orca]

Seoul by an inch

Seoul 17-10

[Ragnarok]

I think if Sing was fully healthy on the DL, this would be closer, but I love the Seoul gameplan and they get the win.

[RuskieTitan]

I'm going with Seoul as I think overall they have the edge, but a small nitpick is discussing what they plan on coming out with and doing on offense based on defensive personnel. If I'm not mistaken, the offense must come out with a personnel before the defense adjusts. If the defense adjusts to the offense, you don't really get to dictate what you want to accomplish.

[SirA1]

1 minute ago, RuskieTitan said:

I'm going with Seoul as I think overall they have the edge, but a small nitpick is discussing what they plan on coming out with and doing on offense based on defensive personnel. If I'm not mistaken, the offense must come out with a personnel before the defense adjusts. If the defense adjusts to the offense, you don't really get to dictate what you want to accomplish.

1000% this.