BDL 2022 Week 2 - Raleigh Firebirds @ Lancaster Werewolves

[RuskieTitan]

BDL 2022 Week 2

Match:   Raleigh Firebirds @ Lancaster Werewolves

 Away Owner: @EaglesPeteC

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.

[RuskieTitan]

Raleigh Firebirds

Offense

 

QB- Kyler Murray 

RB- Christian McCaffrey

WR- Davante Adams

WR- Robbie Anderson

WR- Robert Woods

TE- Mark Andrews

LT- Laremy Tunsil

LG- Landon Dickerson

C- Mitch Morse

RG- Issac Seumalo 

RT- Jordan Mailata 

 

RB- David Montgomery 

RB- Darrell Henderson

WR- Isaiah McKenzie

WR- David Bell 

WR- Jalen Guyton

TE- Robert Tonyan

Reserve OL- Patrick Mekari

Swing G/T- Jack Driscoll 

 

Defense

 

EDGE- Danielle Hunter

DE- David Onyemata

NT- Sebastian Joseph Day

DE- BJ Hill

EDGE- Jermaine Johnson

LB- CJ Mosley

LB- Quay Walker

CB- Darius Slay

CB- Marcus Peters (Q)

FS- Quandre Diggs

SS- Julian Blackmon

 

EDGE- Brandon Graham 

EDGE- Samson Ekubaum

DT- Grover Stewart

LB- Rahsaan Evans 

SCB- Avonte Maddox

3rd outside CB- Ronald Darby

Depth inside/outside CB- Bradley Roby

3rd S- Taylor Rapp

 

 

 

Lancaster Werewolves
QB: Jalen Hurts
RB: AJ Dillon
RB: Leonard Fournette (Q)
WR: Diontae Johnson
WR: Quez Watkins
TE: Mike Gesicki
LT: Braxton Jones
LG: Quenton Nelson
😄 Ted Karras
RG: Robert Hunt
RT: Evan Neal

QB: Trevor Lawrence
RB: Miles Sanders
WR: Kyle Philips (Q)
WR: Michael Strachan
WR: Skyy Moore
TE: Chigoziem Okonkwo
OL: Matt Peart
OL: Thayer Munford Jr.

DE: Joey Bosa
DT: Kenny Clark
DT: Justin Madubuike
DE: John Franklin-Myers (Q)
LB: Bobby Wagner
LB: Fred Warner
CB: Jalen Ramsey
CB: Jaire Alexander
FS: Minkah Fitzpatrick
SS: Vonn Bell
NB: Logan Ryan

EDGE: Julian Okwara
INT: Javon Kinlaw
LB: Willie Gay Jr.
LB: Malcolm Rodriguez
CB: K’Waun Williams (Q)
CB: David Long Jr.
CB: Kindle Vildor
S: Johnathan Abram

[RuskieTitan]

Raleigh Firebirds
 

Week 2

 

OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN

 

We face off this week against a very formidable Lancaster defense. We are going to have to get creative in order to find things to exploit, but I feel like Raleigh can gain an advantage in a few key areas.

 

With TJ Watt on IR, that really makes it easier for us to focus our energy on stopping Joey Bosa and Kenny Clark. Lancaster doesn’t have a starting DT next to clark and John Franklin Myers is a decent player but nothing to fear. We think we can easily slide protection to Watt and Clark and get good protection.

 

This week we actually want to spread Lancaster out a little bit. Last week with DVN, we wanted to use more running with two RB sets, but this week McCaffrey will largely be the bell cow with Montgomery and Henderson subbing in. We don’t want Lancaster’s LB duo of Wagner and Warner to just be able to play down hill. We want them moving side to side more and give them more to think about. We plan on running at the weaker parts of their d-line and going for more outside runs. We also want to use a healthy amount of read option and RPO’s to start the game. We want Lancaster to respect Murray in the run game to keep like Warner in a spy position. We think that will get McCaffrey some favorable looks in the pass game later in the game.

 

In the pass game, we anticipate Ramsey shadowing Mark Andrews and Jaire shadowing Adams (or vise versa). Those are going to be tough matchups between superstar players on both sides. It would be a stretch to think that both Adams and Andrews would get shut down all game but I will have to get creative to get them open. I think motioning Adams in the slot will actually create an interesting advantage for us in the passing game. This will give Adams more space to win on two way go’s. This also will force slot CB K’Wuan Williams outside against Robert Woods and/or Robbie Anderson. While neither of them are superstar players they are both are good outside receivers that should gain an advantage in that matchup. By running 3 WR sets with Mark Andrews, we want to force Vonn Bell into more coverage responsibilities than run responsibilities.

 

DEFENSIVE GAME PLAN

 

Scheme hybrid 3-4

 

Lancaster presents an interesting dilemma here, not really knowing who they are going to roll out at QB- Trevor Lawrence or Jalen Hurts. I think we can play them somewhat similarly but knowing, I’d have to rush Hurts differently than Lawrence to prevent him from escaping. 

 

We are back to the 3-4 look this week because we really want to attack the QB and add bigger bodies to slow down their bigger RB’s. Our big advantage is veteran superstar pass rusher Danielle Hunter lining up against rookie 7th round pick Braxton Jones. Quientin Nelson is going to have to help him all game long to keep Hunter from absolutely wrecking the game. Our plan off of that will be to overload and blitz primarily from the right side and give different looks to Lancaster’s rookie RT in Evan Neal. We want Hurts or Lawrence to be move to their left towards our best pass rusher or try and move up where we feel we have some better players inside. With a choice of young QB’s we think we can get them feeling uncomfortable and possibly make some mistakes. We think we can consistently rush 5 and hold up well in the backend. Once again a heavy rotation of my front 5 rushers will keep the pressure on all game long. Hunter will sub only when necessary because we feel he provides an advantage. We think rotating Johnson, Graham and Ekubaum and giving the rookie Neal a bunch of different rushers to think about will be effective.

 

With our CB duo of Slay and Peters, we don’t feel the need to shadow but we will once again be looking to jam and press the WR’s off the line. With a high pressure gameplan this week, we want to take away the short pass and force a young QB to pass in a tight window. Walker will have primary coverage responsibility taking away the short crossing routes and RB dump offs. With very good run defenders on the field, we will feel comfortable with a lot of 2 high safety looks, so Julian Blackmon gets the start. 

 

Sub packages

 

Subbing Mosley with Avonte Maddox for 3 WR 

Subbing Mosley for Taylor Rapp to cover Mike Geisiki if they are looking to flex him out often.

 

 

 

 

 

Lancaster Werewolves

Lancaster Offensive Strategy:

Despite our switch at quarterback this week, our gameplan is mainly going to remain the same. We want to control the clock, grind down the defense, and use it to open the play action passing game. The main wrinkle this week is that we’re going to mixing in plenty of RPOs and QB runs to take advantage of Jalen Hurts’ running ability. In the passing game we want to do a lot of quick passing to keep things simple and protect from the pass rush.

Mainly due to Michael Pittman Jr. being out this week, we’re going to be running a lot of 2 RB sets. This helps us though because it allows us to get our best runners on the field consistently. We will again rotate our top 3 running backs heavily with AJ Dillon, Leonard Fournette, and Miles Sanders. Last week we mainly attacked the interior of the defensive line but this week we think we can have more success with runs to the outside so we’ll be doing more sweeps and tosses. We want to take advantage of having two excellent pulling guards by getting them moving to the outside to block. We also will be running Hurts on designed QB runs to the outside as well since he had success doing that Week 1.

In the passing game we are going to focus on quick hitting stuff for the most part with a few deep looks to keep the defense honest. We are going to feed the ball to Diontae Johnson plenty in this game with slants and bubble screens. We think we can have some good success just getting the ball to him quick and letting him use his ability to make people miss to pick up some good YAC. A big thing we’ll do in the passing game is flex either Fournette or Sanders from the RB spot into the slot. If we identify one of the linebackers in coverage on them, we’ll seek to exploit that matchup. We’ll be doing a similar thing with Mike Gesicki where we flex him out to help identify coverages.

As the game goes on, we will continue with the run-heavy stuff but will mix in some more deep passing stuff and more 3 and 4 WR looks. If Marcus Peters is out, expect us to target the CB across from Darius Slay a good amount. When we go to the deep passing game stuff more, we’ll leave one RB in the backfield to help pass protect.

Lancaster Defensive Strategy:

Our defensive gameplan this week is going to be focused on keeping Kyler Murray in the pocket and making him beat us through the air. We’re going to play a variety of different coverages and use more zone this week to be do different things out of the same look to confuse Murray.

The most consistent thing about our coverage is that Davante Adams will almost always be facing man coverage. Jalen Ramsey and Jaire Alexander will each be playing a side of the field and if Adams is on their side of the field, they’ll take him in man coverage. If he lines up in the slot on their side, they’ll follow him to the slot and play him in man from there. The rest of the defense will be operating out of zone. Our most common zone coverage will be a cover 3 shell where the non-man outside cornerback, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and one of Vonn Bell or Logan Ryan will cover the deep areas of the field with the other guy and the two linebackers covering the areas closer to the line of scrimmage.

We of course will mix this up throughout the game with maybe both Ryan and Bell dropping deep and Fitzpatrick coming to cover the shallow parts of the field. We’ll use some cover two looks with four guys playing underneath. We’ll use disguised blitzers out of this base formation as well. We also want to make use of our secondary depth by subbing in guys. The point is that we’re going to mix in plenty of different coverage looks to make sure that Kyler doesn’t know what the defense is going to be doing on any given play.

This defense is going to give us an advantage beyond just coverage as well. With having primarily three coverage defenders in the shallow areas of the field, we’ll have bodies in the box, including our two star linebackers. We also think that throwing in surprise blitzes from this coverage will give us some good runs at Murray against what is a good offensive line. Our defensive line will be playing almost exclusively contain to keep Murray in the pocket. Joey Bosa and John Franklin-Myers will be setting the edge and making sure Murray can’t roll outside and make magic happen with his legs. Even with the loss of TJ Watt, this defensive line is stout and should have success, particularly in stopping the run, but the extra help of blitzing will be important to put pressure on Murray.

[rackcs]

The only thing I'll say this week is that both Justin Madubuike and Javon Kinlaw start in the NFL, and Madubuike has been playing really well this season so far. His week 1 was exceptional in particular.

[EaglesPeteC]

Raleigh by a billion 

give or take 

[LAOJoe]

I really love both gameplans here and think there will be many long drives with lots of 3rd downs and more FGs than TDs. Normally I would think Raleigh would have an advantage but Lancaster sets up really well against them on both sides of the ball. Home team edges it out on a late FG.

[VigilantZombie]

I applaud both teams here. They both did a really good job. Having said that,  Jalen Hurts being the starter this week was a smart move. I think both teams have good offenses and defenses but the depth at WR for Lancaster and the front 7 for Lancaster, even with Watt out, to me is the difference in being able to command their defensive gameplan.

Lancaster by a score.

[LAOJoe]

1 hour ago, wwhickok said:

I applaud both teams here. They both did a really good job. Having said that,  Jalen Hurts being the starter this week was a smart move. I think both teams have good offenses and defenses but the depth at WR for Lancaster and the front 7 for Lancaster, even with Watt out, to me is the difference in being able to command their defensive gameplan.

Lancaster by a score.

I did vote for Lancaster but I gotta say they definitely do no have the deeper or better WRs and I don't think it's even a debate.

[Scoundrel]

Komeback Kyler vs Heartbreak Hurts

[EaglesPeteC]

1 hour ago, wwhickok said:

I applaud both teams here. They both did a really good job. Having said that,  Jalen Hurts being the starter this week was a smart move. I think both teams have good offenses and defenses but the depth at WR for Lancaster and the front 7 for Lancaster, even with Watt out, to me is the difference in being able to command their defensive gameplan.

Lancaster by a score.

[Scoundrel]

The two RB sets, the RPOs, the QB runs, the grind it out and control the clock from Lancaster against the 3-4 front that has been pretty cheeks against the run with Onyemata who has just been okay and a buzz saw defense that will limit big plays from Raleigh is the winning formula here. 

[Blue]

Lancaster's running backs haven't looked like the most dynamic weapons this season, but I don't think they need to be against the Raleigh front, especially with Hurts playing lights-out yesterday. I do think this is a close game, but Lancaster.

[bcb1213]

I think both defenses took some major missteps in coverage this week

Raleigh should have just had Slay shadow Johnson instead of playing sides with Pittman out, theres not a great second option for them, especially not knowing how Peters was going to return from injury(note, it wasn't pretty)

On the opposite side, I really don't like a man zone as a primary defense.  Its cool to show it now and then, especially in longer situations when you want them to throw underneath but as a regular defense, you're just asking a team to dink and dunk you to death, espeically with a receiving back like McCaffery in space

 

A healthy pittman should make a difference for Lancaster but I think they don't move the ball consistently enough here with Raleigh playing press man and Lancaster wanting to hit quick read timing stuff.  Lancaster will get some running yards but I don't see them coming from behind here

 

Raleigh 20-13

[Pickle Rick]

Extremely even matchup imo, one of the more difficult ones to decide.  

Ultimately I think Hurts blindside is gonna be a sieve and result in a turnover or 2.  Whether it's just plays getting blown up or causing disruption, the left side of that line is gonna be a problem that I don't think Lancaster will be able to fix midgame. 

Raleigh wins late when Hurts turns it over on the last drive 

21-20

[EaglesPeteC]

looks like a photo finish @rackcs gl