BDL 2021 Week 6 - Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Berlin Blitzkrieg

[Whicker]

BDL 2021 Week 6

Match:  Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Berlin Blitzkrieg

Away Owner:   @RuskieTitan

Home Owner:  @Ragnarok

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

[Whicker]

Ivory Coast

QB- Ryan Tannehill
RB- Ezekiel Elliott
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- Jeremy McNichols
RB- D’Ernest Johnson
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- Greg Newsome II
S- Jordan Whitehead

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berlin Blitzkrieg

Offense
QB - Aaron Rodgers
RB - Aaron Jones
WR - Allen Robinson
WR - Marquise Brown
WR - Kadarius Toney
TE - Hunter Henry
LT - Kolton Miller
LG - James Daniels
C - Corey Linsley
RG - Alex Cappa
RT - Tristan Wirfs

RB - Kenneth Gainwell
RB - Michael Carter
WR - Odell Beckham Jr.
WR - Brandon Aiyuk
TE - Jordan Akins
IOL - Royce Newman

Defense
DE - Trey Hendrickson
DT - Quinnen Williams
DT - Derrick Brown
DE - Lorenzo Carter
LB - Tremaine Edmunds
LB - Justin Strnad
CB - Donte Jackson
CB - Eric Stokes
CB - Byron Murphy
S - Kendall Fuller
S - Juan Thornhill

DE - D.J. Wonnum
DE - Trevis Gipson
DT - Zach Sieler
DT - Kingsley Keke
LB - Jalen Reeves-Maybin
LB - Kyzir White
CB - Nik Needham
CB - Deandre Baker

[Whicker]

Ivory Coast

Motivation: Beat Berlin

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:

80-20 Zeke / McNichols (with Johnson if needed). Will leverage single back most of game, using inside zone runs as well as stretch plays outside. Will run some RPO with Ryan Tannehill to add additional elements at running game.

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: Zeke Elliott:

Rely on Zeke Elliott

 

Defense
Defensive Formation: 4-2-5 Defense:

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. We’re not shadowing any other receiver with a specific matchup. If Berlin 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 Greg Newsome. 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 Cover 2:

Cover 2 all game long, mix of man and zone underneath.

Against the Run:

Play the run when they give the ball off, but respect the pass more. Have the pass rush collapse the edges.

X-Factor on Defense: Penetration:

Get after Aaron Rodgers.

 

 

 

 

Offense

Overview - Trust our offensive line, run our offense, attack Queen.

OL - Yes, IC has a great group of pass rushers.  But our OTs have allowed 3 sacks combined since the start of 2020 and are playing as well as any tandem in BDL.  We have the best center in football right now.  We are shuffling a bit at OG as Daniels has been playing very well and we feel like a more veteran presence will be beneficial in a must-win.

3 WR - 55% - Robinson, Marquise, and Kadarius get the start this week as we need to make some changes to turn this season around.  We are not going to avoid any of their CBs, in fact, we are going to make use of bunch sets this game to try to get Diggs on Toney as that did not go well for Diggs last week.  Look for a number of 3-by-1 sets with our WRs to one side and Henry split out to the other side.  This will 1.  allow us to dictate the WR releases off the line to get matchups we like in man  2.  let Rodgers throw a quick WR screen if they are in zone and we have a numbers advantage and 3.  show us which linebacker will be on Henry.

With no Lavonte David, we want to make a point to go after Queen in the run and pass game as he has been awful this year.  We are going to use stretch and counter runs to force him to make the right read and fit his gap.  Our 3-by-1 set is designed to isolate Queen in coverage as it will force one linebacker to split out on Henry so the other has Jones.

If they put a safety up on either the TE or Jones to avoid isolating Queen in coverage, then we will have our bunch set attack down field as there will only be one deep safety.

That is not to say we will use this 3-by-1 set all the time, we will use a more standard 3 WR set as well.  We want to run our stretch play to the TE side as we want Henry and the OT to double the DE to that side before Henry scrapes off.  We will usually play Toney in the slot here and bring him in motion to force the linebackers to respect a jet sweep motion.

4 WR - 30% - Robinson, Marquise, Kadarius, and OBJ with a RB.  We are going to be in shotgun here.  We will use draws and screens to keep their edge rushers from just sprinting at Rodgers.  We will also use the same 3-by-1 concept as above with Robinson on one side and the other 3 WRs bunched to the wide side.

5 WR - 10% - Robinson, Toney, OBJ, Hollywood, and Aiyuk. Get in shotgun, attack the secondary, trust our OL to give Rodgers time to find the open man.

2 TE - 5% - We will use Hunter, Akins, Robinson, and Marquise in short yardage situations.

Defense

Overview - Take away the deep ball, disguise coverage, limit Zeke.

Defensive Line - While our 2 starting DTs and Hendrickson are playing at a high level right now, we are going to rotate our other DE spot a bit this week.  On early downs, we might use more Lorenzo Carter or even Zach Sieler in running spots, and on passing downs, look for more Trevis Gipson and DJ Wonnum for more pass rush.

Safeties - We are going to play a two deep safety look this week to remove the big play which Tannehill needs to be successful.  Thornhill and Fuller will start and they will each be responsible for a deep half.  It’s something both have done and done well.

3 WR - Donte takes McLaurin, Byron takes Claypool, and Stokes will take the 3rd WR.  Strnad will have the TE in man.

Tremaine is key this week as we need him to continue playing up to his current level and limit the run game.  No Chubb is huge as IC doesn’t have anyone particularly threatening behind Zeke.  If Zeke is in, Tremaine will follow him everywhere.  Tremaine will be in a middle zone to start a pass play, but if we are in man, will follow Zeke into coverage if Zeke releases.

We are going to alternate a fair amount between man and zone this week.  We will run Cover 2 man, Cover 2 zone, and Rams quarters as all three give a similar look presnap while allowing us to disguise coverage.

4 WR - Needham comes in for Strnad and takes the other nickel spot.  Here we will run a lot of the Rams Quarters D where the two outside CBs and two safeties each take a deep quarter, the two nickels take the curl/flat area, and Tremaine takes the hook.  This will allow the deep defenders to convert their zone coverage into man coverage, as the offensive routes develop down the field. Once wide receivers threaten the quarter defender’s deep zone, they switch from zone to man and will follow the receiver for the duration of the play.

2 TE - Tremaine would have the RB, Strnad would have one TE, Reeves-Maybin would have the other.  Donte and Byron have the two WRs.  Safeties are still in a two deep shell, but would be playing a few yards closer to the LOS than in other sets.

[Blue]

Rags still homering Linsley even though he's not even a Packer anymore, respect

[bcb1213]

Rodgers is going to put up points as the tackles negate most of the IC pass rush but I think IC can run Berlin over.  Henry and Fant are going to have really nice games.   Almost went Berlin as not knowing David was out after a Thursday night inactie is pretty rough

 

IC  27-24

[Jlash]

2 hours ago, bcb1213 said:

Henry and Fant are going to have really nice games. 

I was gonna say it's a shame that both TE's weren't featured more in the seam as both defenses will be vulnerable in game-long cover 2, but I guess neither of them really knew. For Berlin, playing a two deep look all game to limit big plays from Tannehill is confusing, as it theoretically hurts in the run game, which Tannehill needs to create those big plays. 

Berlin could've had some success in the run game as it seems like IC was blindly focused on Rodgers...but I don't see much mention of Aaron Jones outside of attacking Pat Queen.

I'll take IC in a close one.

[SirA1]

I like the Home team in this one.

Berlin 

28-21

[pheltzbahr]