BDL 2021 Week 1 - Gotham Gashslayers @ Lancaster Werewolves

[SirA1]

BDL 2021 Week 1

Match: Gotham Gashslayers @ Lancaster Werewolves

Away Owner: @pheltzbahr

Home Owner:  @rackcs

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

Edited September 12, 2021 by SirA1

[SirA1]

Gotham Gashslayers

OFFENSE

QB - Carson Wentz

RB - Josh Jacobs   

WR - Tyreek Hill

WR - Tee Higgins   

WR - Jerry Jeudy 

WR - Jarvis Landry

LT - Jake Matthews

LG - Laken Tomlinson

C - Chase Roullier

RG - Shaq Mason  

RT - Taylor Moton

 

RB - Mike Davis

RB - Kenyan Drake

WR - Jamison Crowder

TE - Eric Ebron

TE - Hayden Hurst

OL - Daryl Williams

OL - Lloyd Cushenberry

QB - Trey Lance

 

DEFENSE

EDGE - Shaq Barrett

INT - Chris Jones

INT - Grover Stewart

EDGE - Trey Flowers

LB - Zach Cunningham

LB - Jamin Davis

CB - Xavien Howard

CB - Jason Verrett

CB - Damon Arnette

S - Minkah Fitzpatrick

S - Trevon Moehrig

 

DL - Denico Autry

DL - AJ Epenesa

DL - Derek Wolfe

LB - Kwon Alexander

LB - Kyle Van Noy

CB - Vernon Hargreaves

S - Ronnie Harrison

S - DeShon Elliott

 

Lancaster Werewolves

QB: Russell Wilson
RB: Miles Sanders
WR: Mike Evans
WR: Michael Pittman Jr.
WR: Diontae Johnson
TE: George Kittle
LT: Terron Armstead
LG: Quenton Nelson (Q)
😄 Frank Ragnow
RG: Robert Hunt
RT: Lane Johnson

QB: Jared Goff
RB: Leonard Fournette
RB: Trey Sermon
WR: Quez Watkins
TE: Anthony Firkser
OL: Jason Peters
OL: Connor Williams
OL: Ereck Flowers

DE: Joey Bosa
DT: Javon Kinlaw (D)
DT: Kenny Clark
DE: TJ Watt
LB: Bobby Wagner
LB: Fred Warner
CB: Jalen Ramsey
CB: Jaire Alexander
CB: Kindle Vildor
FS: Malcolm Jenkins
SS: Vonn Bell

INT: Linval Joseph
INT: Brandon Williams
INT: Justin Madubuike
EDGE: Pernell McPhee
EDGE: Clelin Ferrell
LB: Willie Gay Jr.
CB: Kevin King
S: Taylor Rapp

 

[SirA1]

Gotham Gashslayers

OFFENSE (65% Pass 35% Run) - 4 WR/RB Base

Week one and the Gashslayers welcome back Carson Wentz to once again lead our offensive attack, this time airing it out.  Coming out in a 4 WR Air Raid, we want to utilize our playmakers against

Passing Game  -  Coming out in an Air Raid forces Lancaster to adjust their Defense or face crippling mismatches.  Yes, they have Ramsey and Alexander as CB1 and 2, but how about 3 and 4?  Tyreek has proven to be unrecoverable for an entire game by one CB, so he is going to need extra attention or make plays even if Ramsey or Alexander is assigned in man because neither can match his speed.  We will target Hill against single coverage often and whoever Ramsey and Alexander are not covering; 2 of Jeudy, Higgins and Landry will have talent mismatches against the likes of King, Waynes or Vildor...they will be picked on relentlessly here.

Running Game  -  With a 4 Wide Base, we are forcing Lancaster into a Dime Base Defense, leaving 5 or 6 man boxes for our RBs to exploit.  With a spread out defense, we will attack across the entire defensive front, keeping the lone Lancaster LB guessing.  Since we are focussing on the pass game, our RB will be in for pass protect a fair amount of time.  If no blitz is detected, Jacobs or Davis can be used as a checkdown option as well.

 

DEFENSE - 4-2-5 Hybrid Nickel

Russell Wilson is still a stud, but he’s a pocket guy as this point in his career, no longer the dual threat monster he once was.  As such, our D Line will look to collapse the pocket on him, not allowing him to use his creativity to escape and extend the play.

Lancaster has a solid and balanced offensive attack, but George Kittle is the only threat that needs specific attention.  We will bracket Kittle with Cunningham and Fitz, forcing Wilson to get the ball to Kittle in tight widows or risk a turnover.  Howard and Verrett play sides on the boundary.

Not that concerned with the Lancaster RBs against my D Line, I think they will try and attack more through the air, so we are prepared for that.

 

Lancaster Werewolves

 

Lancaster Offensive Strategy:

We’re excited to start off another season against divisional foe Gotham here and we like the matchup we have, particularly with a key injury for the Gashslayers in the secondary. We think we can have the most success in the passing game so we’re going to let Russell Wilson do his job and spread the ball around to our many offensive weapons. Xavien Howard is one of the best cornerbacks in the game right now but with Xavier Rhodes out, Damon Arnette likely gets pushed into a starting role, creating a matchup we think we might can exploit.

We’re going to use pre-snap motion to help Wilson identify favorable matchups. In particular, we’re going to motion and split out wide both George Kittle and Miles Sanders to see if we can get one of them covered by linebackers. We aren’t particularly afraid of any of Gotham’s linebackers in coverage so if we can get one of them covering either of those guys, we’ll go to that.

We also do want to pick on Arnette a bit as he struggled last year in coverage. Whether he’s playing on the inside (against Diontae Johnson) or outside (against Michael Pittman), we think we can have success against him. As previously stated, Howard is a great corner but we think Evans can still have success against him so we won’t be afraid to target him.

In the running game we want to use Sanders very similarly to how we used Kamara last year. We want to get him on the outside in space where he can use his shiftiness to make guys miss. We’re going to mix in Leonard Fournette plenty as well as he can be pretty versatile, running him inside or between the tackles. This week the running game will be just a complement and not a focus so nothing fancy as far as the running game goes.

Lancaster Defensive Strategy:

Gotham has some good offensive weapons but we think with his weakness at QB we can limit what this offense is capable of. We want to stop their main weapon in the passing game (Tyreek Hill) and then focus on limiting the running game outside of that. Ultimately we think the key to both of these will be winning in the trenches, where we think we have a strong advantage. We can stop long developing passing plays from developing and keep holes from opening up in the running game.

In order to limit Tyreek Hill, we’re going to have Jaire Alexander cover him with Malcolm Jenkins bracketing him with help over the top. We know it’s not possible to completely eliminate Hill but have a corner like Alexander covering him with help over top should slow him down enough. Jalen Ramsey will take on Tee Higgins in coverage, a matchup we like. Kindle Vildor will take Jerry Jeudy. If they go with a 4 WR look, Vildor will take Landry and Kevin King will take Jeudy. If a TE is out, Fred Warner will cover them. Bobby Wagner will cover the RB if he comes out of the backfield and generally play the run. Finally Vonn Bell will play a variety of roles, playing zone over the middle, sometimes playing deeper, sometimes blitzing. He’ll be a bit of a swiss army knife for us in the box.

In the trenches we think we have a strong advantage. We have one of the top pass rushing EDGE duos in the league and expect them to get plenty of pressure from the outside. We think Gotham’s iOL is particularly vulnerable as well to Kenny Clark. We also want to occasionally have Watt and Bosa do stunts and things to get them working against some of Gotham’s interior guys. If Kinlaw doesn’t play, which seems likely, then Joseph and Williams will rotate next to Clark with Ferrell sliding inside next to Clark on obvious passing downs. Ultimately we think we will regularly be able to get pressure against Wentz (or whoever is starting) which will help us beat Gotham.

[Pickle Rick]

Even with a weak *** showing from Mike Evans, Lancaster has to much weapons and a strong D.  They take this one pretty easily 

[Jlash]

I'd like to point out that as a lifelong Malcolm Jenkins fan, he's got no business playing over the top in any situation ever, for the last 6 years probably. Lancaster has a gaggle of strong safeties and they gotta figure that out. 

[Jlash]

Also think it's foolish to label Russ as "a pocket guy". Dude still runs around like a mad man back there. 

[Jlash]

I'm gonna take the under dog in Gotham here. Lancaster missing a crucial IOL and the replacements aren't favorable, plus playing two SS's trying to contain Hill over the top, even with Carson's propensity to lose fumbles playing hero ball I think they can squeak one out.

[SirA1]

Lancaster at home for me. Russell is cooking early and that defense will give the Gotham OL fits.

Lancaster

28 - 24

[Scoundrel]

I’ve got Lancaster. Picking on Arnette is smart, he played one defensive snap Monday night also. Also think Gotham appears kind of just meh about stopping the RBs and while I think Chris Jones does wreak some havoc I think Lancaster is attacking the defense in the right spots with the running game on the outside. Really like the Gotham receivers matching up with the Lancaster corners. That’s a fun matchup that I think both have their wins and losses. Gotham a few more in the slot but just not enough to over come Russ and the offense of Lancaster. 

[rackcs]

3 hours ago, Jlash said:

I'm gonna take the under dog in Gotham here. Lancaster missing a crucial IOL and the replacements aren't favorable, plus playing two SS's trying to contain Hill over the top, even with Carson's propensity to lose fumbles playing hero ball I think they can squeak one out.

If you're referring to Quenton Nelson, he played this week

[bcb1213]

I think both offenses surprisingly have nice games considering some of the defensive talent both teams possess.  Gotham going after arnette should work well in the slot which the Gotham LB just,.werent good. Davis looked lost from what I saw of the redskins game    in the end I expect Watt or Bosa to make a couple more big plays against mathews than the studs from Gotham.  Wentz likely makes a critical point error under one of those rushes and that's the difference as russ does just enough on the other side.  Lancaster 30-24

[Ragnarok]

Gotham has good safeties and issues at CB while Lancaster has good CBs and issues at S.  Both have good DLs.  Lancaster LBs are much better right now.

Lancaster has an OL advantage, although the right side of Gotham's OL is very good.  Lancaster has a small weapons advantage.  Lancaster has the QB advantage.

Going Lancaster.

[RuskieTitan]

Lancaster offense matches up better against the Gotham defense than vice versa. Also feel that Lancaster has the stronger gameplan. That heavy reliance on Wentz and the passing game, offensive line can win most matchups but it only takes one play to completely swing the game, and I think Lancaster's defense is able to achieve that more often than Gotham.

[MD4L]

On 9/14/2021 at 8:02 PM, Jlash said:

he's got no business playing over the top in any situation ever

Lol, I read that in the writeup and immediately said that’s not going to be enough. Luckily Jaire is a stud with elite deep speed.

[MD4L]

I don’t think Gotham gets gashed as Russell did in week one. I also see Jeudy having a career game with who’s covering him. It’s more of a defensive affair but Gotham should certainly look at Mac Jones for the remainder of the season.

Lancaster 27-17.