BDL 2022 Week 4- Anchorage Trappers @ Cuba Smugglers

[RuskieTitan]

BDL 2022 Week 4

Match:  Anchorage Trappers @ Cuba Smugglers

 Away Owner: @Scoundrel

Home Owner:  @MD4L

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]

Anchorage Trappers

Anchorage 

Offense:

QB- Joe Burrow

RB- Jonathan Taylor

X- Kyle Pitts

Z- Brandin Cooks

Slot- Ja’Marr Chase

Slot- Hollywood Brown 

LT- Andrew Thomas 

LG- Dalton Risner 

C- Erik McCoy

RG- Austin Corbett

RT- Rob Havenstein 

Bench:

RB- JK Dobbins

RB- Eno Benjamin 

WR- Donovan Peoples-Jones

TE- Isaiah Likely 

TE- Tommy Tremble 

T- DJ Humphries 

G- Jon Runyan Jr

C- Frank Ragnow

 

Defense:

LE- Bradley Chubb

NT- Vita Vea

UT- Jordan Davis 

RE- Micah Parsons

MLB- Mykal Walker

Stud- Talanoa Hufanga

CB- Patrick Surtain 

CB- Kristian Fulton

CB- Denzel Ward

FS- Jessie Bates lll

SS- Budda Baker

Bench:

Edge- Jonathan Greenard

Edge- Sam Hubbard

INT- Greg Gaines

INT- DaQuan Jones

LB- Cole Holcomb 

LB/S- Isaiah Simmons

CB- Derek Stingley Jr

S- Kam Curl

 

 

 

Cuba Smugglers

QB: Tom Brady
RB: Dalvin Cook
WR: Justin Jefferson
WR: Mike Williams
WR: DJ Chark
TE: Mo Alie-Cox
LT: Donovan Smith
LG: Elgton Jenkins
C - Connor Williams
RG: Ezra Cleveland
RT: Lane Johnson

RB: Travis Etienne
RB: Jamaal Williams 
RB: Nyheim Hines
WR: Rondale Moore
WR: Cole Beasley
TE: Jelani Woods
OL: Brian O’Neill
OL: Charles Cross

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

Edge: Alex Highsmith
Edge: Rashad Weaver
DT: Leki Fotu
DT: Lawrence Guy
LB/DE: Haason Riddick
CB: Martin Emerson
CB: Kadar Kohou
Star: Jalen Mills

[RuskieTitan]

Anchorage Trappers

Overview:  

We face the team that handed us our very first loss of our BDL career in 2017. We’ve come a long way since then and look to bring the fun down to Cuba. 

Offense: 

Formations and Personnel: 
Our primary formations will be 4 wide (40%), 3 wide (30%), 2 Tight (30%). We aim for a 50/50 split of Pass/Run. We welcome Hollywood Brown to our offense this week via trade. Pitts will see his 4 wide snaps out at X. He will be inline in all other sets. Ja’Marr will play in the slot on Pitts side, with Cooks at Z and Hollywood in the slot to his side. There will be plays that we bunch three receivers in our 4 wide. Cooks and Hollywood will rotate between Z and Slot and Chase will play X in the 3 wide formations as we look for ideal matchups for Burrow to target against man and zone. Chase and Cooks will be our outside receivers in the 2 Tight and Pitts and Likely as our TE’s. Taylor will be our lead back and split reps with Dobbins 75/25. 

Play to our Strengths and Attack their Weaknesses in the Run Game: 
We will run a mix of outside zone and inside zone in our 4 wide and 3 wide and trust our RB’s vision to pick holes along the Cuba front while also attacking the middle of the Cuba defense where they are without DJ Reader this week. While we respect Sieler they are lacking the quality of player they are used to having next to him and we will use our inside zone to wear them down and tire them out. We know Cuba will expect us to run behind our tackles and we will because it’s one of our strengths. They won’t dictate how we attack them. So we will have some designed runs to attack the C gaps of the Cuba defense. We will have the tackles kick out aggressive outside edge rushers and just ride them outside using their aggressiveness against them opening up lanes inside of them. If the edges crash down hard into the C gaps we will seal them inside and bounce runs outside. The RB will key off these blocks. If we see Pitts being outside draws a safety we will often audible to run plays. In our 2 TE set we will incorporate more of a power run game with power dives, counters, and traps and really wear down that interior of Cuba. 

Get Burrow in a Rhythm: 
We will run combo routes out of 4 and 3 wide and use a lot of crossers and high percentage throws underneath. We want to give Burrow layups to get his rhythm going and limit turnovers and provide our receivers with YAC opportunities. We will use heavy pre snap motions with a slot to determine coverage, at times bringing them to TE side to leave our X on an island in 3 wide, or bringing them from tight end side to X side, as well as a lot of pre snap motion in our 4 wide creating chaos for the Cuba defense and helping us counter against press. We will incorporate some RPO’s and Play Action to assist in getting Burrow some high percentage opportunities building off of our run game especially in our 2 TE sets. We will still provide some deep opportunities and back shoulder throws for our outside guys set up off of our quick passing game as well as some comebacks on the outside. We will incorporate some double slants and flood zones as well as rub routes against man in our bunch.

Protect Burrow:
We will utilize our backs to chip and release to provide additional high percentage opportunities for Burrow while also providing added pass protection. If we are seeing any consistent struggle against the pass rush by one of our lineman early we will direct the chipping to assist with that. If we are seeing heavy blitzing we will have our backs staying in and keying on inside pressure to outside pressure picking up any interior leakage to outside pressure including corner/safety outside blitzes. We emphasize passing off stunts and remaining disciplined with our oline. We will utilize our TE2 in 2 Tight to chip the edge rusher on the RT side before releasing to give added protection. Our quick passing game will also help mitigate the Cuba pass rush. 
 

Defense:

Alignment and Run Defense:
We will be running a mix of a 3-3-5 and a 2-4-5.  On 3rd down and clear passing downs we will have our edge rushers standing up for our 2-4 look. Chubb and Parsons will always be in the game in our 2-4 front. Chubb will always be to TE side while Parsons is to the weak side. In our 3-3 Chubb or Hubbard if in for Chubb will be hand in the dirt on TE side with Parsons or Greenard as a stand up rusher on the weak side. If they go two tight we will still play our 3-3-5 look. We want to clog the middle of the oline two gapping with our big bodies on the interior on early downs and freeing up our second level to fill gap responsibilities. We want our edges to funnel runs back inside. We have the speed on the edges to limit outside runs and RPO’s. We will play gap disciplined to limit Cuba’s big plays. We carry with motions from receivers with our corners to stop end arounds and jet sweeps. Budda will be in the box to help with run support. We will rotate our DT’s to keep them fresh. We are choosing some speed at the second level over size as our speed is quick to fill run lanes and chase down anything outside while also giving us the added coverage ability. 

Hair on Fire:
We are going to play fast yet disciplined. Hufanga is a menace and brings an energy playing like his hair is on fire at our Stud position. In zone we will bring some more blitzes than in man, but we look to disguise blitzes, even running some delayed blitzes. Hufanga and Walker will have a bigger role as the blitzer in zone alternating as blitzers as we bring one of them about 25% when in zone, which again we are in zone less than our man coverage. We entrust our Edge rushers and interior defenders to get pressure on Brady. We will also incorporate some stunts to bring added confusion to the Cuba pass protection as we are blitzing less this game than we normally do. Parsons will have all his snaps at edge and get after Brady and make him feel his age. We will rotate enough to keep players fresh as Parsons and Chubb play about 80% of the snaps on the edge. We will look to give them most of their rest on early downs and short to go situations with Hubbard and Greenard filling in.

Coverage for Cornerbacks against 3 and 4 Wide:
We will run mostly single high man and mix in some cover 2 man and cover 3 zone to give the Cuba offense various looks. When in man our corners will follow their man assignments outside or in the slot. They will line up across from these matchups in zone as well to help disguise coverage. They will follow motions and if in zone coverage they will just shift zones occupying a new zone and run fit while a defender replaces their previous zone assignment and run fit. If we see some bunch formations we will play man against them and be prepared for rubs. Patrick Surtain will man Justin Jefferson, Kristian Fulton will man Mike Williams and Ward will man Chark/3rd receiver. Against 4 wide we will still run heavy man but replace Hufanga with Derek Stingley who has the fourth option at receiver.

Coverage for Safeties and Linebackers against 3 and 4 wide:
We will really focus on doubling the slot receiver and playing a robber role with our SS Budda Baker. We want to eliminate those crossers and really take away the middle of the field. In Cover 1 man Budda will double the slot receiver with whichever corner is in the slot based on their man matchup 70% of snaps, play a robber role 25%, and blitz 5%. Budda will be the other half of the deep shell in Cover 2 Man, in which he will drop to from in the box so it gives an additional disguise look. We will shade Bates’ deep coverage to the Mike Williams side outside. If Mike Williams is in the slot we will shade Bates to Ward’s coverage side. We do this because we entrust Surtain to limit the big plays as he has surrendered only 5.6 yards per reception allowed and Bates has the range to cover ground opposite a shade. Hufanga playing the stud position will man the TE and Mykal Walker will man the back. Against 2RB/3WR we will run the same coverage assignments but Budda will motion out with the second RB if they split him out and Hufanga will double/robber in his place when we run man ensuring he is still in the box. Hufanga will be the additional Cover 2 safety against this formation as well. Against 4 wide Budda will have his same responsibilities as he does against 3 wide and and play in the box. When he is in double coverage he will assist against the best of the slot receivers in order from Jefferson/Williams/Chark and so on. 

Coverage for all against 2TE/2WR/1RB or 2TE/2RB/1WR: 
We will have Holcomb replace the nickel and act as a middle zone robber or blitzer. Against 2TE/2WR/1RB we will have Budda man TE1, Hufanga TE2, Walker RB and Surtain and Fulton WR’s. Against the 22 we will have Surtain man TE1, Hufanga man TE2, Budda and Walker RB’s and Bates Shade to help over top with the WR covered by Fulton. We will have typical zone assignments when in zone. We expect Jelani Woods to get some goal line targets so we will double cover him if he’s in the game in that situation. 

 

 

 

Cuba Smugglers

Intro

This week we play a red hot Anchorage team beginning to find their footing after last years breakthrough season. This team possess plentiful talent across the board so our focus level needs to be at prestine levels. We took a loss vs Camden and are moving forward.

Offense

We have had trouble at the WR room but guys are getting healthy again. Tom Brady has two scripts this week. In the first half, it’s getting the ball out of his hands quickly. We are leaning toward a pass heavy offense in the first half. Lane Johnson has yet to allow a sack or knockdown of the quarterback. Vea-Davis changes our approach but not touches for our weapons. Dalvin Cook is going to be used more as a check down on swing routes to get our explosive RB in open space. We will run him on some shotgun counters but his 10-12 first half touches mostly consist of getting the ball in the open field.

In the second half, we want some more play action concepts that stretch Brady’s time in the pocket a bit more. He’ll BOLO Micah Parsons at all times, particularly when he aims to blitz from the 2nd level. We will have Connor Williams help Ezra Cleveland more often then not but his assistance will be needed from both our Gs. We will motion the TE to whatever side Parsons is on when he is in a true DE stance. 

We chose to go pass heavy and put Anchorage CBs to the test of our passing attack. Justin Jefferson will lineup everywhere. We noticed Denzel Ward had lined up in the slot for them and if that trend follows today, we’re comfortable bunching Jefferson across the field and targeting the other guys. Jefferson’s target share in the slot is flats, on the boundary he will run drags, in routes, comebacks, and back shoulders. Our bunch sets will get more vertical concepts.

DJ Chark will have a more traditional route tree as we think putting him and Jefferson together puts more pressure against a zone based defense. Patrick Surtain has been sharp in 2022 but with 0 interceptions so far this year, we will target him several times as our worst case senario is an incompletion. Having Rondale Moore return this week is a big deal from a game planning perspective as we can throw him in the slot to keep Jefferson on the boundary. Moore will be targeted moreso in the 2nd half on some crossing routes on play action. We think keeping Cook involved as a receiver could garner extra attention to our backfield and want Moore in position to get into the open field vs the last line of Anchorage’s defense. 

Dalvin Cook handles 75% of the RB touches. Jamaal Williams gets 50% of our traditional inside zone touches, while Etienne gets the scraps. Nyheim Hines continues his Swiss-army-knife role. We will put him on field with Dalvin Cook in 3 WR/2 RB sets. He will always motion when on the field. He should attract the Swiss-army-knife SS/LB on their roster. 
 

Although we traditionally avoid targeting the TE, we’ll get at least one redzone target to Jelani Woods.

 

EDIT: If Donavan Smith does not play, Charles Cross starts at LT.

Defense 

Anchorage has a new addition at WR with Hollywood entering the fold. We expect they’ll at the very least make Jonathan Taylor the leader in touches so we run more cover 3 based looks that look like cover 1 presnap. This is done by moving Derwin James closer to the LOS and giving seven man fronts. Reid is fully capable of being an in the box safety so that role is alternated in the first half. Sieler and Allen are given responsibility to make it hard on the Anchorage interior OL. 

 

Barring Anchorage aiming to give us a taste of own pass happy medicine from the onset, we want Gary and Crosby committed to setting the edge and giving Jack-Kendrick-the in the box safety opportunities to put more then one second level player on Taylor before he gets to the open field. Our pass coverage can do the same on his swing and flare routes when he’s in the open field. 

 

This is a potent passing attack so even early Taylor touches don’t change the outlook for their ultimate strategy. In an ideal circumstance, we could give them trouble running the ball and commit to quarters coverage in the back end. However, we’ll again keep one safety deep for the most part and have our CBs protect against the deep targets.  We want to be physical with Kyle Pitts the week. If he lines up on the LOS on pass tells or obvious passing situations, we want our boundary rusher moving to the wide 9 and giving him a chip before getting to the passer. If he’s lined up as a WR, we want to be aware of that 5 yard cushion and bump him before he runs his route. There is a method to our gameplan….

 

And that is in more preparation for some obvious pass or play action tells. If Taylor or Burrow peaks, we’re fine with that reality. However, we are aiming to assure that both aspects of Anchorage’s offense dont go wild today. We want to continue our 3 DL set from last week and shift between Riddick or Derwin James as the delayed rusher. One of the reasons Burrow has been hit a lot is because he likes to move up and out of the pocket before throwing. It’s arguably the best asset of his skill set because he adjusts so well before making throws. We want to be clear in those situations we can match his speed and turn those 5-6 passses into sacks or throwaways. That could very well be a difference in a matchup like this.

[Scoundrel]

DJ Chark
Lawrence Guy

Both out for Cuba

[MD4L]

8 hours ago, Scoundrel said:

DJ Chark
Lawrence Guy

Both out for Cuba

Jalen Mills too.

[MWil23]

Good matchup here and both owners came out with solid gameplans. Depth and talent at key spots gives the fighting @Scoundrel's the nudge in the W column, but Chase and Taylor need to start producing at higher levels if one of the most talented BDL rosters expects to cement themselves as BDL Championship contenders. I think when @MD4L's team gets healthier, we will see that reap some major W's down the stretch.

[Blue]

I think with Burrow getting back on track and Cuba missing several players in their lineup due to injury, it's Anchorage.

[LAOJoe]

I think the difference is Anchorage using the run game more than anticipated. That being said I do feel that Cuba's offensive strategy is very good when it isn't relying on tight ends. Maybe if the tight ends did more than be an extra blocker every play I'd think Cuba would be able to keep the defense off their game enough to win. 

[VigilantZombie]

I am pretty much integrants with the guys above. There are some key injuries for Cuba here. I talked about this elsewhere I do believe Jonathan Taylor would do much better behind the offensive line Anchorage *** than the offensive line the Indianapolis Colts currently have. Especially when they are not running a one dimensional offense. 

I think Cuba has the tools and the firepower on offense to keep this game close, But I also don't think Jefferson or cook are going off on this team the way they did on the sorry excuse for a Saints Defense.

 I've got to give Anchorage the edge here they are just a healthier team. Both teams did an excellent job on their game plan

[Jlash]

1 hour ago, LAOJoe said:

I think the difference is Anchorage using the run game more than anticipated.

@MD4L does say he fully expects Taylor to lead the offense in touches and that he wants Gary and Crosby to focus on setting the edge in the run game above getting after Burrow.

[Jlash]

Really bold strategy to actively target Patrick Surtain a bunch because he doesn't have a pick yet this year. 

To me, this is a case "if you look for something hard enough, you'll find it". 

[LAOJoe]

15 minutes ago, Jlash said:

@MD4L does say he fully expects Taylor to lead the offense in touches and that he wants Gary and Crosby to focus on setting the edge in the run game above getting after Burrow.

I'm busy right now but I'll elaborate my reasoning when I get a chance. 

[Jlash]

I ended up going Anchorage here, definitely a shootout. Jefferson and Williams are a really good duo and his defense is strong enough to keep it close, and like mentioned he was smart to make sure to not be swayed too much by the acquisition of Hollywood. I think Anchorage committing to the run game will in fact open up some opportunities later in the game. And with Cuba determined to go after Surtain, I think it bites them late. 

[MD4L]

22 minutes ago, Jlash said:

I ended up going Anchorage here, definitely a shootout. Jefferson and Williams are a really good duo and his defense is strong enough to keep it close, and like mentioned he was smart to make sure to not be swayed too much by the acquisition of Hollywood. I think Anchorage committing to the run game will in fact open up some opportunities later in the game. And with Cuba determined to go after Surtain, I think it bites them late. 

It’s more so we trust our best in Jefferson against their best then knocking down Surtain. 

We went after Xavien Howard when he caught 10 INTs and said we’re fine if he does catch an INT because our best would get wins too. 

[Scoundrel]

1 minute ago, MD4L said:

It’s more so we trust our best in Jefferson against their best then knocking down Surtain. 

We went after Xavien Howard when he caught 10 INTs and said we’re fine if he does catch an INT because our best would get wins too. 

And this is why I matched up Surtain with him. Best on best. Love it.