BDL 2021 Week 5 - Camden Hood Rats @ Anchorage Trappers

[Whicker]

BDL 2021 Week 5

Match:  Camden Hood Rats @ Anchorage Trappers

Away Owner:   @Jlash

Home Owner:  @Scoundrel

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.

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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

[Whicker]

QB- Sam Darnold
RB- Austin Ekeler
WR- AJ Brown
WR- Cooper Kupp
WR- Tyler Boyd
TE- Zach Ertz
LT- Orlando Brown Jr
LG- Cody Whitehair
C- JC Tretter
RG- Kevin Zeitler
RT- Lucas Niang
_____________________
RB- Damien Harris
RB- Sony Michel
WR- Terrace Marshall Jr
WR- Quintez Cephus
TE- Harrison Bryant
OL- Ben Cleveland
OL- Taylor Lewan
QB- Baker Mayfield

 

DE- Josh Allen
DT- DJ Reader
DT- Poona Ford
DE- Montez Sweat
LB- Darius Leonard
LB- Drue Tranquill
CB- Denzel Ward
CB- Asante Samuel Jr
CB- CJ Henderson
S- Justin Simmons
S- Justin Reid
________________________
DE- Yannick Ngakoue
DE/LB- Josh Uche
CB- Greedy Williams
CB- L'Jarius Sneed
LB- Keanu Neal
DL- Osa Odighizuwa
DL- Maliek Collins
S- Eric Rowe

 

 

 

 

 

Base Offense:

QB- Joe Burrow

RB- Jonathan Taylor

X- Ja’Marr Chase

Z- Henry Ruggs

Slot- DeVonta Smith

TE- Kyle Pitts

LT- DJ Humphries

LG- Joe Thuney

C- David Andrews

RG- Dalton Risner

RT- Rob Havenstein
 

Bench

RB- Tony Pollard

RB- Darrell Henderson Jr

WR- Marvin Jones Jr

WR- Bryan Edwards

TE- Tyler Higbee

FB- Vita Vea

OL- Andrew Thomas

OL- Cesar Ruiz

 

Base Defense:

RE- Azeez Ojulari

NT- Vita Vea

UT- Leonard Williams

LE- Sam Hubbard 

ILB- Micah Parsons

Enforcer- Budda Baker

CB- Jaylon Johnson

CB- Patrick Surtain II 

Nickel- Kristian Fulton

FS- Jessie Bates

SS- Kamren Curl

 

Bench

Edge- Malik Reed

Edge- Alton Robinson

IDL- Jonathan Hankins 

IDL- Ed Oliver

ILB- Cole Holcomb

ILB- Kenneth Murray

S/CB- CJ Gardner Johnson 

CB- Darious Williams 

[Whicker]

Offense
This week we head to the alcohol fueled football city of Anchorage to take on the Trappers. Last year this would've been a cake walk for most teams, but their roster has finally come together and they present a ton of challenges for us. Offensively here is how we plan to attack them.

Take more chances- We've played fairly conservative this year, but as the famous phrase goes "you gotta risk it for the biscuit". We're gonna swap QB's today mainly because Darnold is also the greatest rushing QB of all time through 4 games and leads the league in rushing TD's. In all seriousness it's just a spark thing for our team, as Darnold will be asked to throw it around a bit more today. We're going to use lots of motion and bunch patterns to give us a feel pre snap of what the Anchorage defense is doing in coverage. We'll run flood concepts out of those formations if Anchorage is hitting us with a lot of zone stuff, and in man we can run mesh and rub concepts to make the DB's work through traffic. Expect a couple more deep shots to AJ Brown today than usual and we'll be sending guys like Marshall deep from time to time as well. We'll go 4 wide a fair amount to spread this defense out and give Darnold some options. Ertz/Bryant will likely be the forgotten men by this D, so expect some routes down the seam from both TE's to test the Trappers discipline.

Work side to side- In the run game, we want to work the edges for a couple reasons. 1) The Trappers have some big bodies in the middle we'd like to tire out by forcing them to work laterally all game 2) The Trappers also have some young athletic defenders that we hope we can catch over pursuing at critical times in the game and either burn them on PA passes or counter runs. Ekeler will be the catalyst for this today and we'll use his speed and elusiveness to get the job done. 

Protect Darnold- We don't want anyone seeing ghosts today, so we'll use some max protect with an extra OL today and/or keeping our TE in to block or chip before heading out on their routes. Micah Parsons will likely be used in some blitzing situations so we won't lose sight of where he is in the formation and we'll make sure he's also got to worry about Ekeler sneaking out on a blitz beater to his side if they let him get too aggressive.

 

Defense (Tampa 2/ Press Cover 3 base)
The Trappers offense is really what they've been building towards for years at this point. The instantly chemistry between Burrow/Chase has been real and they'e surrounded those two with threats all around, it'll be a real test for us today. Here is how we plan on slowing them down. 

Tampa 2- While we know about Anchorage's big star weapons in Chase/Ruggs/Smith they have a guy who hasn't quite broken out yet but we can't forget about him in Kyle Pitts. This is where the Tampa 2 will work today with Leonard playing the deep middle to contain Pitts when he's in line. This allows us to keep two safeties deep to combat the big play ability of the Trapper WR's but also takes away that soft middle that TE's can exploit in that scheme. If they want to split Pitts out wide a bunch, expect Rowe to come in for Tranquill to cover Pitts while Leonard gets RB duty. In 2 TE sets Tranquill stays in to get the other TE and Rowe replaces the nickel. This shell is mostly man coverage aside from the safeties and deep LB, and we'll keep Ward in the slot if they want Ruggs there to match speed for speed. Henderson will get Jones and Samuel will get tasked with Chase. 

Cover 3- This will give us a similar ability to stop the deep plays from Anchorage but allows us to switch up to a zone look against Burrow to keep him guessing. With our interchangeable safeties, this look is hard to tell at first glance until the snap and the corners bail and the linebackers jump into those intermediate zones. We're hoping we can catch Burrow trying to catch something quick thinking he's got man coverage and he tosses one right into a lane a defender is dropping into. Both these shells also allow us to keep plenty of defenders in the intermediate area of the field to help against the run. Taylor/Henderson/Pollard are a dangerous trio and we haven't forgotten about them. Ford draws the start next to Reader to give us some more run stopping ability in the middle.

Mix up line play- We can't get Burrow get comfortable. So on top of some of our usual blitzes from time to time with our LB's (Uche included) we want to work line shifts and stunts to make sure Burrow can't just drop back and read coverage, he's also got to worry about lineman looping around into gaps and attacking as well. We think with our base ends experience dropping into coverage at times it gives us the ability to get more exotic about manufacturing pressure in this game.

 

 

 

 

 

Overview: We are 2-1-1 with our first winning record in a very long time. We look to continue our two game winning streak as we welcome a very well coached visiting team in the Hood Rats. 

 

Offense:

• We will feature our base 3 wide about 40%, and mix in Bunch 30%, 2 TE 15% and 4 Wide 15%.
• We will utilize a zone rushing attack as this fits our backs running style best. Allowing our backs to choose their holes and using their vision to gash the defense will be the focal point of our run game. We will have Jonathan Taylor be our lead back but once again we will give Pollard and Henderson a solid amount of touches to keep our backs fresh throughout the game.
• We will utilize Vita Vea again as a FB on the goal line and critical short yardage situations. 
• We will implement some play action off of our running game to provide us with opportunities to take some shots down field. 
• We feature a young promising quartet of receiving threats including Pitts with various skills and strengths and look to take advantage of their matchups as Burrow spreads the ball around attacking the Camden defense.
• Ruggs and Chase operate outside and provide us with vertical threat options to challenge the secondary of Camden. Joey Franchise has the second highest passer rating on throws over 20 yards. This will also open up our underneath passing game as well as our run game. 
• We won’t be one dimensional however as we will also utilize Ruggs speed on crossing routes and use Chase’s physicality in the mid level and underneath passing game to create YAC, especially if we are seeing heavy emphasis on over the top coverage. We want our receivers challenging all levels of the defense throughout the game and to keep them guessing on who is attacking where each play. 
• DeVonta will motion around the formation out of the slot helping Burrow determine coverage and we will get him ideal matchups to utilize his route running and separation ability against
• In our traditional 3 wide we will use Pitts as a big slot 50% of the time and 50% inline to give the defense different looks and vary our route tree with him as well as allow us flexibility in how we use him in the running game either cracking down, double teaming the edge, or working to the second or third level. 
• We will look to get Pitts heavily involved especially in the red zone.
• Our Bunch formation will consist of Pitts as the front man in the middle of the bunch with Ruggs on the outside of it and DeVonta on the inside of it, both off the ball. Chase will be out wide solo on the opposite side of the formation. We will run switch routes and rubs with Ruggs and Smith as well as a screen or two to Smith and slants, drags, posts and seams with Pitts out of this formation. Chase will run a variety of routes on the opposite side and we will look for some one on one matchups to target him deep. If he is drawing extra attention it opens up the routes on the opposite side for our bunch.
• We will utilize our backs to chip and pass protect in our 3 wide and 4 wide formations. When they chip they will release to be safety nets for Burrow.
• In our 4 Wide Marvin Jones will be in the slot as our 4th receiver and in our 2 Tight Tyler Higbee will be the second TE.

 

Defense:

• Against the 3 Wide, we will be playing predominantly man this game. Our corners have been some of the top performers in the league this year in man coverage and we will play to our strengths 
• In man we will assign Jaylon Johnson to Kupp and let them battle it out. If any of our assignments move into or out of the slot the assignments do not change
• We will utilize Patrick Surtain’s size on AJ Brown and also bracket him with Jessie Bates. 
• Kristian Fulton is responsible for Tyler Boyd. If Surtain can’t go this week, Fulton will switch to cover AJ with the bracket and Darious Williams will cover Boyd.
• Budda Baker is our enforcer backer and he has man on RB. If RB stays in to block Budda has a middle zone/spy role
• Kamren Curl gets the start again this week at SS and has man on TE
• We will utilize frequent stunts on our dline, stunting the DT’s with our ends to bring our beef to the edges where we believe Camden will attempt to attack us heavily.
• These stunts will open up interior rush paths to bring our outside speed quickly into the Camden QB’s face and force errant throws or sacks
• We will blitz Micah often from all over the formation but will also show blitz and have him drop back into a robber role to further confuse the Camden QB and disrupt the passing game and its timing 
• If we are seeing heavy sets we will bring in Cole Holcomb next to Parsons at ILB. Our SS is down in the box. We move Fulton outside and replace Surtain with Budda Baker in the nickel and play a mix of zone coverages still bringing pressure from Parsons and still incorporating our stunts
• Against 4 Wide we play man, and move Surtain in a star role/nickel replacing our SS and covers the third receiver. Budda at enforcer covering RB. Fulton is outside covering the number 2 opposite Jaylon who covers the number 1, Chauncey Gardner Johnson comes in the game as dime and covers the fourth option Holcomb is ILB and plays a middle zone while Bates is single high and Parsons moves to LE as we bring a 2-4-5 look. 
• Against a 5 wide we keep the same look but run zone coverages
• We will play gap/assignment disciplined football and be prepared for the play action attack. 
• As per usual we will rotate our dline just enough to keep our starters fresh 

[Blue]

Darnold has looked like a great trade for JLash so far this season, but I'm really impressed with the young team Anchorage has put together. I'm giving them the win this week.

[Pickle Rick]

I don't see Anchorage offense being stopped more than Camden 

[SirA1]

Burrow goes full throat this week to get the Trappers the win at home.

[Scoundrel]

7 minutes ago, SirA1 said:

Burrow goes full throat this week to get the Trappers the win at home.

[pheltzbahr]

I know all about starting the wrong QB.

[Ragnarok]

Anchorage's young team is starting to gain steam.

[rackcs]

I get why Camden did it, but switching out Mayfield for Darnold just happened to not work out so good this week. Combine that with the young Anchorage squad really coming into their own and they can't quite get it done this week.

[RuskieTitan]

Anchorage handles the rats.

[Scoundrel]

GG @Jlash you are a great game planner who I have a lot of respect for 

[WFLukic]

Not many will keep up with the Anchorage offense which has gone from young and talented, to pretty damn good in about a month. I think Camden probably needs a little bit more out of Brown and the pass-rush at this point, which will hurt when getting into this shootout. Mind you it's not like Anchorage is exactly going to be having Darnold running for his life either. But nonetheless, in a game where I think the offenses should be given their opportunities to shine, it's all clicking for Anchorage and Darnold's bad day seal it.

[Jlash]

8 hours ago, rackcs said:

I get why Camden did it, but switching out Mayfield for Darnold just happened to not work out so good this week. Combine that with the young Anchorage squad really coming into their own and they can't quite get it done this week.

Yep. Legit thought he was hurt after listening to people talk about his shoulder. Definitely a case of over analyzing on my part.

[rackcs]

54 minutes ago, Jlash said:

Yep. Legit thought he was hurt after listening to people talk about his shoulder. Definitely a case of over analyzing on my part.

I think a lot of us would have done the same in that situation. Darnold has been playing really well so far this season. Just unfortunate timing.