BDL 2022 Week 3 - Cuba Smugglers @ Camden Hoodrats

[RedGold]

BDL 2022 Week 3

Match:  Cuba Smugglers @ Camden Hood Rats

 Away Owner:  @MD4L

Home Owner:  @Jlash

 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

[RedGold]

Cuba

QB: Tom Brady
RB: Dalvin Cook
WR: Justin Jefferson
WR: Mike Williams
WR: Keenan Allen
TE: Mo Alie-Cox
LT: Elgton Jenkins
LG: Cole Strange
C - Connor Williams 
RG: Ezra Cleveland 
RT: Lane Johnson

 WR: DJ Chark
RB: Travis Etienne 
OW: Nyheim Hines
RB: Jamaal Williams
TE: Jelani Woods
OL: Charles Cross 
OL: Brian O’Neil
OL: James Hudson

 
Edge: Rashan Gary 
DT: Zach Sieler
NT: DJ Reader
Edge: Maxx Crosby
WLB: Myles Jack 
MLB: Eric Kendricks 
RCB: Rasul Douglas
NCB: Kenny Moore 
FS: Justin Reid
SS: Derwin James
LCB: Shaquill Griffin

 Edge: Alex Highsmith 
Edge: Haason Reddick
DT: Zach Allen
DT: Lawrence Guy
LB: Jerome Baker
CB: Kader Kohou
CB: Martin Emerson
Star: Jalen Mills

 

 

 

Camden

QB- Matt Stafford
RB- Austin Ekeler
WR- Cooper Kupp
WR- AJ Brown
WR- Treylon Burks
TE- David Njoku
LT- Dion Dawkins
LG- Will Hernandez
C- Ben Jones
RG- Kevin Zeitler
RT- Isaiah Wynn
________________
RB- Damien Harris
RB- JD McKissic
TE- Gerald Everett
WR- Nico Collins
WR- KJ Hamler
OL- Cesar Ruiz
OL- Chuks Okorafor
QB- Justin Fields

 

DE- Josh Allen
DT- A’Shawn Robinson
DT- Davon Godchaux
DE- Montez Sweat
LB- Drue Tranquill
LB- Nicholas Morrow
CB- L’Jarius Sneed
CB- Asante Samuel Jr
NB- Bryce Callahan
S- Amani Hooker
Robber/Brady Buster- Chauncey Gardner-Johnson

_____________________
DE- Boye Mafe
DE- Yannick Ngakoue
DL- Osa Odighizuwa
DL- Neville Gallimore
LB- Divine Deablo
CB- CJ Henderson
CB- Sidney Jones
S- Jaquan Brisker

Edited September 25, 2022 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Cuba Intro

This week we play our close friends off the field but enemies on the field in Camden. We have a chance to start 3-0 for the first time in team history. Any time we face two time champions, our attention to detail and focus will be important factors for today.

 

Offense 

We are coming into this game looking to establish ourselves in the passing game early. We want Tom Brady to get into a rhythm with a quick passing game. Justin Jefferson has appealing matchups across the board so Camden’s pass rush is the biggest obstacle to keeping our offense performing well. If Camden decides to play man coverage, we are directing our targets to the isolated receiver and repeatedly getting our single man the opportunity to win with Brady short before we begin to aggressively take shots down field.

Camden rotates bodies well in their edge pass rush so and expect a mostly cover 3 related scheme. We will give Jefferson a heavy target share against a zone base defense. Asante Samuel could have some shadow responsibility but we’ll let Jefferson run option routes that read whether a safety is coming into the lower 3rd area. We like the idea of dig routes or out patterns from the slot. Jefferson targets will also be slant patterns as we are comfortable making him a focal point in this game. Mike Williams early targets will be slant patterns in the first half. We are going to use play action targets to go deep several times that get Williams after the L’Jarius Snead or the undersized Asante Samuel (185 pounds vs Williams 218 pounds). We have a trick play in our book with a flea flicker in the 3rd quarter to take advantage of the Justin Simmons-less safety room.

Dalvin Cook will remain the most involved player as we get our running game going. We have the same offensive line group from last week and feel comfortable with aplenty inside zones or counter runs that have Cole Strange going behind our right side of the LOS. If Yannick Ngakoue gets a more non pass rushing role, we want to run at him frequently.

Keenan Allen is presumably back this week but his first half is mostly to evaluate whether he can move per usually. DJ Chark is the first substitute for all 3 receivers and the full time WR should Allen be unlike himself. Nyheim Hines biggest role is lining up as a Swiss Army knife. He will handle no carries but lineup at RB presnap before moving to the boundary. We like the idea of pairing him with Cook in presnap with 2 RB looks. The motion will aid Jefferson and Williams lining up in the slot to evaluate zone/man coverages. If Camden plays man coverage, we will instead let Dalvin Cook handle carries from the shotgun. Drew Tranquil is the LB for Camden so we want multiple opportunities between him and Cook between the trenches.

Lastly, we are still letting Brady actively target down the field as that will be needed in this matchup. Another point of our under center play action is running multiple crossing patterns between Jefferson and Williams. In the redzone, we want to run pick partners with Jefferson/Williams together on flat/slant targets. 

 

Defense

It goes without saying this is the best passing attack we have dealt with all season. We can get after the QB with a 4 man pass rush frequently. 

We are going to keep a simple coverage scheme with balance between cover 3 and 4. Our only difference is who rushes and whether that player comes from the DL or at the 2nd level. Stafford comes in as fully capable of getting the ball to his weapons but has also been guilty of giving the ball away with at least two interceptions in his last 6 regular season starts dating back to last season. This is important because we think our plan to rush 4 could yield with opportunities to get the ball for our offense whether in the redzone or stopping Camden from getting into the end zone.

Our base line up has the pass rush coming from the edges. Whereas Crosby has been stout in all aspects of his game, Gary has been able to convert pass rush to sacks. Stafford isn’t the most mobile passer in the league so our objective on non sacks is making him move from his spot and assuring he is not setting his feet when making most of his throws.

Crosby and Gary are taking on a full compliment of snaps but it will be important to sub them out with our other rushers whom have production this year in Highsmith and Weaver (7 combined sacks). If we are able to have successful first downs against the run, we will move one of Sieler or Reader off the field and keep 3 DL on the field. We want Haason Riddick lining up at LB serving as a delayed rusher when Stafford tries to buy time and move up the pocket or roll out before making a throw. The 3 DL sets will be common place as our delayed rusher is a key concept in this game. Riddick will serve as an edge rusher in his more usual role on obvious passing downs. Instead of using an off-ball LB, we will let Derwin James come into the box and get after the QB. On situations where James remains in coverage, Kenny Moore will blitz off the edge of Gary and get after Stafford. We think having 8 non DL on the field more then usual is impactful against a potent passing attack.

The coverages schemes are very simple this week for the boundary CBs. Do not get beat deep. AJ Brown and Cooper Kupp dominate games so we want Derwin James playing in the middle level of the field and in the deep range so our tackling is not sacrificed with the YAC both receivers are capable of bringing. If we are playing man coverage in any capacity, it will be 2 man under so James and Reid can help our CBs once the premier receivers get the ball in their hand. We encourage Douglas to be more aggressive in coverage considering the last time he played Stafford he caught a pick 6. Shaq Griffin will be his usual up and close cover CB. We won’t have him press as often and want him in more of a cover 3 role knowing that he will get help from safety help deep. Jalen Mills will be the deep safety when James moves into the middle level of the field.

If you cannot tell, Camden’s running game comes second to their pass offense this week. That being said, Reader and Sieler know their role on base and early downs today. We do have more awareness for Ekeler as a receiver. There is awareness on play action that Camden may go back to the RB immediately. Myles Jack main responsibility is playing the run. Eric Kendricks is the full time LB with responsibility for playing the screens. Jack’s role is more part time this week as we will look to sub him out for a CB (Emerson, Kohou) or Jalen Mills at safety.

 

 

 

Camden

Offense

Taking on a Cuba squad with a bunch of athletic pieces on defense so we’ll have to keep it varied to keep them off of Stafford. Here are the things we want to focus on for todays matchup.

Overload zones: Cuba’s CB strengths lie in their ability in zone, so if Cuba wants to go more zone heavy today we’re going use a decent amount of bunch sets trips to flood zones and outnumber the Cuba defenders. Expect Njoku to be split out wide at times to add to our size mismatches in the receiving department. If they want to man-up, our bunch sets and motion should help cause havoc and mismatches for us as well.

Double moves: We like to run a lot of quick passing concepts. After two weeks, I’d expect an adept Cuba team to want to sit on some of those quick slants and such and try to jump passing lanes for quick picks. If we see Cuba’s defenders peeking early on, we’ll use pump fakes and sluggos to get defenders moving in the wrong direction before the throw. Should they just stay in a standard soft zone….quick passes here we go.

Motion men: Like last week we want to incorporate a lot of pre snap movement to see what Cuba is doing and get favorable match ups for our guys. I’d expect Kupp and Brown to get most of the attention, so look for a couple early targets and shovel passes to a motioning Burks and see if we can catch Cuba napping.

Run game: Cuba’s run defense is strong, but we can’t be one dimensional. Like last week, we want screens, shovel passes and delays to be an extension of our run game to keep the Cuba defense honest. Ekeler could be 8ish targets today if Cuba is strictly leaving a LB on him in space. Should Cuba decide to be blitz heavy today, Ekeler is very good last line of defense in pass pro and we’ll use him to get Stafford some extra time.

 

Defense (cover 1 blitzball kamikaze murder factory base)

It’s Tom! (to the tune of the ‘It’s Corn!’ kid). We know what the man can do, and we know beating him in this league and IRL is a tall task mostly accomplished by absolutely bullying and beating this man up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. We’ll find out.

Cover 1: We love this coverage, for a bunch of reasons but reasons like today especially because it gives us another defender to do what we want with while also having a last line of defense. The deep defender (usually Hooker) will shade to Mike Williams side as he’s the most likely to be getting loose deep down the field. As usual, we well switch up those back end coverage shells to include a cover 2 and cover 6 look for variety.

Blitzball kamikaze murder factory: That’ll be where our robber CGJ comes in handy as a chess piece today. He’ll have a couple roles, but one will be as a blitzer against his bitter rival and as a role filler for other blitzers and this is what that would look like:

1. He can come down on a safety blitz and harass Brady as he loves to do.
2. He can fill-in behind Callahan in the slot and let Callahan blitz from the slot.
3. He can fill in behind our LB’s and let them bring pressure up the middle where Brady likes it least.

Now we aren’t going to be blitzing all the time obviously, so his others roles could be to fill in as an extra deep defender in our cover 2/6 shell should Cuba go 4 wide a lot. Him being able to work around the LOS gives us a ton of flexibility, which also includes him being another run support defender for Cook.

Jefferson: Cuba’s best offensive weapon in our mind. He’ll get his no matter what, but we want make things difficult so when CGJ isn’t free-lancing in his murder factory role and we aren’t playing 2 deep he can drop down into a shallow zone on Jefferson’s side to create a bracket to help the CB here.

Stunts: With Brady being more susceptible to frustration when he’s facing pressure up the gut, we’ll use some stunts and twists to get our edge guys blasting up the middle on occasion.

End of the day we wanna see a lot of this: 

Edited September 25, 2022 by RedGold

[Jlash]

No Keenan Allen or Shaq Griffin for Cuba.

No Sidney Jones for Camden.

[MD4L]

Martin Emerson is our new boundary starter. Same role as Griffin.

Douglas moved to LCB position. Kohou is the first one off the bench, Jalen Mills is CB4 or S3 now.

[Scoundrel]

What a ******* joy this was to read. Both of these guys know each other well.

[LAOJoe]

I basically need to decide if I think Camden is going to be pressuring the line enough and if there is adequate blocking by Cuba. I do trust the Tackles and Connor Williams is pretty solid as well. The guards are a different story. Do the guards fall apart with enough pressure? It would be tough to help both often and are the RBs or TEs going to get in on the blocking? I don't think I see any.

 

I'll have to come back to this because this trench battle is the difference in the game IMO.

[VigilantZombie]

I'm not sure I see either of these teams generating a particularly learned a large amount of pass rush, Morris cell I'm not sure I see either team necessarily getting to the quarterback that often. I do think that Camden has a much stronger secondary.  Both of these teams prepared extremely well for each other. I cannot help but think this is going to be an absolute slugfest.  Haven't said that I give a slight edge against the run to Cuba, I think for me that's probably the difference because I'm having a hard time really finding one.

[RTTRUTH]

This was a close one. Went with Camden because I think there’s a slight skill advantage and I think his offense gets 1-2 extra plays to work.

 

Loved Cuba’s gameplan. But I think Camden’s Defense is slightly more prepared for the other side.

Camden 27-20

[Blue]

I've been avoiding picking this game because I think both these teams are good. I'm going with Cuba because, although their secondary will likely struggle against Camden's receivers (especially with JLash's great gameplan for the passing game), they match up well everywhere else. I think it was especially smart to focus on the deep ball with Camden down Justin Simmons and playing CGJ at safety instead of the slot.

[Jlash]

5 hours ago, Blue said:

CGJ at safety instead of the slot.

Fair on the vote.

He does play safety full time for Philly now. But in playing him there this week I felt it gave me much more flexibility to do what needed to be done in this game. I trust someone with his versatility to be able to handle all those tasks over a rookie like Brisker. 

[Blue]

3 hours ago, Jlash said:

Fair on the vote.

He does play safety full time for Philly now. But in playing him there this week I felt it gave me much more flexibility to do what needed to be done in this game. I trust someone with his versatility to be able to handle all those tasks over a rookie like Brisker. 

Yeah, I get it. I just don't think it's the right move in this matchup to get Bryce Callahan on the field instead of Brisker.

[MWil23]

This matchup is a TOUGH ONE. On the one hand, Jefferson laid an egg this week, TB12 wasn't great either (until the impressive final drive) but Njoku had a great game. Dalvin Cook had a great game before exiting with an injury, and Ekeler has been completely MIA thus far. Williams caught 1 pass for 15 yards, but it was a TD.

Schematically, going with some double moves against a Cover 3 or Cover 4 defense is playing right into what Cuba wants to do, but trips vs. a Cover 4 will cause some issues for Cuba, whereas Banjoing a Cover 3 vs. trips is the perfect scheme to stop it.

On paper, I absolutely love what Camden is doing on defense, but blitzing TB12 is usually an absolute death sentence.

To be honest, I think that Cuba came in with the better overall gameplan against Camden, but I think Camden's players at those "key" positions had the better week.

Camden in a lower scoring affair 20-17.

[Pickle Rick]

The blitzball kamikaze murder factory D was definitely the way to go this week and I think causes to many problems for Brady 

Camden wins by a fg 

[LAOJoe]

Tough one but I'll give it to Camden. I don't think Cuba did quite enough to stop the inside blitz and the cover 1 is the difference vs the cover 3 that was expected. Very close. Great game plans.