BDL 2020 Week 6 - Gotham Gashslayers @ Camden Hood Rats

[Ragnarok]

BDL 2020 Week 6

Match: Gotham Gashslayers @ Camden Hood Rats 

Away Owner: @pheltzbahr

Home Owner: @Jlash

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]

GOTHAM

OFFENSE

QB - Derek Carr

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 - Lucas Patrick

RT - Mike McGlinchey

 

RB - Mike Davis

RB - Adrian Peterson

WR - Tee Higgins

WR - Keelan Cole

TE - Hayden Hurst

OL - Kaleb McGary

OL - Brandon Knight

OL - Lloyd Cushenberry

 

DEFENSE

EDGE - Brandon Graham

INT - JJ Watt

INT - Chris Jones

EDGE - Jadaveon Clowney

LB - KJ Wright

LB - Zach Cunningham

CB - Xavien Howard

CB - Xavier Rhodes

CB - Jason Verrett

S - Minkah Fitzpatrick

S - Justin Simmons

 

EDGE - Whitney Mercilus

INT - Dontari Poe

INT - Corey Peters

LB - LJ Fort

LB - Germaine Pratt

CB - Rasul Douglas

CB - Vernon Hargreaves

S - Bradley McDougald
 

The Derek Carr Era begins in Gotham against long time rival and divisional foe, the Camden Hood Rats.  The undefeated Russell Wilson led squad is a formidable matchup, but we are up to the challenge of taking them down.  We believe we have the better team roster, better balance on both sides of the ball and don’t believe Wilson is unbeatable.

OFFENSE (50% Pass 50% Run)  3 WR/TE/RB Base   

Offensively we seek balance and think we can find success both running and passing against a Camden defense missing some key personnel.  We plan on exploiting their defensive weaknesses in the following ways:

Utilize our RBs:  We have a powerful trio of backs and want to utilize them to the fullest.  We want our lineman to get physical with Camden’s undersized d Line and will employ a power run blocking scheme to establish the run.  

• Jacobs is going to get most of the carries early as we attack not only 250lb edge defenders like Ngakoue and Crosby, but we want to hit their interior with body blows as well.  Banged up Dexter Lawrence is their biggest and best D Lineman against the run, so we will double him often with Pouncey and a guard to create 1 cut creases for Jacobs and get to Camden’s undersized second level.  If Dexter can’t go this week, we are going to amplify this aspect and run up the middle until Camden has to devote overwhelming numbers to stop it.  

• We want to utilize Mike Davis this week not only as an outlet for Carr, but also to get outside the tackles and get 1 on 1s with Camden’s defensive backs, uh linebackers.  I think his combination of physicality and speed matches well and he could get a bunch of first downs.  Davis will also get an increased workload between the tackles as well, mostly running at their EDGE rushers.

• Peterson can ride the bike in the first half, we’re going to save him 2nd half.  All Day with fresh legs will pound the rock up the middle, exacting pain.  With the game on the line, adding Peterson to the mix should create a fissure in the Rats D.  

Formations:  We want to throw a lot of looks at this defense, giving our weapons opportunities to make plays.  Showing so many varied formations, we don’t think Camden has the personnel to match up optimally, particularly in the secondary.

 

• 3WR/TE/RB (40%) - Hill/Landry/Jeudy/Ebron/Jacobs

• 2WR/2RB/TE (20%) - Hill/Higgins/Jacobs or Peterson/Davis/Ebron

• 2WR/2TE/RB (15%) - Hill/Higgins/Ebron/Hurst/Jacobs or Peterson

• 4WR/RB (15%) - Landry/Jeudy/Higgins in triplets with Hill in ISO; 

• 5WR (10%) -  Hill/Landry/Jeudy/Higgins/Cole 

Spread It Around:  We’re not only spreading it around to our RB, we want Carr to spread it around through the air as well.  We like Ebron to box out in zones against small DBs, and in man against anyone other than Jaylon Smith.  We will target Tee Higgins on the outside, we don’t think there is a Camden DB that matches his size and skillset.  Both these guys will help move the chains in tandem with our run game.  Jeudy and Landry will be used out of the slots to  work the seams and intermediate middle of the field, we think they both can gain separation on anyone Camden throws at them. Carr has the kind of accuracy to make these throws. 

Reek:  Tyreek Hill serves as the perfect weapon for a Carr led offense, or anyone’s offense.  While he can be a primary weapon against most DBs, he doesn’t have to be against a very good player like Ward.  We’re going to target Reek no matter what, but if he’s left in single for too long, Carr is going to find him and its going to be a big play.  He’s going to use his speed running deep routes on the outside, but we will also motion Hill as well.  This should help Carr with pre reads, with the added bonus of forcing defenders to account for jet sweeps and reverses.    
 

DEFENSE - Cover 1 Nickel

Camden’s offense is impressive, there’s no question.  This game is going to come down to whose defense can make more stops, make more splash plays and create more turnovers.  We know we can’t shut Russ down completely but we think we can stop him and Camden’s weapons enough to come out on top.  We will concentrate on these areas:

Formations:

• Cover 1 Base - Against 3 wide seats we play our base 4-2-5 Nickel.  We will mix coverages but primarily play man with Simmons covering the deep zone.  Minkah will play up in the box, providing another playmaker in the middle of the field to SPY Russ, provide additional run support and cover the short/middle zone in front of Wilson.  Howard on Nuk, Rhodes on Brown with Verrett on Kupp in straight man, but we will also mix in playing sides and some zone looks to keep Russ honest.  Wright and Cunningham are primarily focussed on Zeke and Gronk (Engram).  We rush mostly 4 out of this set and think we can get pressure, but will throw in a few blitzes from Minkah and our LBs on 3rd and longs to pressure Russ even more.

• Meat Wall Cover 1 - Zeke Elliott is a productive bell cow and force to be reckoned with, but I don’t think he’s going to run over our defense.  We will use our 4 man front (Watt, Poe, Peters and Jones - 1279lbs) to slow down Zeke and Russ on the ground.  This is a variation of our Cover 1 Base that we use on obvious run downs and against multi TE and multi RB looks.  

• Monster NASCAR - Mercilus/Watt/Jones/Clowney  We will use this defensive front ofton on obvious passing downs.  Our aim here is to have our ends rush upfield to contain WIlson, while collapsing the pocket with Watt and Jones to prevent Russ from stepping into his throw.  He could opt to run underneath his tackle, but will be met with force by Minkah or one of our LBs.

• Cover2/Cover 1 Dime - Against 4 and 5 wide looks, Douglas comes on to cover Hilton.  WR5 would be covered by Minkah if JLash has another WR.  KJ Wright plays middle zone.

Outside Leverage - Our boundary CBs will play primarily outside leverage out of man.  We want to force routes inside into our safeties where they can provide additional coverage and a potential big hit or turnover.  With our CBs having position on intermediate and deep outside routes, we force Russ to 2nd and 3rd progressions and allow our DLine to get home.

Turnovers - This game will likely be decided by a crucial turnover.  Wilson has 3 picks, so not counting on it, but Xavier Howard has 3 picks also, one of them off Russ in the endzone a couple weeks ago, so who knows.  Rhodes has a couple picks this year as well on the other side.  Elliott has had some troubles with 3 Fumbles in 5 weeks (2 Lost).  With Zeke carrying the load, we think he may take one too many hits in this one and cough it up at an inopportune time.

[Ragnarok]

Camden

QB- Russell Wilson
RB- Ezekiel Elliott
WR- DeAndre Hopkins
WR- AJ Brown
Slot- Cooper Kupp
TE- Rob Gronkowski
LT- Isaiah Wynn
LG- Forrest Lamp
C- Cody Whitehair
RG- Brian Winters
RT- Orlando Brown Jr
______________________
WR- TY Hilton
RB- Damien Harris
RB- Benny Snell
TE- Evan Engram
TE- Harrison Bryant
OL- Garrett Bolles
OL- Ethan Pocic
OL- Tyrell Crosby

DE- Yannick Ngakoue
DT- Dexter Lawrence
DT- Poona Ford
DE- Maxx Crosby
LB- Jaylon Smith
LB- Todd Davis
CB- Denzel Ward
CB- Darius Phillips
CB- Mike Hughes
S- Justin Reid
S- Keanu Neal
_____________________
DE- Montez Sweat
DE- Carl Lawson
DT- Harrison Phillips - OUT
DT- Neville Gallimore
CB- Ahkello Witherspoon
CB- Jimmy Moreland
S- Deshon Elliott
S- Amani Hooker

Offense
In this league, I have the Friendship Bowl with Lukic and love/hate battles and a longstanding trade embargo with Frogs, but nothing tops getting to play against the team you started with. Pheltz guided me into the league, and now I have to guide him into the light so he can enjoy mid day naps and early bird specials at Old Country Buffet in peace. Here is how we plan to do that.

Bunch sets to make the Gotham CB's uncomfortable- Gotham's X-Men on the outside are good players who win with physicality and length. So we'll use a decent amount of bunch sets to negate the ability to get on us and press at the line. Big bodied CB's whose greatest strength isn't short area quickness should be susceptible to running out of these formations and having to wade through other bodies to follow their man, and if we can cross them up Russ can get the ball into their hands quickly so they can make some plays.

4 wide to open the field- Voters these days seem to hate 4 wide sets, but about a quarter of our passing will come out of 4 wide sets because it allows our best weapons to be on the field, and it tests the depth of the Gotham bois. Hilton and AJ Brown on the outside and Kupp and Hopkins in the slots. With Hilton's ability to get deep, when he's on the field Gotham will be forced to respect him with a deep safety, if they don't, we'll take some deep shots off of double moves and play action today. This should open up the intermediate part of the field for our other WR's. We'll even run some Jet action out of these formations from everyone but Hopkins to see if we can test Gothams discipline. 

Balancing with Zeke- With running lots of bunch sets and 4 wides, Gotham's attention needs to be on stopping Russ and my WR's. We need to help him and balance the offense with Zeke, but we'll use our WR formations to help. With bunch sets on a certain side of the field, Gotham has to commit more defenders to that side of the field, so expect runs counter to the side we have bunch formations. We won't be afraid to run out of our 4 wide sets either as it should lessen Gothams ability to clog the middle of the field. Standard running plays off the jet action in our 4 wide like the Rams and 49ers do should also lessen the defenses ability to crash down on Zeke. 

Protecting Russ- Gotham's front can get after a QB, so when Gronk and Zeke are on the field in passing situations they'll both be used to help in pass pro. Gronk's only real usage in the passing game as a target will come in the redzone and if Gotham decides to go heavy cover 2, then we'll be running him/Engram/Bryant up the seam to bust that coverage. Aside from that, he'll help chip defenders on his way out. 

Defense (Cover 1 Robber base)
Even though Goat-Ham gave away a young franchise QB this week, they still have a capable signal caller back there in Carr. Like their defense, Gotham brings balance on offense so you can't key on a particular area to shut down, here's what we can do to combat that.

Make them dink and dunk- Tyreek Hill is undoubtedly the spark plug on that offense, so today he'll get Denzel Ward and our high safety will shade to his side of the field where ever he goes. If we can limit splash plays from Hill, we think we can force Gotham to try and score by working slowly down the field rather than an all out attack.

Utilize the Robber- With Josh Jacobs being the bruiser he is, our Robber will be essential in having another man down closer to the LOS to aid in run support. We feel like Neal can be an asset as a blitzer and with his ability to help slow Jacobs down. On obvious passing situations, he gives us the ability to also show Jeudy some extra attention. With Hill getting a safety over the top, we can use Neal to give our corners some support against a slick guy like Jeudy so our guys can be physical with him at the LOS without a ton of worry. It will almost simulate a cover 2 in those situations, but Neal won't be nearly as deep in those spots, giving our corners to confidence to not bite on double moves because they'll have shallow help. 

3 safety looks- Should Gotham want to utilize their TE's more in the passing game, we'll get another safety on the field and let Justin Reid handle the TE's'/RB's with Jaylon Smith. Todd Davis' only redeemable quality is run stopping, so in obvious passing situations he comes off, Elliott comes in as our deep safety and Reid moves down to combat TE's and RB's.

4 edge players- Some people call this a 'NASCAR' look but I think that's a stupid term, but at times in this game on 3rd and long we'll get all 4 of our edge players in the game. Sweat and Crosby will kick inside with Yannick and Lawson outside to attack Carr. Stunts out of this look will be common, since Carr doesn't have Wentz's escapability we feel confident taking risks with aggressive pass rushing in these situations can only help us get to Carr. 

[bcb1213]

Bumping threads that have fallen down far 

[Blue]

Camden has looked nigh-unstoppable at times this season. That said, I think Gotham has a monster day up front, especially against the interior OL of Camden with Watt and Jones beating up on Brian Winters and Forrest Lamp. The secondary is good enough to hold the receivers in check, and then there's Zeke Elliott's abysmal performance this week to consider. Gotham's defense puts up a performance for the ages in harassing Wilson and securing the win.

[VigilantZombie]

At one point earlier this season I had said, paraphrasing, "pheltz with as bad as Wentz has been im surprised you're not playing Carr".

Russell Wilson looks every bit of the MVP right now tbh. Having said that I do think both teams have very good offenses and defenses. I think Carr starting for Gotham is an upgrade.

But like Blue said, rhe thing that sticks out like a sore thumb here is Zeke's fumbles yesterday. I think it's plausible to say that Gotham's defense is capable of creating similar havoc. I think both defenses get to the opposing QBs at time. I think both receiving units make plays. So the big difference for me is, when the ball is in the hands of the RBs, I think Jacob's gives Gotham a slight edge over Zeke for Camden.

I do see this as a defensive struggle type game wirh those fronts these guys have.

Gotham 17-14

[Scoundrel]

On 10/18/2020 at 2:23 PM, Ragnarok said:

Monster NASCAR -

 

On 10/18/2020 at 2:24 PM, Ragnarok said:

4 edge players- Some people call this a 'NASCAR' look but I think that's a stupid term

This is my favorite part of these gameplans haha

[Scoundrel]

This is my far my favorite positional group matchup yet of any game we have seen.

The Camden passing attack versus the Gotham pass defense. 
 

Camden has some studs for Wilson to throw the ball too and Gotham has a really good secondary that has 10 total turnovers responsible for between them so far this season especially Howard with four straight games with an INT. 
 

A really fun matchup. Carr looks like a different QB with the speed Vegas has added to their offense in Ruggs and Agholor. And here he has the greatest speedster in the game in Hill. I think it really opens up the Gotham offense. And yes Camden has Ward on him with the high safety shades but that is still going to open up other opportunities for Gotham. And on the flip side Camden has some nice bunch formations that I think will really help them get some high percentage targets to their receivers and help an already great Qb who does a great job protecting the ball be able to protect it even more against that Turnover happy secondary. This is a tough one.

[TedLavie]

I think I'm lower on this Camden team than the rest of BDL tbh. They do have an amazing QB/weapons combo but that's really the only strength of the lineup imho. They have a great opportunity here with zeke and Jlash recognized it but it's hard to trust him right now honestly. I think Gotham has a more complete team and I can see them having a lot of success on O even if tyreek is properly contained. 34-27 Gotham

[Scoundrel]

After a long deliberation I think Camden squeezes this one out like one of Pheltz’ sharts in a close one. 

[SirA1]

I think Gotham has added the correct pieces at the right time.

Zeke didn't help himself this week and that slide things in Gotham's performance favor for me.

[Ragnarok]

I'm gonna go with Gotham here.  That secondary is playing very well.

[WFLukic]

Gotham's looking too complete all across the field right now - there's no weaknesses except maybe Ebron and Lucas Patrick, uh whoever that is. Camden's got a bunch of talent on both sides of the ball too and obviously it's impossible to look past Russ given how hot he's been, especially with that skill position group. With that said Camden's defense looks vulnerable right now, especially on the second level and I think Gotham are able to move the ball consistently enough while getting enough stops on defense.

Gotham 27 - 17 Camden

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by WFLukic

[rackcs]

I think Camden has some issues on their iOL and in their secondary and Gotham is very well equipped to take advantage of both.

[Scoundrel]

Guess I was on an island this game.