BDL 2020 Week 4 - Camden Hood Rats @ Antarctica Katabatic Beasts

[Ragnarok]

BDL 2020 Week 4

Match: Camden Hood Rats @ Antarctica Katabatic Beasts

Away Owner: @Jlash

Home Owner: @Pickle Rick

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]

Camden Hood Rats

QB- Russell Wilson
RB- Ezekiel Elliott
WR- DeAndre Hopkins
WR- Cooper Kupp
TE- Rob Gronkowski
TE- Evan Engram
LT- Isaiah Wynn
LG- Forrest Lamp
C- Cody Whitehair
RG- Tyre Phillips
RT- Orlando Brown Jr
______________________
RB- David Montgomery
RB- Sony Michel
WR- KJ Hamler
WR- John Hightower
TE- Harrison Bryant
OL- Garrett Bolles
OL- Matt Pryor
OL- Ethan Pocic

DE- Yannick Ngakoue
DT- Dexter Lawrence
DT- Poona Ford
DE- Maxx Crosby
LB- Darius Leonard
LB- Jaylon Smith 
LB- Mack Wilson
CB- Darius Phillips
CB- Jimmy Moreland
S- Justin Reid
S- Deshon Elliott
_____________________
CB- Amani Hooker
CB- Denzel Ward
DE- Montez Sweat
DE- Carl Lawson
DT- Harrison Phillips
DT- Neville Gallimore
LB- Tyus Bowser
LB- Todd Davis

Offense
Well...this is gonna be something. We take on the Artichoke Katana Blasts in what actually may just be a spin off of the Walking Dead at this point. The Blasts have some solid weapons defensively but they're hurting as well and we need to just find a way to win. Here is what we can do. 

Pseudo heavy sets- We're going to run a lot of two TE sets today, we call it 'pseudo' heavy because when our 2nd TE comes into the game (Engram, Bryant) they'll more often than not be flexed into the slot for a few reasons. 1. They're better receivers than they are blockers, so we can spread out the defense 2. They're just more skilled than what we have available behind them right now. 3. They present some matchup issues, especially Engram. If the Blasts stay in a heavy defense, they'll be forced to cover Engram with a LB and he's too athletic for that most times. If they go light to cover him with a CB or S, it makes the defense smaller for our run game. Gronk will be a receiving factor in the redzone for us, but his blocking will be needed all over the field.

Stay aggressive- The Blasts have some decent pass rushers, but with maxing out my protection like last week with Gronk chipping and Zeke staying in to help we think we can attack a wounded secondary. With the Blasts missing Lattimore, it means Okudah will be forced to step up and he's looked beyond lost this season, as Hopkins has already thoroughly worked him over this year. Whether he's on Kupp or Hopkins, we'll let Russ attack the rook early and often, forcing them to double team and make other players available for Russ to target. The Blast LB's are fast and aggressive, so look for us to work a lot of misdirection and PA passing into this game to get those guys to commit to a play that isn't happening and strike elsewhere. 

Keep Zeke working- As always Zeke is going to be integral for us. With Russ playing as well as he has, a defense simply cannot have a singular focus on one phase of our offense and if they do, it can open up big plays on the other side. Our offense can feast on PA if we keep Zeke working early on and we'll keep that up. If Hopkins can't go, our game plan will shift slightly to lean more on Zeke. We'll have about 700 lbs of beef on the right side of our line today so we won't be afraid to execute a power run game and chew this clock up to keep Lamar off the field. 

Defense (4-3 cover 2 base)
This is where it'll get interesting. Lamar Jackson will always be a friend of the Hood Rat franchise. We drafted him, we believed in him, we surrounded him with weapons and we got a title together. Now comes the test of stopping him, here is what we think we can do to slow him down.

Eyes forward, zone heavy- Even before Godwin was ruled out, the best plan of success for Jackson is establishing a successful run game to set up a quick strike passing offense. To help combat that today, we'll utilize a 4-3 defense as our base set to keep us heavy against the run, but playing zone allows our defenders to keep their eyes forward on Jackson. Playing man means your guys has to turn his back on Jackson, and that allows so many of his huge runs to happen. We feel confident in our safeties to be able to handle their halves today, with having to essentially start two free safeties, it might actually work out for us there. 

Zone blitzing- With running a zone today, it allows us to use some exotic blitzes to force Jackson to hurry a throw. As a traditional LB, Darius Leonard racked up 12 sacks over his first two seasons because of his athleticism and fantastic timing. He'll be instrumental in disrupting things today blitzing from multiple positions. Blitzing from the middle on a twist with our NT, blitzes from the weak side where one of our ends jump back into a passing lane in coverage for example. These will be utilized mostly on 3rd and long situations where the threat of Jackson getting the first down with is feet are minimized as much as possible. If we can stay disciplined on first and second down, we think we can force obvious passing situations where we hope to get Jackson to struggle. 

Managing the personnel- Obviously we're all busted up here in this game, most of the league is. If Denzel Ward plays, we'll keep him on the sideline until we need to defend 4 wide looks because he's not 100% and will likely be a target if he's in. Amani Hooker, a hybrid defensive back in college will come in in place of Mack Wilson on nickel situations to play on the inside where we are confident he can handle zone duties. Even without Godwin, Lamb/Diggs are still threats but we feel like our 2 deep zone is the best bet to keep everyone in front of us, our LB's match up great with their TE's and RB's so we aren't focusing too much on that. 

Fresh DL- With how exhausting Jackson can be, we made sure we suited up a back up for everyone on the defensive line to keep guys fresh. Our DE's have started to come alive the past couple weeks, and with Bulaga out we feel like we can attack Fluker being forced into action today. 

[Ragnarok]

Antarctica Katabatic Beasts

Offensive Starters:

QB - Lamar Jackson

RB1 - Todd Gurley

WR1 - Stefon Diggs

WR2 - Ceedee Lamb

WR3 - Tre'quan Smith

TE1 - Jimmy Graham

LT - Cam Robinson

LG - Dakota Dozier

C - Ryan Kelly

RG - JR Sweezy

RT - DJ Fluker 

Offensive Bench:

RB2 - Alexander Mattison

OC2/OG3 - Tyler Biadasz

TE2/Pistol Back - Cole Kmet

WR4 - Van Jefferson

WR6 - Auden Tate 

QB2 - Tua Tagovailoa

_________________

Defensive Starters:

DE - JPP

DT - DeForest Buckner

DT - Jaleel Johnson

DE - Frank Clark

SOLB - Myles Jack

MLB - Roquan Smith 

WOLB - Demario Davis

CB1 - Joe Haden

CB2 - Jeff Okudah

FS - Anthony Harris

SS - Nasir Adderley 

Defensive Bench:

Slot CB3 - Mike Hughes - OUT

DE - Josh Sweat

LB/DE - Harold Landry

Dime CB4 - Charvarius Ward

DT3 - Timmy Jernigan

DT4 - Jordan Elliott

DT5 - B.J. Hill

Motivation: Another tough loss in a matchup we thought we should have won last week.  Now we look to use our home field advantage and get back to .500 with a win against Camden.  

Personnel Changes: we are promoting Ceedee Lamb to WR2 and Tre'quan Smith to WR3.  Fuker promoted to RT and should be started today for the Ravens.  Defensive promotions are Haden to CB1, Okudah to CB2. Hughes to Nickle CB

Offensive Base Formation: Going back to a Pistol Spread formation with 3 WR's, 1 TE/FB, 1 RB. We will be in this formation about 40% of the time.  Other formations used will be Pistol Light (4 WR), Pistol Heavy (2 WR. 2 TE) and Pistol Back (2 WR, 1 TE, 2 RB).

Example for base formation: 

Tempo: This week we will be running a much faster tempo offense.  We will look to snap the ball quickly early in the game and then later, shift to fake counts to set up audibles based on presnap reads.  

Playcalling Distribution:

30% run

40% pass

10% playaction pass

10% option run

10% RPO

Running distribution: 

40% Outside

40% Read Option and Option

20% Inside

Outside runs: lots of runs designed with the TE leading the way for Gurley.  Mostly working the outside and their DE's.  

Inside runs: we plan on running out of the Pistol Heavy formation (2 WR, 2 TE) or the Pistol Back formation (2 WR, 1 TE. 2 RB).  

Read option/Option:  we will be running a good bit of option and read option plays, as well as allowing LJ to check into and out of them.  If the setup is there LJ will be relied upon to use his legs and eyes to attack the opponents DE's and exploit them to the fullest. 

Passing: We will be moving to a little bit more pass heavy offense this week to thow off Camden.  We will utilize out Pistol Spread formation and with a focus on short crossing routes and slants to get the ball out of LJ hands quickly.  Ceedee Lamb/Tre'quan Smith/Van Jefferson should thrive with this style.  Diggs will be utilized on the double moves for the drrp ball that he loves to go for, catch, and score with. 

Playaction and RPO's: we will be using these to catch Camden crowding the box and cheating up to help stop Gurley/LJ.  Diggs/Lamb/Smith are ready to burn Camden when they load up and jump in to stop Gurley and LJ.   We will also use our slot receiver to sprinkle in the RPO's as the linebackers start to cheat more and more to help try and stop the run game.  

 

Defense Base Formation: 4-3 defense, switching to Dime and Nickel in passing downs and dependent upon ingame situations. We will also use more 4-4 sets on running downs and short yardage plays. 

 

Formation usage: 

4-3: 35%

Nickel: 35%

Dime: 15%

4-4: 15%

 

Defensive Base coverages:

Man: 30%

Cover 3 - 30%

Quarters- 30%

Tampa 2 - 10%

Playstyle:  this week we will be splitting up the D pretty evenly between man, cover 3, quarters, and Tampa 2.  

Run defense.  We will be sticking to our 4-3 D and using our 4-4 run stopping D to stuff them at the line with our LB's taking over the game.  Runs blitzes will be far fewer this week as we like out D to win their 1 on 1 matchups to stuff the run.  

Passing Defense: we will be upping our zone D to about 70% of the time to keep Wilson from hitting any of the deep balls he likes to throw and help to slow down the game and make it a battle of the trenches witch we think we can win a lot.  

[Jlash]

7 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

Hughes to Nickle CB

Hughes was out today with a dead neck.

[VigilantZombie]

Ik he is a backup but Sony Michel is out for this game.  As was Mike Hughes on the other side.

[Jlash]

1 hour ago, wwhickok said:

Ik he is a backup but Sony Michel is out for this game.  As was Mike Hughes on the other side.

I think this was the first game I even bothered to put Michel on the roster at all. Pats man, Pats.

[VigilantZombie]

Just now, Jlash said:

I think this was the first game I even bothered to put Michel on the roster at all. Pats man, Pats.

Go figure

[Scoundrel]

That Oline for Antarctica is no bueno. And they are going to run some sort of pass 50% or more depending on the RPO decision during play. Lamar is going to have a face full of Crosby and Yannick. Camden.

[Blue]

Antarctica has an awful o-line and I don't know how you justify playing Dakota Dozier in a 16 team league. Going up against Dex and Poona, I don't know that it matters much on passing downs when the opposing team is just...really not impressive at corner this week. I'm gonna go with Antarctica here in a bit of an upset. I like their gameplan and I think Jackson has a very good day passing.

[Pickle Rick]

1 hour ago, Blue said:

Dakota Dozier

181 and 130 yards ain't to shabby running behind him 

[bcb1213]

This game is a cluster **** 

I can't tell which is worse, the Antartica offensive line or the Camden corners cause they just aren't playing ward cause, Jimmy Moreland is better than 90% ward I guess?  Mack Wilson hasn't been able to take full snaps yet either as he's still recovering from surgery 

 

One they other side sometimes max protection wiill help more when it's zeke as the tackles are much better than the interior of Camden line. Buckner may have himself an day. 

 

I trust Wilson to hit one or two deeply plays when Antartica is in the 4-4 man while Jackson will get a couple plays when he's not on the his back side.   

 

It comes down to small things in this one, I'll take Wilson in a nail biter 17-16 

[pheltzbahr]

Some serious concerns with injuries for both these squads, with Beasts' O Line and Camden's secondary, both are depleted to warm body level talent.  I liked Antarctica's offensive gameplan and think they have success on offense, but the defensive gameplan lacks the specifics I'm looking for in containing the strength of the Rats' squad, namely their triplets in Russ/Zeke/Hopkins.  JLash brings his A Game strats and pulls out a win that Antarctica could have taken had they matched that effort.

[Jlash]

25 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

Jimmy Moreland is better than 90% ward I guess? 

Part of that was because you in particular knocked me last week for having Ward in the game when he's been nursing a hammy. Said you'd come back to the game to decide and when the scores were tallied you'd voted against me, I assumed that was a big reason. Ward didn't practice all week, figured I'd keep him on the active roster in case he plays which I did, but really only for emergencies. Turns out he played all game and had the game sealing pick. 

[bcb1213]

Just now, Jlash said:

Part of that was because you in particular knocked me last week for having Ward in the game when he's been nursing a hammy. Said you'd come back to the game to decide and when the scores were tallied you'd voted against me, I assumed that was a big reason. Ward didn't practice all week, figured I'd keep him on the active roster in case he plays which I did, but really only for emergencies. Turns out he played all game and had the game sealing pick. 

To be fair, last week you had Sneed on the bench tho who is better than 90% ward lol. Moreland, not so much. 

[Jlash]

2 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

To be fair, last week you had Sneed on the bench tho who is better than 90% ward lol. Moreland, not so much. 

Negative. Sneed was starting for me last week, with Dennard as the nickel. 

edit: And how did I know he was '90% Ward' with leaving the game at half and then not practicing all week. I literally had no idea, and was just hoping he could contribute at all. Thankfully he did and I hope he's good going forward. 

You just gotta work with what you got, you know?

Edited October 7, 2020 by Jlash