BDL 2020 Week 9 - Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Gotham Gashslayers

[rackcs]

BDL 2020 Week 9

Match: Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Gotham Gashslayers

Away Owner: @RuskieTitan

Home Owner: @pheltzbahr

 

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- Ezekiel Elliott
WR- Terry McLaurin
WR- Robby Anderson
WR- Chase Claypool
TE- Jared Cook
LT- Trent Williams - Inactive
LG- Damien Lewis
C- Jason Kelce
RG- Zack Martin
RT- Dennis Kelly

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QB- Daniel Jones
RB- Chase Edmonds
RB- Wayne Gallman
WR- Corey Davis
TE- Kyle Rudolph
OL- Ricky Wagner
OL- Josh Jones
OL- Billy Price

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DE- Khalil Mack
DT- Da'Ron Payne
DT- Larry Ogunjobi
DE- Myles Garrett
LB- Lavonte David
LB- Devin White
CB- Patrick Peterson
CB- Jaylon Johnson
CB- A.J. Terrell
S- Jordan Whitehead
S- Devin McCourty

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DE- Chase Young
DE- Charles Ominehu
DT- Geno Atkins
DT- Davon Godchaux
LB- Patrick Queen
CB- Trevon Diggs
CB- Darnay Holmes
S- Troy Apke

Gotham Gashslayers

OFFENSE
QB - Derek Carr
RB - Josh Jacobs
WR - Tyreek Hill
WR - Jarvis Landry
WR - Tee Higgins
TE - Hayden Hurst
LT - Jake Matthews
LG - Laken Tomlinson
C - Maurkice Pouncey
RG - Shaq Mason
RT - Mike McGlinchey

RB - Mike Davis
RB - Adrian Peterson
WR - Jerry Jeudy
WR - Keelan Cole
TE - Eric Ebron
OL - Kaleb McGary
OL - Lucas Patrick
OL - Lloyd Cushenberry

DEFENSE
DE - Brandon Graham
DT - Chris Jones
DT - Cory Peters
DE - JJ Watt
LB - KJ Wright
LB - Zach Cunningham
CB - Xavien Howard
CB - Xavier Rhodes
CB - Jason Verrett
S - Minkah Fitzpatrick
S - Justin Simmons

EDGE - Marquis Haynes
EDGE - AJ Epenesa
INT - Derek Wolfe
INT - PJ Hall
LB - Germaine Pratt
LB - Damien Wilson
CB - Rasul Douglas
S - Bobby McCain

Edited November 10, 2020 by rackcs

[rackcs]

Ivory Coast Black Rhinos

Offense
Primary Formation: 11 Personnel Single Back- We come out in a standard 3-wide, 1 running back set as our primary formation. We plan on being balanced for this game, with most snaps being taken under center with a single back. On short yardage we will bring in Kyle Rudolph as an additional blocker, and take Robby Anderson out.

Running Game Focus- Now that we’ve got a re-established running game, we want to go with a balanced approach against Gotham, to avoid tipping our hand to run or pass. We’ll leverage primarily a single back throughout the game, and hand the ball off to Zeke at least 20 times. We’re going to throw in some counter plays to keep Gotham’s defensive line honest, while also just feeding Zeke up the middle behind Martin. When we get into the redzone, Corey Davis will be brought in for Robby Anderson to provide a boost in blocking.

Passing Game Focus- We’re going to lean heavily on our starting trio, with Corey Davis giving each of them breathers as needed. We want to try and have the running game get established early so we can then build off the playaction pass to follow up, both during the drive and into the latter stages of the game. We want to take a few deep shots with our receiving core, and believe that we’ll have a few opportunities to hit a big one with the talent we possess. Jared Cook will be targeted several times, and will split out wide a few times to see if we can’t get a body out of the defensive box or take advantage of a mismatch. Corey Davis will come in for Robby Anderson once we are deep in the redzone, to provide a better red zone target as well as better blocking, whether for a quick pass or run. We’ll run a variety of routes based on the coverages we are seeing – if we’re seeing more zone, we’ll focus on flood routes on one side of the field and roll some bootleg playactions to give Tannehill a chance to run or pass; if we are seeing more man coverage, we’re going to run some slants and rub routes, but also sprinkle in some stop and go routes to see if we can’t get a DB to bite and get beat over the top.

X-Factor on Offense: Balance- We want to try and maintain a steady balance of running and passing in this game, so that Gotham can’t focus in and key off one aspect.

Defense
Defensive Formation: 4-2-5 Nickel Defense- We’re going to come out in a 4-2-5 Nickel defense in anticipation of Gotham going 3 wide. If they drop down to 2 receivers, A.J. Terrell will come off and Patrick Queen will come in at middle linebacker. If they go with 4 wide, Devin White will come out and Trevon Diggs will come in.

Secondary Coverage: Cover-1 Man-Under Scheme- The primary defensive scheme we’ll be running for this game is a Cover 1 man under, with Devin McCourty covering the deep. This will allow Jordan Whitehead to drop down closer to the box and help slow down their running game. We are going to have Patrick Peterson shadow Tyreek Hill all over the field, and plan on putting Jaylon Johnson on Tee Higgins as the match-up exclusives we want to have. Lavonte David will be taking the tight end, Jordan Whitehead will cover the running back, and Devin White will be splitting time between playing a middle zone to take away the middle intermediate part of the field, as well as blitzing up the A-gap. Once we have established a lead and into the second half of the game, we’ll shift away to a cover 2 man under scheme, putting Whitehead back deep with McCourty, and White taking on covering the running back, and coming in to attack the quarterback if he stays in to block.

Defensive Box- We’re going to use stunts and twists with our defensive interior to generate pressure, and attack Derek Carr. He really does not like getting pressure and as long as we can generate it up the middle, along with White’s blitzes, we feel he won’t get into a rhythm. We’ll have Mack and Garrett screaming off the edges with Chase Young to rotate, and we plan on busting out all 3 of them on 3^rd and long situations.

X-Factor on Defense: Hydra- On 3^rd and long (8+), we are going to have one of Garrett / Mack / Young shift inside with Payne, and the other two come off the edges. We feel that with all these pass rushers, we should stand a better chance at helping out our secondary maintain their coverage long enough to prevent a successful completion, or even better, force a sack or turnover.

Gotham Gashslayers

Week 9 in the 2020 BDL season and the hits keep on coming as we face another strong squad in the Ivory Coast Black Rhinos.  Faced with some losses on each side of the ball this week, we feel we can take advantage and prevail.

OFFENSE (60% Pass 40% Run) - 3 WR/TE/RB Base 

With Bradley Roby and Maurice Hurst both out this week, we feel their absence is our gain both on the ground and through the air.  We will operate out of our usual base 3 Wide set, but also add on a couple different formations to exploit this weakness.

Passing Game:  The Rhinos secondary is ripe for the picking and we are going to be a little more aggressive in our pass game this week.  We are going to run a lot of pre-snap motion with Tyreek to get a read on coverages.  We don’t think their CBs can keep up with us in man and Carr will especially go after Terrell and Diggs out of 3 and 4 wide sets.  Against zone, we will target Reek and Landry on crossers and Higgins on boundary and double move routes.  Against cover 2 looks, we are just going to take the easy stuff underneath to Hurst and Landry, while mixing in some screens to Jacobs to get him into space against light boxes.

Running Game:  Jacobs will be the focus of our run game, with AP and Davis spelling him from time to time.  We are going to run behind our OTs a lot in this game, we want to force their edge defenders to account for the run game; we will use stretches and tosses to get Jacobs out on the edge. Losing Hurst in the middle isn’t the end of the world as Cote Ivoire has some good interior depth, but we’re still going to pound it up the middle.  Behind our interior O Line, we feel Jacobs can 1 cut into the hole and get to the second level for successful carries.

Protection:  It goes without saying that IC’s defensive strength lies in their EDGE rushers.  We think our book ends match up well here, but players like Mack and Garrett are game changers and we want to limit their big plays.  We already mentioned how we want to run at the edges, letting our tackles take the offensive and sap some energy from their dynamic duo.  On obvious passing downs, we will keep in Jacobs as extra protection focussed on the RDE and have Hurst double team the LDE with the option of either staying in as max protect or slip out as a safety valve.

Wrinkle:  We’ve seen how successful Devin White has been with blitzing recently and we expect IC to utilize the blitz in this matchup as well.  White’s success has been based on deception and timing and we will counter with some deception of our own, using hard counts and silent counts to disrupt the timing of blitzes from him and David.  Carr will have full control to audible out of plays to neutralize this threat, calling for quick slants to White’s abandoned zone or run plays away from the blitzer’s slot.

Formations:

• 3 WR Base - 60% 

• 12 Personnel - 20% - Hill/Higgins/Hurst/Ebron 

• 4 WR - 10% - Hill/Landry/Higgins/Jeudy

• 3 WR Jumbo 10% - Hill/Landry/Higgins/Jacobs - Kaleb McGary comes on as a Swing Tackle for Super Max Protect/Run Game Mauler

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

ICBR features a balanced attack with serious weapons at Tannehill’s disposal.  We think our defense is up to the challenge and will utilize these concepts to limit their effectiveness.

Big Front - We are beefing up our D Line this week so they can focus on stopping Zeke and Edmonds.  With Peters and Jones clogging the middle while Graham and Watt defend the edge, we think we generally limit their effectiveness on the ground.  We all know Tannehill has Man Beast Henry to rely on for balance IRL, not sure that translates here, especially with Trent Williams out this week.  If we can stop the run game from gaining traction, we don’t think Tannehill is going to beat our CBs enough to keep up.  Zach Cunningham will be primarily focussed on stopping RBs in this one.

Man Coverage -  Man coverage gives us the most flexibility to scheme against ICBR and we will be in man at least 80% in this match up.  Howard takes Claypool, Rhodes on Anderson and Verrett on McLaurin.  We don’t mind getting physical at the line, but its not going to be a focus, we want to shadow these guys and force Tannehill to make perfect throws.  All our guys are top technicians and play the ball, if Tannehill is inaccurate, it could cost them dearly with a turnover or pick 6.  Wright gets Cook, Cunningham gets TE2 in 2TE looks, Douglas gets WR4 in 4 wide sets and Minkah takes WR5 in 5 wide sets.

Robber - Stealing a play from JLash, Minkah Fitz will play the Robber technique out of our base to provide an additional presence in the middle of the field, helping in both run support and extra coverage underneath.  For those who need a refresher course, the idea is that the safeties line up in Cover 2 and shift at the snap as such:

Disguising our deep coverage is key to Tannehill’s decision making, so we will mix this in frequently to keep him guessing whether we are in Cover 1 or Cover 2 pre snap, forcing him to process additional info after the snap.

Get to the QB - We are going to have a fair amount of blitzes called in this game as we think if Tannehill is forced to throw to keep up, we want to make him as uncomfortable in the pocket as possible.  We will blitz Cunningham up the middle and from the wings often against 3 WR sets on passing downs.  We will also use corner blitzes out of the slot with Minkah rolling coverage to the slot.

[Scoundrel]

This was a good game to me. I think Gotham has a bit of an edge for me in overall game plan but IC has a bit better overall roster. However I believe it is up to our discretion if a player doesn’t play because of covid reasons that they are inactive or not in BDL? With Trent Williams not in imo, that is a point in favor of Gotham. Regardless I like the defined direction of Gotham’s plan and why they are doing what they are doing is a little bit more detailed than IC. IC is going to alter their game plan passing wise based on what they are seeing defensively. Well without any motion mentioned presnap and Gotham implementing a Robber look that will look like Cover 2 to Tannehill thus leading to slants and rub routes Minkah is in prime position to make some key plays. I do think they get a TD on Justin Simmons however who has surrendered a league leading 6 TDs against this season. Gotham wins a close one.

[Blue]

I'm just here so I don't get fined.

[VigilantZombie]

First and foremost, well done to both of you on the gameplans  

I think this is a very close game, a true nailbitet in every sense of the word. Ultimately I give a slight edge to Gotham's defense in overall talent. I think that makes the difference. 17-16 Gotham

[Jlash]

Appreciate the Robber nod, @pheltzbahr

[Jlash]

What a good matchup. 

I'd say Gotham has the advantage in skill players on offense, but the ICBR front 7 is a group of fantastic athletes as well as football players so running the ball won't work. Gotham has a clear advantage in the secondary to me, even though ICBR has underrated receiving weapons I think Gothams corners are so strong it's going to be hard to move the ball consistently, while Gotham should find some success through the air, albeit limited.

14-10 Gotham.

[Pickle Rick]

Bad QB performances this week.  Game comes down imo to the running game and that is Gotham (with or without IC playing Williams).  

[MD4L]

I don’t understand how this matchup is so one-sided. Gotham’s offensive game plan was to target Diggs and Terrell is important to note because the road team put their best CBs on Gotham’s two best weapons. I also think the choice of putting their 3rd best CB on McLauren is a mistake because he’s probably the top receiver on the road teams roster.

Conversely, I like Ivory Coast LBs and their interior defensive line isn’t a liability; it’s just not the ridiculously explosive edge rush they possess.

I do think Minkah + Simmons can each force a TO because their dynamic ability but I can see Tannehill doing just enough with McLauren and the road teams pass rush allowing a close victory to Ivory Coast.

[Ragnarok]

Losses for IC cost them in a very close match up.

[rackcs]

Very surprised at how lopsided this voting is as this was probably the second toughest game for me to vote for this week. I agree with MD4L that having Verrett play on McLaurin is a real mistake matchup wise. Despite this though I think the Gotham secondary is just about as good as it gets in this league and still is able to limit Tannehill enough to take it.

[pheltzbahr]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm curious as to how each if you would have assigned CBs differently in man.

@MD4L

@rackcs

Edited November 12, 2020 by pheltzbahr

[MD4L]

1 minute ago, pheltzbahr said:

Thanks for the feedback, I'm curious as to how each if you would have assigned CBs differently in man.

@MD4L

@rackcs

Xavien Howard + Xavier Rhodes are talented enough to shadow and move to the slot for a matchup so it would’ve helped. I think Verrett and one of your safeties would’ve been plenty enough too.

[rackcs]

It's definitely a tough matchup with three good WRs with some size but McLaurin is easily the most talented of three and Verrett is the least talented of your three CBs (although obviously he's still very good. I think I probably would've had Verrett on Anderson. The height mismatch is there but I think speed wise Verrett can keep up with him and I think skill wise it's a good matchup.

It's like I said though, I would've maybe changed the assignments but the secondary is so good that I think it didn't make too much of a difference.