BDL 2020 Week 4 - Cuba Smugglers @ Seoul Dragons

[Ragnarok]

BDL 2020 Week 4

Match: Cuba Smugglers @ Seoul Dragons

Away Owner: @MD4L

Home Owner: @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 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

[Ragnarok]

Cuba Smugglers
QB: DeShaun Watson

RB: Dalvin Cook

WR: Julio Jones

WR: DJ Chark

WR: Justin Jefferson

TE: Mo Alie-Cox

LT: Anthony Castonzo

LG: Elgton Jenkins 

C - Ryan Jensen 

RG: David DeCastro

RT: Daryl Williams 

 

RB: Jamal Williams

WR: Marvin Jones

WR: DeMarcus Robinson 

TE: Ian Thomas

OW: Taysom Hill

WR: Justin Watson

OL: Mekhi Becton

 

Edge: Jerry Hughes 

DT: Arik Armstead

DT: Fletcher Cox

Edge: Cam Jordan

WLB: Cory Littleton 

MLB: Eric Kendricks 

RCB: Kenny Moore

FS: Tyrann Mathieu 

SS: Khari Willis

NCB: Jimmie Ward 

LCB: Isaiah Oliver

 

Edge: Matt Judon

DE: Denico Autry

NT: Derrick Nnadi

SLB: Vince Williams

OLB: Rashan Gary

RCB: Fabian Moreau 

NCB: Brandon Carr

NCB: Joejuan Williams

Intro: This week we take our talents to Seoul to play an upstart but extremely competitive Ted Lavie roster. Seoul has a championship and other championship pushes so we have a considerable amount of respect for their team.

Offense

This is the first defense we’ve played this year we feel comfortable with matchups across the board. The important thing is accounting for an elite defensive line led by Grady Jarrett. Aldon Smith has been a formidable pass rusher this year but we protect Watson with respectable edge protection and his elusiveness gives us an extra element to attack the secondary. To wear down Grady Jarrett we want to run Dalvin Cook and include  Jamal Williams on some inside carries. Cook will test the edges frequently but we’ll give him a fair share of inside zones behind David DeCastro. We think this strategy can wear down the defensive line and tire Jarrett to an extent that we can avoid him dominating the trenches.

The passing offense will not be forgetten in the slightest as we will go with a 60-40 pass/run ratio so Watson can target Julio. If he plays we will make him the focal point of our offense with around 15 targets with drags, comebacks, back shoulder fades, and outs from the outside. We will frequently move Julio into the slot for a variety of reasons, but his route tree in this area is vertical post routes with the occasional crossing routes that expose cover 3 defenses and allow Julio to give Watson his receiver a chance to win in deep areas of the field.

The other weapons are worth mentioning together because they are going to supply Watson for his production if/when Julio is healthy enough to make a formidable difference. The main guy we want to incorporate is DJ Chark. Seoul will have to sacrifice one of their safeties for run support coverage to our number one, or to defend Watson and his dual ability when he breaks contain. Justin Jefferson will be the third receiver but will also spell for both weapons on certain occasions in two WR sets. We want him to run some crossing routes and involve play action opportunities where Watson bootlegs to the outside, giving him an opportunity to run the ball himself if the coverage is well executed.

Defense

Jared Goff and Kyler Murray are about equal in terms of overall talent but defending them successfully requires different objectives for success. Since it is Jared Goff at the helm it’s important to find a weapon he’ll frequently target. That player to us is Travis Kelce and luckily our defense (when Derwin James was healthy) is built to defend TEs. We can throw an assortment of different coverages against Kelce and not have to sacrifice for the incredible dual threat Murray posses. In base 4-2-5 formations we want Eric Kendricks to match him in zone coverages. This means playing the middle of the field but primarily accounting for Kelce when he runs routes underneath to stretch across the line of scrimmage. Tyrann Mathieu will come down in his cover 3 position so we have our best coverage players in the middle of the field. In man coverage we will assign Joejuan Williams with Tyrann Mathieu in two man under schemes so we have a play maker playing on top of the athleticism that is assigned to man coverage responsibilities. 

The rest of our defense is relatively simple because we are playing a traditional offense. Gap control will be important against a quality offensive line but we are comfortable with our front four to win matchups against the run, Mathieu is already coming down to account for Kelce and we want Kenyan Drake to prove he can win in between the tackles without an the threat of an RPO. We find Cam Jordan from his edge spot against Seoul’s RT to be an area we can have success. Andrus Peat will inactive so we think Fletcher Cox and Arik Armstead can create a strong pass rush with just four players.

Finally accounting for this group of receivers starts with Kelce, but the other options are going to deal with the remainder of our secondary led by Kenny Moore. The coverages are relatively vanilla but we are going to shadow assignments so Kenny Moore gets Tyler Lockett in zone or on the boundary. The same applies with Watkins and Oliver with us trusting our players to execute moving to different areas on the field. 

[Ragnarok]

Seoul Dragons

QB Jared Goff

RB Kenyan Drake

WR Tyler Lockett

WR Sammy Watkins

WR Russell Gage (Q)

TE Travis Kelce

LT Andrew Thomas

LG Rodger Saffold 

C Austin Reiter

RG Nick Allegretti

RT George Fant

 

Bench QB Kyler Murray

Bench RB Joshua Kelley

Bench RB Chase Edmonds

Bench WR Nelson Agholor

Bench WR Isaiah Ford

Bench WR KJ Hill

Bench TE Austin Hooper

Bench TE Gerald Everett

 

DE Bradley Chubb

DT Grady Jarrett (Q)

DT Brandon Williams

DE Calais Campbell

LB Avery Williamson

LB Nick Kwiatkowski (Q)

CB Ronald Darby

CB Levi Wallace

Slot Steven Nelson

FS Rodney McLeod 

SS Jacquizki Tartt

  

Bench Edge Aldon Smith

Bench Edge Ifeadi Odenigbo

Bench Int Tyler Lancaster

Bench Int DJ Jones

Bench LB Micah Kizer

Bench LB Krys Barnes

Bench CB Jason McCourty

Bench S Kyle Dugger

 

Offense

Quick passing game.Let’s be honest, with 4 starting OL and a top backup out this week, our patch-up OL needs help, even if Cuba front 4 is not that impressive. We’ll therefore implement a quick passing game, using Jared Goff accuracy to move the sticks. As always, Kelce will be out top option. If not double teamed, he should be force fed as Cuba has no defender capable of guarding him. Lockett and Gage (if available – if not Hooper or Everett will alternate) will also see a bunch of targets in crossing patterns or out routes. 

Keep Goff on his feet.We have two weak spots upfront in Thomas and Allegretti. On any given snap one of those should receive help. With Cox having a down year we don’t think much of Cuba interior OL but since they have a very solid rotation outside, look for our OL shifting left with Saffold helping Thomas inside. More often than not our RB will help in pass pro or at least run delayed routes.

Target Oliver.Thankfully Cuba has some injuries at CB too and will need to start Oliver (or whoever isn’t Kenny Moore or Moreau). We’ll likely use that matchup and give our wideout matched up there the possibility to run the entire route tree which will give another option for Goff if the quick passing routes don’t develop as expected.

Run outside. Sacramento is well equipped to stop the run inside and we respect that. We will mostly target outside zones to run the ball with tosses, stretches, options, and even reverses to our WRs. We will often pull guards to send an additional blocker there. Drake and Edmonds will rotate, the latter being a good pass protector. Kelley comes in on rushing downs. 

Defense

Heavy rotation.Despite the absence of Ingram, we still fancy our DL as one of the best in BDL and we will use our rotation to threaten Watson and help stop Cook. DJ Jones and Brandon Williams will rotate 50/50 at the NT spot. Lancaster comes in for Grady to keep him fresh but on passing downs Calais slides inside next to Grady. Outside, Calais, Chubb and Aldon Smith rotate heavily, the three of them being some of the most productive edge rushers these last weeks. 

Because of our abilities to rush the passer and the ability of Watson to run the ball we’re unlikely to blitz much, though we’ll through a couple of run blitzes here and there to help against Cook.

Zone coverage.We fear this backfield of Watson and Cook and we’ll respect that by throwing heavy zone coverage this week. We’ll alternate between cover 2 zone, cover 3, cover 6 and some man looks as well to keep Watson guessing. With our pass rush we hope we can force Watson into some mistakes.

In any case Darby – our #1 corner this year - lines up on Jefferson side as we’ve been impressed by one of our draft crush. If Jefferson lines up inside Nelson takes him and Darby lines up on Chark side.

[Scoundrel]

53 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

Sacramento is well equipped to stop the run inside and we respect that.

And @TedLavie thinks he is still playing me

[VigilantZombie]

I feel like at full strength this would actually be a good matchup but first, I don't put much weight into any Julio usage. I wasn't sure about his health status before last night and then he proved he shouldn't have suited up. I dont see him being much of a factor here either. 

Having said that Seoul, to no fault of their own has been hit hard on the offensive line and they're simply not getting from the running game what expected to this season. I do feel like both defenses keep this close but ultimately I feel that the offense of Cuba is able to edge out an extra score.

21-17 Cuba

[PR]

Kenyan Drake can't run through holes with a healthy line and against a ****ty run defense... 

 

I like Seoul's game plan for the quick hits. With Cuba playing off man it lets him get some quick strikes to his receivers fairly quickly. However, with the defense neutralizing Kelce and the running game not getting much push, I think Cuba is able to have more consistent success 

[Scoundrel]

Cuba here. I think they have more dynamic offensive weapons. Chubb does some good stuff for Seoul on defense but the Right side of their offensive line doesn’t hold up against Cam Jordan and company even with some added help. 

[SirA1]

Cuba is firing on all cylinders in this one.

33 - 24

[Blue]

Seoul's offensive line is in rough shape here and I love Cuba's offense. Isaiah Oliver absolutely has no business starting in BDL and arguably isn't a rosterable player, so Cuba needs to get healthy or sort that position out soon.

[RuskieTitan]

Too much offense for Seoul to be able to keep up.

[Jlash]

Interesting choice to go with an immobile QB vs a solid front when your OL is banged up. I know Murray has thrown some picks, but I feel like he's been giving the hook far too soon and probably could do more damage than Goff in the improv department. Seoul may be able to pick on Oliver as intended, but Cuba, even with Julio banged up is just moving the ball with ease these days. Cuba.

[TedLavie]

1 hour ago, Jlash said:

Interesting choice to go with an immobile QB vs a solid front when your OL is banged up. I know Murray has thrown some picks, but I feel like he's been giving the hook far too soon and probably could do more damage than Goff in the improv department. Seoul may be able to pick on Oliver as intended, but Cuba, even with Julio banged up is just moving the ball with ease these days. Cuba.

It's not really that I gave the hook to Kyler. He might start next week actually. I just felt the only chance for me to win this is to base my offense on a quick passing game which is what Goff is running this year with good success too. 

[pheltzbahr]

Seoul turns to Goff quickly and looks like the right move in the interim.  The problem on Seoul's offense is the O Line is pretty not good and outside of Kelce and to a lesser extent Lockett, I don't see guys who I have to game plan for and I think frogs did a good job of covering those bases.  Even with Julio's issue, I think Cuba's offense is its strength with Cook and some emerging talents in Jefferson and MAC.  This is a close one for me, but I think Cuba pulls it out late.

[bcb1213]

MO Allie getting demoted to third string Irl is a tough blow for Cuba but Teds o line  is yea 

[Ragnarok]

I just don't trust the Seoul OL.