BDL 2022 Week 10 - Gotham Gashslayers @ Cuba Smugglers

[RedGold]

BDL 2022 Week 10

Match:  Gotham Gashslayers @ Cuba Smugglers

 Away Owner: @Whicker

Home Owner:  @MD4L

 Vote for who you think would win the game.

Rules:
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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

[RedGold]

Gotham

QB – Mac Jones
RB – Clyde Edwards-Helaire
WR – Tyreek Hill
WR – DeAndre Hopkins
WR – Tee Higgins
WR – Christian Kirk
LT – Jake Matthews
LG – Laken Tomlinson
C – Scott Quessenberry
RG – Shaq Mason
RT – Taylor Moton

QB – Jacoby Brissett
RB – Jeff Wilson
WR – Alec Pierce
WR – Jalen Reagor
TE – Juwan Johnson
TE – Adam Trautman
OL – Greg van Roten
OL – Jack Conklin

 

LE – Demarcus Lawrence
DT – Chris Jones
DT – Shelby Harris
RE – Arnold Ebiketie
LB – Germaine Pratt
LB – Jamin Davis
S/LB – Terrell Edmunds
CB – Ahmad Gardner
CB – Xavien Howard
CB – Tyson Campbell
S – Tre'Von Moehrig
 

Edge – AJ Espenesa
Edge – Chandler Jones
Int – Fletcher Cox
Int – Perrion Winfrey
LB – Malik Harrison
LB – Christian Harris
CB – Rock Ya-Sin
S – Darnell Savage

 

 

 

Cuba

QB: Tom Brady
RB: Dalvin Cook
RB: Travis Etienne
WR: Justin Jefferson
WR: Rondale Moore
WR: Braxton Berrios
LT: Charles Cross
LG: Elgton Jenkins 
C - Connor Williams
RG: Brian O’Neill
RT: Lane Johnson 

RB: Jamaal Williams
OW: Nyheim Hines
WR: Damiere Byrd
WR: Sammy Watkins
RB: Justice Hill
QB: Bailey Zappe
OL: Donovan Smith
OL: Ezra Cleveland

 

SAM: Haason Riddick
DE: Zach Allen
DT: Zach Sieler
Edge: Maxx Crosby
MLB: Eric Kendricks 
S: Derwin James
RCB: Martin Emerson
NCB: Alontae Taylor
S: Justin Reid
S: Jalen Mills
LCB: Denzel Ward

Edge: Rashad Weaver
DE: Lawrence Guy
OLB: Kyle Van Noy
WLB: Myles Jack 
OLB: Jerome Baker
CB: Shaq Griffin
CB: Kenny Moore
CB: Coby Bryant

Edited November 13, 2022 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Gotham

We gave away the 1^st pick last week. The goal for the remainder of the season will be to gather momentum heading into next season and give Gotham fans some hope with a 5-7 record.

 

Offense:

Full speed ahead. We're facing a unit with a hobbled pass rush due to the loss of Rashan Gary and a very inexperienced corner group. We're going to put as much pressure on these two groups as possible with our high tempo, horizontally based Air Raid offense.

This week we're reverting to a more “traditional” Air Raid setup with 10 personnel base. Once again, we will have DeAndre Hopkins and Tee Higgins operate outside while Tyreek Hill moves around often in the slot positions. One of our main hopes from these formations will be to utilize the threat of our big 3 WRs to keep the Cuba safeties deep – we would be ecstatic if Cuba operated out of two deep shell for the entirety of the game. Mac Jones will always have an easy audible to a four verticals play if he sees Derwin James (or any safety) line up in the box or if he notices a pattern of them creeping forward, and we trust one of our receivers to beat one of the rookie corners deep against a single high. Against our expected two deep, we will feature Hill and a complementary Christian Kirk in YAC routes. Hopkins and Higgins will of course still be utilized, especially in the Red Zone.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire will be the our primary running back in this game. His main purpose will be anti-aggression, as we will call his number on screens, draws, and various hot routes in order to keep the Cuba pass rush from just pinning its ears back. He will also be available as an additional pass protector as well as, of course, a traditional between-the-tackles runner.

Maxx Crosby is the main threat from the Cuba defense, and we will not let him be the one to beat us in this game. If he's lined up against Jake Matthews, we will give some form of help on most plays, either in the form of sliding our line or providing RB help.

 

Defense:

Each week we have relied on very simplistic defensive concepts as we believe we have the talent necessary to beat most offenses straight up. This week will be no different as we face a struggling QB with a decimated receiving group. Our base defense this week will be a Cover-1 Robber.

We will use a nickel base with a traditional front. As is typical against Tom Brady, we will keep to a four man rush for the majority of the game. As always, we will rotate our defensive linemen, move them around, stunt, twist, etc. as to not be a simple vanilla rush.

This week we will bring Terrell Edmunds up into the box as a third linebacker. The main goal from this, of course, is to keep a lid on Dalvin Cook and Travis Etienne as we feel they present the strongest threat from Cuba. Edmunds will play the role of Robber. Tyson Campbell will get the start as the nickel corner and follow around Cuba's OW.

Ahmad Gardner will shadow Justin Jefferson. We have absolute faith in the rook. Xavien Howard will take Cuba's 2^nd WR. Germaine Pratt and Jamin Davis will cover the RB and TE based on formation.

We will, of course, not remain in the exact same defense all game as we will occasionally mix it up to a Cover-3 zone or Cover-2 man. We will very rarely send a blitz.

 

 

 

 

Cuba

 

Intro

We are 4-5, dropped 3 straight and currently out of the playoffs if it started this week. Fortunately, there are weeks left in the season and what we’ve done prior this point doesn’t matter. One game, one week at a time.  Gotham has all our focus.

Offense

We are going to open up the offense a bit. We will commit to getting the ball to our running backs and want to emphasize spreading the field so our skill position is always in different formations with similar personnel. Travis Etienne and Dalvin Cook will switch up lining up outside to open up Justin Jefferson in the slot. Its Sauce Gardner week and he’s shown tremendous success with coverage. If Gotham plays sides, this will open the underneath routes. If Sauce travels we can play off that and get Rondale Moore open looks opposite the RB/Jefferson out-in look. Moore is used in a very similar manner and we want him to alternate lining up in the slot with Braxton Berrios to diagnose coverages. Moore has shown progress in catching 5-6 passes within 5 yards of depth and gaining moderate gains with potential for tremendous YAC. With an extra receiver capable of winning underneath in Berrios, we suffice Brady’s desire to check it down or get the ball out of his hands. 

We take additional value in getting Justin Jefferson involved. His game is decided by Sauce’s coverage. If there is no shadow responsibility, we will move Jefferson opposite when we throw to him. His involvement against Sauce is flavor for opening up another receiver or a creative design to run the ball. We might motion Etienne to the slot or use him on Jet sweeps. Dalvin Cook is our safe bet with stretch runs to test the B GAPs or use play action and take our 3-4 shots directly to Jefferson against Gardner and let the better man win.

Our run game is flavor oriented. Dalvin Cook is the early touch favorite to maintain a common view of what we always do. He gets blocking changes this week and letting him run behind Lane Johnson puts our best lineman to good use. We want Etienne to take the touch lead this week with opportunities for him to run in space as a receiver or take reigns from Cook in the 2nd half as the primary runner so we can throw some 4 WR sets. Etienne as the touch favorite gives him credence to at least 20 carries. We will throw flats and flare routes on Charles Cross side to counteract our intent to put the RB behind the the right side on most of his touches. Jamaal Williams led the NFL on rush TDs for most of 2022, so he’s our short down thumper. We will put him in some no-huddle situations and short down yardage plays when we reach inside the 20 and face 2nd and 3 or-3rd and 1 type of looks. Damiere Byrd is an outside receiver this week. He will be used on trips sets to isolate receivers. If Jefferson is not shadowed, then he’ll make most of his targets away from Gardner and is our call for deep shots. If Jefferson is shadowed by Gardner, we keep the same look but motion Jefferson in presnap with our trips set and instead isolate Rondale Moore while running pick plays with Berrios-Byrd serving as rubs to free Jefferson.

We made some changes up front. Brian O’Neill starts this game at guard and we will play with minimal usage of an actual TE. If Alie-Cox or Woods play it is as blockers. Our goal line sets will feature more lineman and jumbo sets ranging from Donovan Smith as the 6th OT or Ezra Cleveland at FB for Jamaal Williams in short yardage sets.

 

Defense

We saw Gotham run a unique offense to tremendous success and see no reason they should stop this week. We align our defense to handle a pass heavy attack intended to wear out our front four. We move Derwin James into the 2nd line of defense for a couple of reasons. 1: We want to blitz Mac Jones and 2: we want speed at 2nd level if we play zone coverage. Jalen Mills has flex responsibility this week. We can put him in man coverage. He plays deep 3rd in zone but if we ask him to play man coverage on Alec Pierce or Christian Kirk, we are asking to do a task within his skill set. Derwin James will have some creative responsibility as he and Justin Reid can come into the 2nd level of defense. James is helpful for Tyreek Hill on zone coverage, particularly if he runs crossing routes. Hopkins and Higgins are different weapons running crossing routes but also possess big play ability against zone coverage. Hopkins wins games with his contested catch ability. Him and Hill ARE the challenge this week. Higgins can go deep and win one on one or bully man coverage in isolated situations. Martin Emerson was tested with Joe Burrow on a couple occasions and held his own. Alontae Taylor starts in the slot CB  and we want him featured on more snaps this week. We can make a couple adjustments with Shaq Griffin potentially moving outside so Ward can man the slot or keeping Taylor on the boundary if we decided to put Kenny Moore in the slot(hint: Moore will be asked to blitz when he gets in).

 

Denzel Ward is what makes this possible. Having him changes our coverage schemes. We can play more man coverages and tailor our zone looks to shade toward Emerson. He gets the first half as a go run. We can move Shaq Griffin to the boundary if he starts slow or looks unlike himself. If he is on his game, we play him in man coverage. He will shadow Tyreek Hill when they play 3 WR sets and we will alternate between two man under or 5 man rushes, the latter of which has done damage against Mac Jones.
 

We will put Taylor one on one with Higgins and Emerson (with help) takes on Hopkins. When Gotham keeps 4 or 5 wideouts, we will play quarters coverage with occasional 5 man rushes or stunts to free Riddick and throw him into coverage.

If Ward does not play, we will commit to zone coverages, Griffin plays outside, Taylor remains in the slot, and Emerson is on the boundary. We will play quarters coverage against 5 wide, cover 6 with the off man playing deep before committing to the underneath, and cover 3 against 3 WR sets. Our coverage is based on preventing Tyreek Hill from burning us deep with the CB playing off, and the safety shading toward his side. On 3rd and long or longer down and distances, we will give him some Randy Moss looks with Mills playing 25 yards deep in coverage. If Ward plays, Griffin’s responsibility drops to covering Kirk in man coverage or outside so Ward can cover Hill/Hopkins in the slot. 

 

Haason Riddick helps the defense from a chess piece perspective. We will primarily make him a rusher but he can move to the 2nd level when we make Allen a DE or have him line up in a 3 down stance before dropping back in coverage to confuse Mac Jones. We like blitz combinations that see a handful of plays he drops back in coverage while bringing players on the same side we bring Maxx Crosby. Derwin James and Maxx Crosby stunts are not traditional but entice us to see what Crosby rushing from inside out can do with a rusher like James. Kenny Moore would serve similar to James if we asked him to blitz. He will primarily blitz if Ward plays (4th CB - 25% of snaps, blitz on half), and Moore will play underneath still as the 4th if Ward is out (this means we will play zone most of the game, and his role includes more coverage related work). Moore would move inside when we play man as we would remove Griffin for Taylor on the outside.

We do firmly expect Gotham to at least promote a slightly greater commitment to running the ball. We still would keep James on the 2nd level. We can show 3 DL and keep him in the slot or dime packages where James would move to the last level so we can throw a 4th CB and rush 4 traditional down lineman.

Edited November 13, 2022 by RedGold

[Scoundrel]

I like the defensive gameplan of Cuba. I think their run game is going to have success. Not sure about O’Neill inside but I think their oline has some success getting to the second level of the Gotham backers. Gotham will have some big plays in their passing game. I like the idea of rub touting to get Jefferson free against Sauce and absolutely the right move by Whicker to stick Sauce in Jefferson all game. That is one hell of a matchup. I think Brady and that offense do enough to control the clock to keep the Gotham offense from making one too few of plays in a one field goal close game. 

[bcb1213]

The Cuba roster is a struggle bus right now.  O'Neil at guard just doesn't work for me as he's never done it and that would take a couple weeks to get accustomed to it at minimum but then you add that onto likely lining accross from Chris Jones and that spells disaster.  Cuba will hit some big plays against Jamin Davis though in coverage on RB when Brady does have enough time but pressure up the middle is Tom's achilles heel and I think Gotham accomplishes that

On the other side, Cuba is going to be playing majority quarters defense by how it reads and Gotham wants to go underneath and let Hill and  Kirk RACK up the YAC yards

Give me Gotham 28-17

[Scoundrel]

16 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

Cuba is going to be playing majority quarters defense by how it reads

I may have missed this. I thought with Ward playing he was playing more man and if Ward was out he was playing zone. Quarters is against 5 wide but Gotham is running a 10 base 

[MD4L]

50 minutes ago, Scoundrel said:

I may have missed this. I thought with Ward playing he was playing more man and if Ward was out he was playing zone. Quarters is against 5 wide but Gotham is running a 10 base 

We would run both quarters and man coverage. 

[bcb1213]

1 hour ago, Scoundrel said:

I may have missed this. I thought with Ward playing he was playing more man and if Ward was out he was playing zone. Quarters is against 5 wide but Gotham is running a 10 base 

"When Gotham keeps 4 or 5 wideouts, we will play quarters coverage " 

[VigilantZombie]

1 hour ago, bcb1213 said:

The Cuba roster is a struggle bus right now.  O'Neil at guard just doesn't work for me as he's never done it and that would take a couple weeks to get accustomed to it at minimum but then you add that onto likely lining accross from Chris Jones and that spells disaster.  Cuba will hit some big plays against Jamin Davis though in coverage on RB when Brady does have enough time but pressure up the middle is Tom's achilles heel and I think Gotham accomplishes that

On the other side, Cuba is going to be playing majority quarters defense by how it reads and Gotham wants to go underneath and let Hill and  Kirk RACK up the YAC yards

Give me Gotham 28-17

I pretty much read it like this too. I think Cuba keeps it close but i think Gotham gameplanned a little better for this one.

 

Gotham 31-28

Edited November 15, 2022 by wwhickok

[MD4L]

51 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

"When Gotham keeps 4 or 5 wideouts, we will play quarters coverage " 

Denzel Ward is what makes this possible. Having him changes our coverage schemes. We can play more man coverages and tailor our zone looks to shade toward Emerson.
 

If Ward does not play, we will commit to zone coverages, Griffin plays outside, Taylor remains in the slot, and Emerson is on the boundary. We will play quarters coverage against 5 wide, cover 6 with the off man playing deep before committing to the underneath, and cover 3 against 3 WR sets.
 

 

[MD4L]

“Subjectivity” at its finest. It is ludicrous when people pigeon hole you into one specific coverage the entire game. 

[bcb1213]

21 minutes ago, MD4L said:

Denzel Ward is what makes this possible. Having him changes our coverage schemes. We can play more man coverages and tailor our zone looks to shade toward Emerson.
 

If Ward does not play, we will commit to zone coverages, Griffin plays outside, Taylor remains in the slot, and Emerson is on the boundary. We will play quarters coverage against 5 wide, cover 6 with the off man playing deep before committing to the underneath, and cover 3 against 3 WR sets.
 

 

The sentence I'm quoting comes before if Denzel does not play 

 

 

"Denzel Ward is what makes this possible. Having him changes our coverage schemes. We can play more man coverages and tailor our zone looks to shade toward Emerson. He gets the first half as a go run. We can move Shaq Griffin to the boundary if he starts slow or looks unlike himself. If he is on his game, we play him in man coverage. He will shadow Tyreek Hill when they play 3 WR sets and we will alternate between two man under or 5 man rushes, the latter of which has done damage against Mac Jones.
 

We will put Taylor one on one with Higgins and Emerson (with help) takes on Hopkins. When Gotham keeps 4 or 5 wideouts, we will play quarters coverage with occasional 5 man rushes or stunts to free Riddick and throw him into coverage.

If Ward does not play, we will commit to zone coverages, Griffin plays outside, Taylor remains in the slot, and Emerson is on the boundary. We will play quarters coverage against 5 wide, cover 6 with the off man playing deep before committing to the underneath, and cover 3 against 3 WR... "

 

[VigilantZombie]

25 minutes ago, MD4L said:

“Subjectivity” at its finest. It is ludicrous when people pigeon hole you into one specific coverage the entire game. 

I hope you know thats NOT what im doing.

I think yoi went with a good defensive attack and its not like yoir DBs are gonma just sit there and watch guys catch and run.

For me, it was more about the injuries that piled up for you in this game. Imo, a healthy Cuba offense wins this game pretty easily. But when you couple those with the defensive injuries, i think it opens the door just enough for Gotham to grab an upset.

[MD4L]

On 11/13/2022 at 1:02 PM, RedGold said:

If he is on his game, we play him in man coverage. He will shadow Tyreek Hill when they play 3 WR sets and we will alternate between two man under or 5 man rushes, the latter of which has done damage against Mac Jones.

2 things:

1st: When did 5 WR sets become seemingly acceptable when teams know it’s coming

2: The top part says he will shadow Hill in 3 WR sets but playing in him in man suggests we are going to actually play man coverage. On 5 WR sets there is still some type of man coverage but not the shadow lite responsibility of Ward on Hill.

[MD4L]

22 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

We will put Taylor one on one with Higgins and Emerson (with help) takes on Hopkins.

This sentence counteracts the intention to play one specific coverage for 4 quarters. How do you play quarters if someone is guarding someone one on one?????

Edited November 15, 2022 by MD4L