BDL 2020 Week 3 - Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Berlin Blitzkrieg

[rackcs]

BDL 2020 Week 3

Match: Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Berlin Blitzkrieg

Away Owner: @RuskieTitan

Home Owner: @Ragnarok

  

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 members, 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.

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

[rackcs]

Ivory Coast Black Rhinos

QB- Ryan Tannehill
RB- Nick Chubb
WR- Terry McLaurin
WR- Corey Davis
SWR- Adam Humphries
TE- Jared Cook
LT- Trent Williams
LG- Damien Lewis
C- Jason Kelce
RG- Zack Martin
RT- Dennis Kelly

--------------------------------------------------

QB- Cam Newton
RB- Austin Ekeler
FB- Anthony Sherman
WR- Robby Anderson
WR- DeSean Jackson
WR- Chase Claypool
TE- Kyle Rudolph
OL- Ricky Wagner
--------------------------------------------------

DE- Khalil Mack
DT- Da'Ron Payne
NT- Maurice Hurst
DE- Myles Garrett
OLB- Lavonte David
MLB- Patrick Queen
OLB- Devin White
CB- Patrick Peterson
CB- Jaylon Johnson
FS- Troy Apke
SS- Devin McCourty

--------------------------------------------------

DE- Chase Young
DT- Larry Ogunjobi
DT- Davon Godchaux
LB- Jerome Baker
CB- Bradley Roby
CB- Trevon Diggs
CB- Darnay Holmes
S- Ashtyn Davis

Berlin Blitzkrieg

QB - Aaron Rodgers
RB - Aaron Jones
WR - Odell Beckham Jr
WR - Marquise Brown
WR - MVS
TE - Hunter Henry
LT - Kolton Miller
LG - Solomon Kindley
C - Corey Linsley
RG - Alex Cappa
RT - Tristan Wirfs

RB - Dare Ogunbowale
RB - Anthony McFarland
TE - Jordan Akins
TE - Irv Smith
WR - Brandon Aiyuk
WR - Antonio Gandy-Golden
OL - Taylor Moton
OL - Trey Hopkins

DE - Za’Darius Smith
DT - Sheldon Rankins
DT - Quinnen Williams
DE - DeMarcus Lawrence
LB - Tremaine Edmunds
LB - Rashaan Evans
RCB - Jeff Gladney
LCB - Byron Murphy
NB - Kendall Fuller
S - Antoine Winfield Jr
S - Juan Thornhill

DE - Lorenzo Carter
DE - Trey Hendrickson
DT - Derrick Brown
DT - Da’Shawn Hand
LB - Ja’whaun Bentley
CB/S - Damontae Kazee
CB/S - Lamarcus Joyner

Edited September 27, 2020 by rackcs

[rackcs]

Ivory Coast Black Rhinos

Offense
Primary Formation: Ace 11 Personnel- We are going to come out with 3 wide receivers, a tight end, and one backs as our primary formation. We’ll split time between having the quarterback under center as well as out of shotgun. Adam Humphries will be starting in the slot, with Corey Davis and Terry McLaurin starting outside. We will utilize 4 receivers with single back several times throughout the game to spread Berlin out and attack their secondary. We’ll leverage Jared Cook out in the slot at times to generate a 4-wide look, and use Kyle Rudolph for some 12 personnel looks. We’ll also have Anthony Sherman come in on short yardage situations when we want to pound the ball inside. In short, we want to limit the amount of defensive players in the box as much as possible, but have the personnel to for short yardage when needed.

Running Game Focus- Most of our designed runs will occur when we have spread out the formation with 3 or more receivers, and just one single back, usually Nick Chubb. We will leverage our offensive line to open the holes for Chubb and allow his vision and strength to pick up yardage. We’ll have Kyle Rudolph and Anthony Sherman on the bench to come in and assist during short yardage situations, or down near the goal line. We plan on sprinkling a handful of RPO plays with Cam Newton coming onto the field a few times to run those. Austin Ekeler will give Chubb breathers and operate as the primary back on third and long situations. We will mix up a few draw plays as well to keep the Berlin defense on their toes.

Passing Game Focus- Ryan Tannehill looked good so far this season, and he continues to get the start as a result. We want to have him attacking the Berlin secondary, leveraging the six receivers we bring into the game, and giving a lot of snaps all-around. Terry McLaurin and Corey Davis get the start, with Adam Humphries in the slot. We will be using a lot of motion in this game, to help determine whether Berlin is going with a zone or man coverage, and allow Tannehill to audible at the line depending on how the defense reacts to the motion, whether it’s a different pass play or run play. Against zone concepts we will try to rely on flood route concepts, and if we see man we will run rub routes with slant concepts. Berlin has some good edge rushers, so we will use our single back to stay in and help block for Tannehill to have the necessary time to read and complete a pass. We do want to throw in a few screens to keep the defensive line from pinning their ears back. We’ll have most pass plays have at least one receiver going deep, and we’ll see if an opportunity presents itself. With our 6 receivers, we really want to wear out to the defense, so Chubb can control the game late. In some of the short yardage formations, when Kyle Rudolph and/or Anthony Sherman come on, we want to also have a couple of pass plays out of that formation (think short goal line situation).

X-Factor on Offense: Receiver Rotation- We’re coming in with 6 receivers, and we want to take advantage of that. We feel that Berlin’s weakness lies in the secondary, and we want to try and exploit that. We’ve got some good speed, especially with DeSean Jackson and Robby Anderson, and we feel that there are going to be several big plays there for the taking since we will be able to keep everyone fresh with constant rotation, though obviously if one of our receivers starts to really catch on fire, we’re going to keep feeding him.

 

Defense
Defensive Formation: 4-3 Defense- We will start the game in a standard 4-3 alignment, based on the number of receivers Berlin employs. For two or fewer receivers, we maintain our 4-3 alignment. If Berlin brings out three receivers, we will switch to our nickel 4-2-5 defense, with Patrick Queen coming off and Bradley Roby coming on. If Berlin comes out with 4 receivers, our dime defense will take Devin White off and bring in Trevon Diggs for a 4-1-6 look. In rare cases of 5 wide, we’ll still leverage Lavonte David, instead taking one of the interior guys (Payne stays on over Hurst) off and bringing Darnay Holmes out for a 5^th cornerback for a 3-1-7 look.

Secondary Coverage: Press Man Cover 2- Rodgers would destroy us if we ran pure zone, so we will have to do what we can to disrupt the timing between Rodgers and his receivers. We want to try and jam them at the line as much as possible, to limit quick release routes. We’ll have our two safeties playing over the top, to help cover for any corner that gets burned on the release. Rodgers is more than capable of throwing into tight coverage, but we want to make him earn every pass completion, and buy our defensive line time to get pressure. Patrick Peterson is going to be shadowing OBJ this game, following him around on the field. Jaylon Johnson has proven himself these first two weeks, and earns his first start of the season. He’ll cover Brown, and have help from the safeties on deep routes. When we bring in more cornerbacks to match up with the receivers, we still want to maintain those two specific matchups. That being said, there will be a few times throughout the game that we’ll give the same look, but bust out a cover 2 or cover 3 pure zone, to potentially catch Berlin off-guard. Lavonte David will be covering Aaron Jones, if he reads that he’s staying in to block David will play a shallow zone and lurk in the middle of the field. Devin White will be taking their primary tight end.

Defensive Box: One Gap Penetration- We come into this game with 4 down linemen. Payne and Hurst will be one-gapping this game, focused on penetrating through the line to disrupt Rodgers passing rhythm and force him outside to our edges, as well as try and blow up Aaron Jones before he can get rolling. We trust our linebackers to flow to the ball on outside runs, as well as crash downhill on runs up the middle. Our edge players will be coming for Rodgers primarily off the edges, putting as many hits on him as possible, and not letting him flee the pocket and scramble around. Our goal with the defensive line is to truly collapse the pocket, from the outside and the inside. We’re looking to give Mack and Garrett roughly 75% of the snaps, with one of them altering out with Young to keep the trio fresh all game long (giving Young ~50% of snaps). We’re going to rely on our defensive line, and rarely blitz, as we have faith in our pass rushers and want to avoid giving Rodgers any easy looks.

X-Factor on Defense: Patrick Peterson- We’re going to put a lot of trust in Patrick Peterson today, and have him shadow OBJ all day long. We know that OBJ is a great receiver and will still get some of his, but we want to limit the overall impact he has, and with some safety help over the top, Peterson can really get in OBJ’s face and mentally throw him out of his element if he doesn’t have early success.

Berlin Blitzkrieg

Offense
Overview - IC has a very good DL and very good LBs.  However, outside of PP21, we think we have the advantage against their secondary.  We are also going to start Wirfs this week at RT.  Moton has been very good, but Wirfs has been exceptional.

Run Game - This goes through Aaron Jones.  We will use him on every type of run and pass.  We want him to get plenty of touches with 20+ carries.  Look for us to mix in some draws and screens to slow down their pass rush a bit.  IC has a very nice front 7, but we want to spread them out a bit and force them to defend deep.  This should allow Jones the room he needs.  Our other two RBs will spell Jones on 3rd downs when he needs a breather and serve as check downs or blockers.

Pass Game - Hollywood and MVS will play outside most of the game.  Their purpose is to hurt IC if they get one-on-one coverage on the outside as both are proving to be very good deep ball receivers this year.  Hollywood with his speed or MVS with his size can pick up chunk plays down the field, especially with Rodgers playing some backyard football.  We will also use those two on comebacks and back shoulder throws if the CBs start cheating back.  If they go single high, look for us to go down the sideline in some fashion that keeps the FS from impacting the play.

We want to force them to sit their safeties deep to allow OBJ, Henry, Jones, and others we sub in room to work underneath.  OBJ is going to run everything from deep routes to split a Cover 2, to quick outs for cheap yards, to slants and crossers to get YAC, to deep outs to follow behind a zone coverage that was cleared, to deep crossers to have space to get the ball in man coverage, and every variation surrounding those routes.

Henry will frequently work some kind of crossing route to move defenders or box out a smaller defender for cheap yards.  Henry has at least a four inch height advantage over Devin and Kwon, so we want to give him opportunities to box out or out jump the linebacker covering him for cheap yards.  He will also push down the seam to further stress the safeties and pull whoever is covering him out of the box.  On running plays to the outside, we will have him crash down on the box to block while pulling a guard to kick out the linebacker who moved out to cover Henry.  The goal is to have Henry’s release to block in the run game and release to go for a crossing route look the same.

3 WR - Our main set for the game, we are frequently going to split Henry out into the slot here to lighten the box for Jones and force the LB or safety on him to cover him in space.  Also, we are going to throw some WR screens to the WR on Henry’s side so he can block.  A couple times, we will have the WR come down to wall off the slot defender and throw a quick TE screen to Henry so he can barrel forward for an easy few yards.

4 WR - We will use this around 30% of the snaps with Aiyuk coming into the slot for Henry.  This will force IC to take off one of their talented LBs.  We will use Aiyuk on a lot of quick slants, outs, and crossers to see if he can make use of his YAC ability.  Look for us to use more draws and screens to Jones here.

2 TE - We will use this between 5-10% in short yardage and goalline situations with Irv in for MVS.  He will move around the formation and serve more of a FB role, but also release into the flat on play action.  We will also line up Irv, Henry, and OBJ in a bunch formation to one side and either throw a quick WR screen to OBJ or look the other way if Hollywood has a one-on-one match up.

Defense
Overview - With Fuller finally back to help lock down the slot, we want to make sure we help our outside CBs by varying the looks our safeties give so Tannehill has to hold the ball a bit longer.  We want to move our DL to force Lewis and Kelly to block solo.

DL - IC has a good OL.  We want to force Damien Lewis and Dennis Kelly into on-one-one blocking assignments as Lewis is a rookie and Kelly is meh.  We are going to put one of Rankins or Quinnen directly over Lewis.  Our other DT will play in the A Gap on the other side forcing the Kelce and Martin to focus on him.  Both DTs will slant and loop on occasion so the interior OL can’t get a good read on our movement.

Za’Darius will line up across from Kelly and we will see who is better.  We want our interior alignment and movements to keep Martin from helping Kelly with Z.  DLaw will take Trent Williams which should be a fun battle all day.

Our DL subs are playing well, so we will sub them in as needed to keep our main guys fresh.

LB - Our first good piece of injury news is that we welcome Tremaine Edmunds back.  He is going to have the TE in coverage as he has the size and speed to keep up with Cook.  Evans is going to follow the RB everywhere.

DB - Our second good piece of injury news is that we finally have Kendall Fuller back which is huge against a very underrated slot WR in Adam Humphries.  Fuller gets Humphries in man coverage all game to restrict one of Tannehill’s favorite weapons.  Byron will play man on McLaurin and Gladney will play man on Davis, typically press coverage.  If they bring in a 4th WR, Joyner will take whoever moves into the other slot.

McLaurin and Davis are both playing quite well, so we know our outside CBs, especially Gladney(unless he has a bounce back game against Corey Davis this week), will need to be helped out at times.  Luckily, we have two safeties playing at a very high level.

Winfield is going to play up either alongside or just behind our linebackers.  In the pass game, he will drop into a Cover 2 zone on a semi-regular basis.  However, he may also: 1. play an intermediate middle zone to help against crossing routes or a TE down the seam, 2:  come down to help bracket either Davis or McLaurin or 3:  come up to chase down Tannehill on a rollout which Tanny loves or come on a delayed blitz if Tannehill stays in the pocket.  This will give us an extra man playing relatively close to the LOS to help clean up a very strong run game while giving us the flexibility to disguise coverages.

Our semi-regular Cover-2 will have safeties around 15 yards off the ball.  This will allow them to come up to help if a CB gets beat bad off the snap to remove the intermediate pass while allowing them time to read and react further back. We are also having them play a bit closer so it’s easier for them to come up in the run game.  That said, the side Winfield lines up on may not be the side he ends up covering on as we don’t want to make it obvious for Tannehill.

One more wrinkle, we will have Winfield and Thornhill pretend to drop into the Cover-2 zones before switching back to a deep middle zone and whatever we have Winfield do that particular play(one of the listed above).  We want to have both safeties constantly moving to make Tannehill think for that extra second which can make all the difference.  If we go deep middle zone and intermediate zone, we may switch Winfield and Thornhill for additional confusion.

[Scoundrel]

Not overly impressed with Berlins receiving weapons at the moment. But one of them will break Apkes coverage and score. Other than Apke though that IC defense is incredibly stout. 

[Jlash]

I think Berlin has the better roster, but Ruskie's game plan actually made this game a lot closer for me. The part that put it over the top for me was Rags sort of planning to attack a cover 2 defense, and Ruskie running just that. And to piggy back off Counselor agaaaaain, leaving Troy Apke as the last line of defense against big play WR's is going to be the straw that broke the Rhino's back.

[Scoundrel]

Just now, Jlash said:

I think Berlin has the better roster, but Ruskie's game plan actually made this game a lot closer for me. The part that put it over the top for me was Rags sort of planning to attack a cover 2 defense, and Ruskie running just that. And to piggy back off Counselor agaaaaain, leaving Troy Apke as the last line of defense against big play WR's is going to be the straw that broke the Rhino's back.

Hey man it’s okay to piggy back off me I do know some football 

[Scoundrel]

I think the receiver rotation throws guys out of rhythm. I can understand guys have different skill sets you want to utilize and you said keeping guys fresh but a constant rotating 6 guys through? Meh not for my taste when you need the QB and WR to have their timing down and could definitely use that timing to take advantage of the young Berlin corners. I know you said if one catches fire you’ll feed him but I just am not a fan of the rotation. I also think Berlin has one of the best young safety tandems in the league so far this season and you need your best of the best challenging those guys play in and play out. 

[RuskieTitan]

6 hours ago, Counselor said:

Not overly impressed with Berlins receiving weapons at the moment. But one of them will break Apkes coverage and score. Other than Apke though that IC defense is incredibly stout. 

 

57 minutes ago, Jlash said:

I think Berlin has the better roster, but Ruskie's game plan actually made this game a lot closer for me. The part that put it over the top for me was Rags sort of planning to attack a cover 2 defense, and Ruskie running just that. And to piggy back off Counselor agaaaaain, leaving Troy Apke as the last line of defense against big play WR's is going to be the straw that broke the Rhino's back.

I understand that Apke isn't the ideal starter in coverage, but he's not being left alone in any situation, he's the additional safety covering a deep half of the field. If he's getting beat, it means whatever receiver burned not only him, but whatever corner was also in man.

[Scoundrel]

27 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

 

I understand that Apke isn't the ideal starter in coverage, but he's not being left alone in any situation, he's the additional safety covering a deep half of the field. If he's getting beat, it means whatever receiver burned not only him, but whatever corner was also in man.

And I think the corners get beat a couple of times and Apke back there is a liability 

[Scoundrel]

34 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

 

I understand that Apke isn't the ideal starter in coverage, but he's not being left alone in any situation, he's the additional safety covering a deep half of the field. If he's getting beat, it means whatever receiver burned not only him, but whatever corner was also in man.

And also I should add I think that he is going to get some yards on you underneath. He planned for you to sit those safeties back there and get his guys who are elusive in space the ball underneath. Apke has been very bad in situations where he has to make a play coming up on those receivers to make a tackle. 

[VigilantZombie]

I like Berlin here. I think both teams did a good job on the gameplans and both bring good rosters, but I also think, even with help, Apke gets eaten alive by Aaron Rodgers. I understand Beckham hasn't done a lot irl, but if Rodgers was his irl QB, I think he could legitimately be leading the NFL in receiving yards. To me that's a huge mismatch in the secondary. Berlin 21-17

[Blue]

After 3 weeks, I'm not sure anything is stopping Rodgers this year. The Berlin secondary, especially the CBs, is vulnerable but I'm not sure Ivory Coast has the personnel to take advantage. Wish McLaurin had a better QB so we could really know how good he is.

[pheltzbahr]

Close game, I think ICs defense can limit Rodgers.  On the other side I think Berlin's defense is lacking in the secondary but don't know if IC can take advantage with some lacking weapons.  Im taking Berlin here, I think Godgers wins it late.

[rackcs]

I like IC's gameplan of attacking Berlin's secondary. I don't know if his weapons outside of McLaurin are going to be good enough to truly take advantage of that weakness though, despite Tannehill playing well. IC's defense I think matches up pretty well with Berlin's offense but I think Berlin is just going to be able to do a little bit more offensively and take the win in this one.

[MD4L]

I see a high scoring game that features impressive performances from both offenses, but I think the level of Rodgers takes Berlin to a point where they can succeed against a dynamic pass rush. Tannehill has weapons to make this an entertaining matchup. Ultimately, I’ll take the home team.