BDL 2021 Week 5 - Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Death Valley Nightmare

[SirA1]

BDL 2021 Week 5

Match:  Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Death Valley Nightmare

Away Owner:  @RuskieTitan

Home Owner:  @wwhickok

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

[SirA1]

Ivory Coast

QB- Ryan Tannehill
RB- Nick Chubb
WR- Terry McLaurin
WR- Chase Claypool
WR- A.J. Green
TE- Noah Fant
LT- Trent Williams
LG- Damien Lewis
C- Jason Kelce
RG- Zack Martin
RT- Andrew Whitworth

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RB- Ezekiel Elliott
RB- Jeremy McNichols
WR- Robby Anderson
WR- Amon-Ra St. Brown
WR- Chester Rogers
TE- Evan Engram
OL- Josh Jones
OL- Quinn Meinerz

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DE- Khalil Mack
NT- Teair Tart
DT- Da'Ron Payne
DE- Myles Garrett
WLB- Devin White
MLB- Lavonte David
SCB- Patrick Peterson
CB- A.J. Terrell
CB- Trevon Diggs
S- Jimmie Ward
S- Devin McCourty

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DE- Chase Young
DE- Darrell Taylor
DT- Christian Barmore
DT- Milton Williams
DT- Maurice Hurst
LB- Patrick Queen
CB- Bradley Roby
CB- Darnay Holmes
S- Troy Apke

 

Death Valley Nightmare

Offense:
QB: Matthew Stafford
RB: Derrick Henry
WR: Corey Davis
WR: Jalen Reagor
WR: KJ Osborn
TE: Dawson Knox
LT: Penei Sewell
LG: Dion Dawkins
C : Creed Humphrey
RG: Mark Glowinski
RT:  Morgan Moses

Bench:
RB:Alvin Kamara
WR: Anthony Schwartz
WR:  Freddie Swain
WR: Jalen Guyton
TE2: Tyler Conklin
TE3: Robert Tonyan
OT: Chuks Okorafor
OG: Cody Ford

Defense
LE: Calais Campbell 
NT: Javon Hargrave
RE: Cam Heyward
LOLB: Maxx Crosby 
ILB: Devin Bush
ILB: Zaven Collins
ROLB: Brian Burns
CB: Darius Slay
CB: Trayvon Mullen
FS: Xavier Woods
SS: Jeremy Chinn

Bench:

DE/NT: Raekwon Davis
OLB: Malik Harrison
ILB: Jordyn Brooks
ILB: Jerome Baker
NCB: James Pierre
S: Xavier McKinney
S: Javon Holland
S: Marquise Blair

[SirA1]

Ivory Coast

Motivation: Beat Deaf Valley

Offense
Primary Formation: 11 Personnel Single Back:

We will primarily operate out of 11 personnel for this game, but will also have a healthy dose of 12 personnel, kicking out a receiver and bringing in another TE. We welcome back Chase Claypool as part of the top four heavy rotation of McLaurin-Green-Claypool- Anderson, though out other receiving targets will get some snaps as well to keep everyone fresh. Josh Jones is our swing lineman, operating as a 6^th offensive lineman on goal line, and once or twice as a lead blocker in the I formation. We’re going to focus on sustaining lengthy time-consuming drives, focusing a little more on the run over the pass, but nothing that would tip our hand to what we will do.

Running Game Focus:

60-35-5 Chubb-Elliott-McNichols. We’ll be more spread with 3 receivers, so we anticipate a lighter box, and we will win our matchups to open up holes up the middle, leveraging double teams depending on which gap we want to attack (A or B). Working those doubles through Heyward or Campbell and up to the linebackers, we feel confident in our running back’s abilities to gain yardage and make the right read. We’re going with a more balanced rotation to really keep our backs fresh and running hard all game long. We’ll focus a little more running up the middle rather than bouncing outside against their linebacker’s speed. We want to focus on controlling the clock, and sustaining long scoring drives on their defense. The running game will also help set up the playaction pass.

Passing Game Focus:

We keep AJ Green in the starting trio, with Chase Claypool also making his return. Robby Anderson will be coming off the bench, but he’s going to be used for deep routes to threaten the defense deep, if the playaction sets it up we’ll take the shot. He’ll also take some bubble screens. McLaurin will operate as the #1, shifting around the field to take advantage of matchups. AJ Green will be lined up outside more often, with Claypool taking the slot / opposite Green with McLaurin inside. We’ll also have some snaps for St. Brown and Rogers, as well as bringing Engram in and splitting him wide to see if we have a mismatch. Our backs will split 50-50 on pass protection or route out of the backfield, with Tannehill getting rid of the ball quickly if the pressure is coming and taking advantage of our backs getting out into open field. We’re going to scheme a few plays to take advantage of Fant and Engram’s athleticism, using them as additional receivers split out wide. They have a solid pass rush, but we like our offensive line to hold up and give Tannehill enough time to identify the player winning their matchup and getting the ball out. We’re going to focus on attack all levels of the field, and with McLaurin moving around a lot pre-snap, we’ll see if they tip their hand on man or zone, and see who gets the quick release.

X-Factor on Offense: Break their will:

Player morale on the Death Valley squad must be low, with numerous players threatened on the trading block daily. We will seek to exploit this weakness, and be physical on offense, placing an emphasis on the running game and hitting people. We want to control the clock, wearing down the defense and grinding them all game long. Our offensive line will punish their defensive line, ensuring that when they need to pass rush they’ll be tired and beaten.

 

Defense
Defensive Formation: 4-2-5 Defense:

The Valley Boys have come out with a 3-receiver primary set in three of the past four weeks, including the past two weeks, so we anticipate that trend continues. With 3 receiver sets, we will come out in a 4-2-5 formation. Payne and Tart will man the middle, with Mack and Garrett on the edges. We’re going to have Devin White and Lavonte David as the off-ball linebackers, and run a trio of Trevon Diggs, AJ Terrell, and Patrick Peterson. We’re going to use Diggs and Terrell as our boundary corners, with PP manning the slot; that being said, we’re slapping Diggs on Corey Davis and shadowing all game long; if he goes into the slot Diggs will follow. We’re not shadowing any other receiver with a specific matchup, as Ridley is out and we like our chances with the other matchups. If Valley wants to go with 2 receivers or fewer, Patrick Peterson will come out, and Patrick Queen will come on to take the weakside linebacker spot, with Lavonte David taking the strong side and Devin White holding the middle. Ward and McCourty will operate at the safety spots. For dime situations (4 receivers) we’ll have Lavonte David come out and bring in Bradley Roby. If they ever go 5 wide, we’ll play a mixture of zone coverages rather than take out one of the four down linemen with a 4-1-6 personnel. We’re going to have 9 defensive linemen getting snaps, so the big boys are going to be fresh on their efforts throughout the game and not be as impacted by Henry’s runs late in the game. We’re also ensuring that we aren’t negatively impacted by any injuries.

Against the Pass: 30 Zone 70 Man:

We like our matchups on defense for this game, as the Valley passing game is lacking receiving threats on the perimeter. As such, we’re going to lean more heavily on man coverage, trusting our corners to smother the receivers and limit Stafford’s windows. Diggs will be shadowing Davis on all plays, even when in zone, to avoid tipping the coverage pre-snap. We’re going to play our corners within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage or closer on most plays, avoiding any quick slants or free releases for the offense. The safeties will alternate between cover 2 over the top, and cover 1 with the other alternating duties between man on the TE and the HB. The other defender responsible for the TE/HB with the safety will be David primarily. When the safeties have the cover 2, David will take the tight end and White will be keying on the running back, coming in to rush the middle on most plays. If the back is splitting out wide, White will follow and use his athleticism in coverage. Otherwise, run or pass White will be generally penetrating up the middle to generate pass rush at Stafford, or hit the back (Kamara or Henry) before they can get going. If we notice that Valley tries to take advantage by hitting the back coming out of the backfield, we’ll scale back, or run a few zones with our corners taking the flats and coming up to hit the back as the ball arrives. In general, we want to be stifling over the top and anything intermediate to deep, while attacking the line of scrimmage with 5 players on most plays to pressure Stafford or collapse the running game before it gets started. When we have a 7 man front (4 down linemen, 3 linebackers), David gets the primary TE and Queen will take the second TE, or primary back when we run man coverages, with White taking the lowest priority target as he will be coming up the middle. On third and fourth and very long (10+), we’ll introduce our Blitz pass rush – Mack and Garrett/Young sliding into the middle, with Taylor and Young/Garrett on the edges. Taylor has also earned some snaps at Edge rotation with the Hydra trio, keeping them fresh into the fourth, and with five interior linemen, we won’t get worn down late in the game.

Against the Run:

The best way to stop Henry is to hit him in the backfield before he can pick up momentum and speed. Similarly, we want to avoid Kamara getting into the open field, so we’re going to be relying on penetration. Our defensive tackles are going to stunt and twist to get through and disrupt the interior lanes, while also providing chaos to allow for linebackers to flow freely behind. With White coming in with middle pressure, flying around the interior bodies, we’re going to have 5 men coming in and frankly we like our defensive linemen and linebacker to be able to win hat-on-hat matchups, assuming the speed / talent even gets blocked on a stunt. While our safeties are splitting time with cover 2, we’ll have one of them play up a bit closer to the line of scrimmage (5-8 yards off) at regular intervals to not tip our coverage, and again, support against the running game.

X-Factor on Defense: Penetration:

We will penetrate Death Valley all game long. We feel that our defensive line will be able to overwhelm their offensive line. Creed Humphrey has looked solid, but he’s still a rookie, and with White coming through the middle in a variety of ways – Standing in the A-gap to shoot through at the snap, looping around the interior defensive linemen on stunts, coming on delayed blitzes – we’re hoping to keep the offensive line off-balance with the pre-snap calls and protection slides. With the interior being a mixture of linemen and linebackers, our edges will be collapsing the pocket from the perimeter, eliminating outside runs on the way to the quarterback. Penetrating the offense in a variety of ways helps to not only stop their running game from getting started, it also has the added benefit of getting hits on the quarterback over and over, and force quick decisions where our playmakers in the secondary can take advantage.

 

Death Valley Nightmare

 

Offensive Gameplan

While IC has a very good interior DL, the real juice of their defense is at the edges of that defense and for that reason, While Kamara will see the field plenty, Derrick "King" Henry takes his rightful place on the throne.

We intend to pound the rock a lot in this game. With Ridley sidelined, we are going to simplify our passing attack a but. We will use a lot more 3WR and 2 TE sets mixed with occasional 4 WR sets, empty sets and 2-RB Sets.

In 2 RB sets, we will use a...dare I set it, RPO like offense with Henry and Kamara out of the backfield. In 4 WR sets we will bring Swain & Osborn onto the field. We will both run and pass out of 2 WR sets. Knox and Conklin will see a good amount of targets in this game as well. All 3 TEs will take their turns blocking and Ronyan will see some quick short passes in space.

We plan to use Jalen Guyton in a few run plays and Schwartz in some quick WR screens. This game will also feature  some more RB Screens to keep the pass rush at bay.

Defensive Gameplan 
We are going into this game expecting to see a lot of Elliot and Chubb. We will be starting out the game with our base 3-4 Defense to prepare to stop the run with Chinn assigned to the RB (assigned to Chubb if both are on the field at the same time). Once again keeping Woods deep to protect from getting beat by Scary Terry.

If it appears his Gameplan is more pass heavy, we will adjust accordingly into more Nickel and Dime formations and Chinn, like previous weeks will fall into his Robber role.

I'm coverage Slay will take on McLaurin and Mullen will take on Claypool (if he plays), if CC is out Mullen will take Anderson.

Slay - McLaurin
Mullen - Claypool (or Anderson)

Pierre - Anderson (or #3 WR)
Robert Rochell - #4 WR

Marquise Blair- #5 WR

We believe that IC's best formations are going to be some variation of 2-TE, 2-RB, 3-WR. That isn't to suggest they can't run an empty set, 4 WR, or even 5WR here because they have the weapons to do it but it isn't where their strength is. Our Dline's just in this game will be to contain and crush the pocket wnd let the outside backers get into the backfield. Having said that we will be blitzing just 25% in this game because of their strength in running, it would be counterproductive to over blitz just for them to be running the ball.

ILBs will be responsible for TE coverage.

We expect some RPO stuff so we are asking our ILBs to be disciplined and engage the ball carrier, read and react.

In the event of 5 WRs I will bring in 3 Safeties, 5 CBs and my DL. Marquise Blair would be used as the 5th CB in this situation to make up for current depth shortages.

[Blue]

Going with the better quarterback in a fantastic matchup here.

[Pickle Rick]

Not enough passing to allow for the rock to roll down the field imo.  IC imo 

Edited October 13, 2021 by Pickle Rick

[SirA1]

This is a close one but I will give the edge to the BR defense.

28-24

Hopefully  Ruskie votes this week

[bcb1213]

Think Ic made a huge error running stunts for some reason when expecting runs. Puts your guys out of position from the start 

Dv 24-20

[RuskieTitan]

45 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

Think Ic made a huge error running stunts for some reason when expecting runs. Puts your guys out of position from the start 

Dv 24-20

Appreciate the feedback. In the future I'll make it clearer that we're not running stunts non-stop the whole game. Stunts were one form of the penetration that I kept reiterating for our defensive line. Some of my prior weeks I make it clear that the interior is focused on occupying blocks for our linebackers, whereas this week we are penetrating, whether run or pass.

Goal in the running game would be to get results like this:

If there's some other way to describe what I'm trying to accomplish, I'm open to receiving feedback.

[bcb1213]

26 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

Appreciate the feedback. In the future I'll make it clearer that we're not running stunts non-stop the whole game. Stunts were one form of the penetration that I kept reiterating for our defensive line. Some of my prior weeks I make it clear that the interior is focused on occupying blocks for our linebackers, whereas this week we are penetrating, whether run or pass.

Goal in the running game would be to get results like this:

If there's some other way to describe what I'm trying to accomplish, I'm open to receiving feedback.

Yea I don't see any stunts there.

What I'm assuming you're trying to do is have the DT take on a guard pushing him in and the end taking the tackle and pushing him out to create a free run for your lb.  That's not a stunt

A stunt is when an interior player rushes towards the edge and the end loops around towards the interior to catch the guard out of place chasing the DT to get a free run at the qb .  It's virtually always a pass rush move as the hole it can create with no effort from the o line on plays running directly at it is huge.   

[RuskieTitan]

17 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

Yea I don't see any stunts there.

What I'm assuming you're trying to do is have the DT take on a guard pushing him in and the end taking the tackle and pushing him out to create a free run for your lb.  That's not a stunt

A stunt is when an interior player rushes towards the edge and the end loops around towards the interior to catch the guard out of place chasing the DT to get a free run at the qb .  It's virtually always a pass rush move as the hole it can create with no effort from the o line on plays running directly at it is huge.   

Fair enough. What term would be better suited for what I'm trying to describe?

[bcb1213]

31 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

Fair enough. What term would be better suited for what I'm trying to describe?

I feel like @MWil23 is the man for this 

[Jlash]

Went IC. I think over the course of the game DV's lack of CB depth against lots of good targets in IC will cost them.

[MWil23]

2 hours ago, RuskieTitan said:

Fair enough. What term would be better suited for what I'm trying to describe?

Your utilizing a B gap plug backer with a penetrating A gap 2I or 3 tech DT head up on the OG, likely through his inside shoulder, and having your DE as your primary edge setter. Great stuff unless you have him to the TE side, in which case you will be short an EDGE setter and will need to account for that with an OLB or rundown safety…unless you want a crease in the C gap (you don’t).  

[RuskieTitan]

3 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

Your utilizing a B gap plug backer with a penetrating A gap 2I or 3 tech DT head up on the OG, likely through his inside shoulder, and having your DE as your primary edge setter. Great stuff unless you have him to the TE side, in which case you will be short an EDGE setter and will need to account for that with an OLB or rundown safety…unless you want a crease in the C gap (you don’t).  

So, if I wanted to say this in english, I would say "____" with the defensive line?

[MD4L]

Lack of big play weapons and slightly better match up for the Rhino defensive line leads to a 20-17 victory in a playoff rematch from last season.