BDL Week 2 - Seoul Dragons @ Gotham Gashslayers

[Ragnarok]

BDL 2020 Week 2

Match:  Seoul Dragons @ Gotham Gashslayers

Away Owner: @pheltzbahr

Home Owner: @TedLavie

   

Vote for who you think would win the game.

Rules:
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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]

Seoul Dragons

QB Kyler Murray

RB Kenyan Drake

WR Courtland Sutton (Q)

WR Tyler Lockett

WR Sammy Watkins

TE Travis Kelce

LT Ronnie Stanley (Q)

LG Rodger Saffold 

C David Andrews

RG Brandon Schreff

RT Russell Okung

 

Bench RB Chase Edmonds

Bench RB Mark Ingram

Bench RB Joshua Kelley

Bench WR Sterling Shepard

Bench WR Russell Gage

Bench TE Austin Hooper

Bench OL Andrew Thomas

Bench OL Andrus Peat

 

DE Aldon Smith

DT Grady Jarett

NT Brandon Williams

DE Calais Campbell

WLB Christian Kirksey

MLB Anthony Walker Jr.

CB Steven Nelson

CB Ronald Darby

NB Jason McCourty

FS Marcus Williams

S Rodney McLeod

 

Bench Edge Melvin Ingram

Bench Edge Bradley Chubb

Bench Int Maliek Collins

Bench Int DJ Jones

Bench LB Micah Kizer

Bench CB Taron Johnson

Bench CB Levi Wallace

Bench S Jacquizki Tartt

Offense

Some injury notes. Shepard will be in for Sutton if he’s out and if Stanley is out, Okung starts at LT and Thomas comes in at RT.

Open up the passing game.This week we prepared for a heavy passing gameplan since we believe this Gotham defense is better against the run than against the pass. This might vary depending on the outcome of the game, but we expect a 60/40 pass:run ratio.

Key on Minkah.In Minkah, Gotham has an extremely good and versatile weapon. Kyler pre-snap job will be to recognize Minkah assignment and to adjust the playcall depending on that. To do that he will be able to call any audible necessary. If Minkah lines up deep, our primary read will be Kelce underneath. If Minkah lines up in box, then we will target our outside weapons deep – especially whoever is against Rhodes. Simmons is a good player but we like our receivers vs their corners and Simmons can’t help everyone. If Kyler recognize zone coverage, Kelce will again be the primary target. In any case, our slot receiver will be the #2 read as we have a great matchup there, our RB will be our safety valve and Kyler can always take off if nothing is there.

Trust our OL.We believe our OL is better in pass pro than Gotham DL pass rush and we trust our guys to win their matchup. Chris Jones is the main force on this DL and we will often double team him with a guard and our center. One thing we prepared is blitz counter: if Kyler sees a blitzer, his first option becomes taking off and run.

Run where we can.We see two weaknesses in that DL in terms of run defense. The first one is Chris Jones who is extremely aggressive. We want to use that aggressiveness against him by running counters towards his zone. The second is outside JJ Watt. JJ is still an extremely powerful lineman but he doesn’t necessarily have the quickness he used to have so we will test him with tosses and run options with Kyler outside his zone.

Test Gotham depth. Besides interior DL, we don’t love Gotham bench on defense and we will the array of weapons at our disposal to test it. We want to have a fast paced offense and rotate our guys if need be. We will see some 2 TE looks with Hooper, some 2 RB looks, some 4 WR looks and we will use the Pistol offense in some snaps as well. Lockett, Watkins and Shepard (if Sutton can’t play) will alternate between outside and inside positions, Kelce can play in line or outside on any given play, Russell Gage will see some snaps in the slot following his solid showing in week 1 and we will rotate all our RBs to keep them fresh.

Defense

Mix coverages.We do not want to give easy reads to Wentz so we will alternate between Cover 2 zone (35%), Cover 3 (30%), Cover 2 man (20%) and Cover 1 (15%), with McLeod either dropping in middle coverage, blitzing, compensating for a blitz or doubling Jacobs. We think this variety of coverages and the pressure applied by our DL will be enough for force Wentz to make mistakes or take unnecessary sacks.

In man, Kirskey is responsible for Jacobs and Walker for Ebron. Nelson lines up across Hill when he plays outside, Darby taking on Parker/Jeudy and McCourty will play in the slot. Not to state the obvious, but we fear Tyreek so Marcus Williams task will be to help up top Nelson or McCourty on every snap played in man vs the Cheetah. In 4WR sets, Johnson subs in for Walker and in 2TE sets, Kizer subs in for Darby. 

Rotate heavily on DL.By going up tempo on offense, we will see a lot of snaps on defense as well. Given that we will mainly rely on our front 4 to put pressure on Carson, it’s important to keep everyone fresh. DJ Jones and Brandon Williams will see an equal share of snaps at NT. Maliek Collins will play in some obvious passing snaps as well as rotating for Jarrett here and there. Outside Ingram and Aldon will rotate heavily. Chubb will see around 30% of the snaps for Calais. On crucial 3^rdand 5+, our DL will be Aldon-Calais-Grady-Ingram to apply maximum pressure on Wentz. 

We will have a few blitzes here and there, mostly on cover 1 formations, but in general we will use mostly our DL to bring pressure.

 Contain Jacobs. We have great respect for Jacobs and we don’t expect to completely shut him down. Our goal will be to contain him so he doesn’t give an easy out to Gotham passing O. Having fresh guys on the DL all game long will be important of course, but we will also have one LB key on him on every play – either Kirskey when in man or the player responsible for middle zone in zone. On running downs, DJ Jones and Brandon Williams will play together in the middle to clog up inside running lanes, whereas Campbell and Chubb will play outside.

 

GOTHAM GASHSLAYERS

OFFENSE

QB - Carson Wentz

RB - Josh Jacobs

WR - Tyreek Hill

WR - Jarvis Landry

WR - Jerry Jeudy

TE - Eric Ebron

LT - Jake Matthews

LG - Laken Tomlinson

C - Maurkice Pouncey

RG - Shaq Mason

RT - Mike McGlinchey

 

RB - Adrian Peterson

RB - Kerryon Johnson

WR- Devante Parker

WR - Tee Higgins

TE - Hayden Hurst

OL - Lloyd Cushenberry

OL - Isaac Seumalo

OL - Kaleb McGary

 

DEFENSE

DE - JJ Watt

NT - Dontari Poe

DT - Chris Jones

EDGE - Jadaveon Clowney

MLB - Benardrick McKinney

WLB - Zach Cunningham

SPY/SlotCB/SLB - Minkah Fitzpatrick

CB - Xavien Howard

CB - Xavier Rhodes

S - Bradley McDougald

S - Justin Simmons

 

EDGE - Whitney Mercilus

INT - Derek Wolfe

INT - Henry Anderson

LB - Germaine Pratt

LB - Zach Baun

CB - Damon Arnette

CB - Vernon Hargreaves

CB - Rasul Douglas

 

OFFENSE - 3WR/1TE/1RB Base

Home opener baby!  Good to get back after a divisional road win against a very good team in the Cuba Smugglers.  This week we face another formidable squad in the Seoul Dragons, we will have to bring our A game to get the victory.  Seoul features a great defensive line, but aren’t as solid in the back 7 (6 sometimes!).  We come out in our 3WR base and look to take advantage in the following ways:

• Get Vertical  -  We will aim for a 60/40 Pass:Run ratio, we believe our best mismatch is our receiving weapons vs. Seoul’s ability to cover them.  Tyreek will be heavily targeted if left in single coverage, there isn’t a player on Seoul’s roster that can keep up with him.  If doubled, we look to Jeudy in the intermediate range against single coverage as his separation is already evident at this level; Ebron on seam passes against a LB or S; and Landry on shorter safety valve routes.

• Keep Wentz Clean  -  Seoul’s defensive strength lies in its D Line, but our O Line is stout and we will give them a hand to make sure they are successful.  Out of shotgun against 5 man rushes we will roll Wentz out to buy him some time to find the open man downfield.  We will also keep either Jacobs or Ebron in for max protect on long passing downs, letting the other slip into the flat as a checkdown option.

• Keep it moving  -  We want to play with pace in this game and prevent substitutions from Seoul, who often rely on personnel changes to match their opponents’ moves.  We will play hurry up or 2 min drill on about half our drives.  Outside of our base, we will also start drives with these different formations:

                       -2WR/2TE/1RB - Split Ebron out wide opposite Reek to draw mismatch

                       -4WR/1RB - Parker/ in for Ebron

• Pound It  -  We will run the ball plenty with Jacobs and will focus on counters and off tackle runs directly at their DEs, utilizing his elusiveness to get to the undermanned 2nd level.  Peterson will spell Jacobs to keep him fresh, focused on dishing pain and wearing down the Dragons’ interior DLine and LBs.  When the Dragons run 4 man fronts, we are more likely to run.

DEFENSE - 4-2-5 Cover 1/Cover 2 Nickel

Seoul’s offense is well constructed, with a rising star in Kyler Murray leading the way.   We look to limit his effectiveness by giving him multiple looks out of both Cover 1 and Cover 2 with Minkah Fitzpatrick being our Chess Piece.  He will play up in the box with primary SPY duties on Murray, limiting his ability to break off big runs or pass effectively in the short zone.  In addition we will focus on these areas:

• Get to Murray - Seoul offensive line is stout and the battle with my DLine should be pretty epic.  To gain some advantage in getting to Kyler in passing situations, we will give many different looks with Jones and Watt lining up all over the line, from 7T to 0,  We will also employ some stunts, to again create assignment confusion.  On obvious passing downs, Mercilus comes in for Monster Nascar.

• Run D - Part 2 of the epic trench battle, we have no problem if Seoul wants to hand it off to Ingram and Drake, my D Line can handle them.  Kyler running the ball is a different story and he needs special attention.  As mentioned, Minkah will SPY Murray about 60% of the game, matching up a defender who can prevent the big play Murray is capable of.  

• Secondary - Again, we are going to mix a lot of looks with Zone and Man, with Howard and Rhodes on the outside, Arnette in to cover the slot in 3 WR sets (MacDougald off). Our boundary CBs will primarily play inside leverage to protect against inside routes and slants, we want Kyler to throw to the sidelines where he is less accurate. Simmons will playing Centerfield in this one if Murray wants to try some deep balls. 

• Neutralize Travis - Kelce is awesome and Seoul’s best weapon.  We are going to double cover him with Cunningham and McDougald on passing downs and in the red zone, while on early/running downs, Cunningham has him.  From time to time we’ll give Murray another look and have Minkah cover him.

[Scoundrel]

Kyler is special and I wish I had traded up with Lukic for him when I had the chance instead of waiting to move up for Haskins my goodness. I think Wentz is more successful with this oline and weapons as well than he is in Philly. 

[bcb1213]

Well I think kelce has  himself as game. Gotham plan to double him with Macdougald kinda goes out the window as he's not on the field in three wide as Cunningham has been a disaster in coverage this year 

On the other side I see Landry slot and Jacobs combo grinding out a couple long drives 

With both teams wanting to play update tempo (Ps if you're subbing offense defense gets time to sub too so that goes against the idea)  there's gonna be more points than normally I'd put on the board. In a shootout I'll take kyler and friends to just be more consistent at the moment.  Seoul 38-31

[Jlash]

Two good battles in the trenches, teams match up very well against each other. Game plans are both solid except for the confusing part like bcb said about doubling Kelce in passing downs yet 1 of those 2 guys comes off the field in 3 WR sets, they made sure to address any key issues. 

It comes down to who is at QB when it's all even. Week 1 I gave Carson a pass because he was getting beat up, week 2 he was sacked zero times and looked equally as lost. Late throws, inaccurate throws, poor decisions. I'm not sure what's going on with him but it's been ugly. Doesn't have the weapons pheltz is supplying him with, but weapons don't matter if you can't hit the target consistently. Meanwhile Kyler has been phenomenal.

[Blue]

I remain skeptical of Murray as a passer, but Wentz doesn't even have that going for him so far this year. On the other hand, can the Seoul defense play well enough for it to matter? I don't think they do.

[pheltzbahr]

Minkah is up in the box as SPY primarily, so even without brackets it takes away some of the underneath TE routes as he will have eyes on Kyler.  With Simmons over the top, that will limit seam/alley deeper routes.  I know its not a true double, but the writeup says Murray will primarily target Kelce against zone looks, not man looks looks against Cunningham.

[Pickle Rick]

I see these 2 offenses fairly evenly matched.  Gotham's D I think has the edge and keeps Seoul in check more than Seoul can keep down Gotham down. 

Gotham wins 15-10

[PR]

Seoul's mixed coverages stymie Wentz as his RT lets pressure go into his face throughout the game. 

[RuskieTitan]

Close, close match. I think Seoul has a little more success with their defensive gameplan against Wentz.

[Ragnarok]

I don't know if I trust the front 4 of Seoul to get enough pressure to make up for issues on the back end.  While Kyler is playing very well, and both teams have excellent gameplans, I think Gotham is able to edge this out.

[WFLukic]

Man both teams are great. Seoul's offense is basically tailor-made for Kyler and I think with those weapons, there's always going to be success against any team - even ones with defenses as good as Gotham. On the flip side, I think Gotham moves the ball pretty effectively too on the ground and in the air. Wentz is struggling, but I think he's got an improved supporting cast here and a better OL which helps. 

With that said I'm going Seoul. I just think Seoul's got the dogs on the defensive line to keep a heavy pass-rush going at Wentz all game and even if I do think he looks better in real life, the turnover issue is there, while Kyler's ability to extend plays gives Seoul a chance at a few more big plays which help seal a big road win.

Seoul 30-27

[rackcs]

I really struggled with this one. I really like that Gotham team despite Wentz not playing well and think he'll be a bit better here than in real life. Kyler is looking absolutely electric though and is proving me very wrong on him as an NFL QB. I think Gotham's defense will actually be able to contain him plenty but with Gotham going slightly pass heavy and looking to go vertical, I don't know that Wentz is going to be able to do that well enough to win. Seoul in a very close one.

[MD4L]

I think this was an excellent matchup. There are very few people who can spy on a guy like Murray but Minkah is one of them. Seoul does have a couple solid weapons but even with good individual players at LB, Kelce is able to make plays in the open field and win that matchup with Minkah spying. Offensively, Jacobs is the real deal and almost enough to spring Gotham to victory. However, I think Seoul does enough in the secondary to slow down the home team.