BDL 2022 Week 12 - Cuba Smugglers @ Lancaster Werewolves

[RedGold]

BDL 2022 Week 12

Match:  Cuba Smugglers @ Lancaster Werewolves

 Away Owner:  @MD4L

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

Edited December 7, 2022 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Cuba

QB: Tom Brady
RB: Dalvin Cook
WR: Justin Jefferson
WR: Keenan Allen
WR: DJ Chark
TE: Jelani Woods
LT: Charles Cross
LG: Elgton Jenkins
C - Connor Williams 
RG: Ezra Cleveland 
RT: Lane Johnson

 

QB: DeShaun Watson 
RB: Travis Etienne 
RB: Jamaal Williams 
WR: Damiere Byrd
WR: Cole Beasley
TE: Mo Alie-Cox
OL: Brian O’Neill
OL: Donovan Smith

 

Edge: Haason Riddick
DT: Zach Sieler
NT: DJ Reader
Edge: Maxx Crosby 
WLB: Jerome Baker
MLB: Eric Kendricks 
RCB: Alontae Taylor
NCB: Denzel Ward 
FS: Justin Reid
SS: Derwin James
LCB: Martin Emerson

 

Edge: Rashad Weaver 
Edge: Dante Fowler
DL : Zach Allen 
DT: Leki Fotu
ILB: Myles Jack
CB: Kadar Kohou
CB: Rasul Douglas
DB: LaMarcus Joyner

 

 

Lancaster

QB: Jalen Hurts
RB: Miles Sanders
WR: Michael Pittman Jr.
WR: Diontae Johnson
WR: Tyler Boyd
TE: Mike Gesicki
LT: Braxton Jones
LG: Quenton Nelson
C : Drew Dalman
RG: Robert Hunt
RT: Kaleb McGary

RB: AJ Dillon
RB: Tyler Allgeier
WR: Skyy Moore
WR: Quez Watkins
TE: Greg Dulcich
TE: Chigoziem Okonkwo
OL: Ted Karras
OL: La’el Collins 

DE: T.J. Watt
DT: Kenny Clark
DT: Justin Madubuike
DE: John Franklin-Myers
LB: Fred Warner
LB: Willie Gay Jr.
CB: Jalen Ramsey
CB: Jaire Alexander
CB: Dane Jackson
FS: Minkah Fitzpatrick
SS: Rodney McLeod

EDGE: Bud Dupree
EDGE: Arden Key
INT: Tedarrell Slaton
LB: Malcolm Rodriguez
LB: Akeem Davis-Gaither
CB: David Long
CB: Akayleb Evans
S: Darrick Forrest

Edited December 4, 2022 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Cuba

Intro

Take care of business against a high level team. We saw in week one Lancaster was a capable team and well equipped on both sides to make a playoff push. We will need to put our best foot forward and win this game to continue our season.

 

Offense

We continue committing to a quick draw passing game and aim to make gaining yards on first down a focal point of our offense. Lancaster is elite on this side of the ball and the key to beating them is making them react instead of knowing what is coming to them. They also thrive against the pass with two high level CBs so we know if we commit to getting Justin Jefferson the ball it will be a challenge in this game. The one benefit of Jefferson going against Ramsey or Jaire Alexander like in our first matchup is there is no extra help in this matchup. This incentives  creativity and making Jefferson a motion menace this game. If there a press man reliance like week one, we will often motion Jefferson and get him the ball on 3 step drops. This means flats or slants that are so quick it effectively offsets the pass rush. We will also use some jet sweeps to emphasize getting the ball in Jefferson’s hands. He shown to be phenomenal in the open field so we can challenge Lancaster’s likely press coverage with vertical routes knowing there is 5-8 scripted touches that come in a 2-4 yard DoT and a several touches behind the LOS ala Deebo Samuel role. When we get Jefferson vertical targets, it’s a lot of option routes. The game is effectively based on isolating him and making plays in contested situations. Ramsey has one interception this season, so the worst case scenario between those two is a low completion percentage. The best case scenario is like Kelce and Diggs this year, Jefferson’s greatness with Brady’s interception rate at a career low, we can maximize those 4-5 vertical routes into a successful diversification of touches for our offense. If it’s Alexander, the same game plan applies with more emphasis on slant and flat routes with eventual back shoulder fades.

 

Keenan Allen’s return assists us quite a bit in this matchup. We will bunch him and Jefferson quite a bit, but the concepts will differ vastly in presnap. There will be instances Jefferson starts in next to Allen, motions opposite (read: man/zone tell) and gets a jet sweep to test the edge. We like testing the side opposite TJ Watt when we run these reverses, especially if Lane Johnson is not lined up against Watt. There will be concepts when we line Jefferson opposite Allen and motion him next Allen to run some slant/flat concept. We will have a couple plays when Jefferson/Allen/a TE are bunched up and the route is a flat/drag concept with the TE running a come back route at 10 yards with the basis of that trio causing either Allen or Jefferson to break free at the last step of a 3 step drop. Allen does his fair share of lining up inside out as we expect him to be shadowed or doubled in some capacity. His game is usually relied upon making plays in the short area and creating YAC so his style fits nicely with us wanting Brady to get the ball out of his hands.

 

Our running game is the focal point of our 2nd down offense. We think 3rd and 10 is disastrous in this matchup but 2nd and 10 is nearly the same tight rope. With a goal to make first and 10s second and 4s and 5s, we can compliment the receivers with a commitment to the running backs. Travis Etienne and Dalvin Cook now share a dead even play time split. We like the idea of literally rotating each back every 2-3 plays. If we have 10-12 play drives, it is conceivable each player is on the field for 5 plays on the drive. We would like to give Dalvin the early work on toss plays and counters behind Lane Johnson. We also see value in giving Dalvin traditional carries up the middle and setting our offense for some play action pass opportunities in the 2nd half. Etienne’s snap count is a bit more of gameday related. If he’s able to be his usual self, we would like to make him a focal point of our offense from the 2nd drive until the midway point of the 4th quarter where we trust Cook’s overall ability in pass pro or as a receiver. Etienne will also get touches behind Lane Johnson and we will stack him with Mo Alie-Cox to pair our blocking TE with our best blocker. Lastly, Jamaal Williams has a key influence on our running game. He’s our short down back and we like the concepts of putting him in with Brian O’Neill as a 6th lineman and Donovan Smith at FB.

 

Most our protection against TJ Watt is based on getting ball out quickly. We trust Lane Johnson against him. Charles Cross would receive help from Jenkins. We would like to use some 2 TE sets if there becomes problems and direct Cook’s pass pro assistance to helping against Watt. If we’re in a do or die situation with the ball in our hands, we would change the TEs assignment. In the two minute drill, the TE is next to Charles Cross and will chip before going on a route. We want to target Jelani Woods a couple times but if he gathers the significant attention of Warner or Fitzpatrick, we think he’s done more than enough to help our offense. If it is Darrick Forrest or McCloud, we want Brady to give him a few looks when we lineup in two TE sets.

 

Lastly, there is a DeShaun Watson package. We will use him in redzone and short yardage situations. We want him on the field with about ten scripted potential plays. Our first play with on the field would be on with less then 2 yards for a first. We will line him up in a pistol formation with Williams, Cook, and Etienne together. Williams will motion out to the slot then motion back under center and snap the ball himself. On a 3rd and/or 4th and goal, we will line Watson in a pistol set with 2 RBs (Cook/Etienne) and have Justin Jefferson run motion in his active jet sweep presnap, with Cook receiving the snap and Jefferson throwing to Watson in a Cuba special. Otherwise, Watson will use his legs on RPOs and gives us a nice blend from the Brady pocket passer types in those short yardage situations.

 

Defense

When we evaluated Lancaster in week one, we knew they could be very good because their QB but Hurts admittedly was not the player we thought was going to be a catalyst. Hurts mobility is dynamic and he can win games as a passer. It is a dynamic challenge this week.

 

We are preparing for a run focused and play action patented offense this week. How do you offset that? By emphasizing on reacting instead of reading. We want to blitz more than usual this week. We can collapse the pocket with a traditional rush, but Hurts is capable of just climbing the pocket and getting into the open field. With a combination of 5 man rushes and spies (with players capable of matchup the size or speed of Hurts) we can collapse the pocket AND run him down if the situation calls of it. This also anticipates Lancaster looking to maintain a level of balance and more importantly their RPO game which turns a good running game in Sanders/Dillion into a dynamic rushing threat with Hurts capable of taking it himself.

 

Derwin James will have a role more in tune with stopping the run game. We will bring him down often when at safety. He won’t be the designated blitzer often but will play the role of the spy when we run zone coverages. Alontae Taylor and Denzel Ward switch roles on some plays when we run zone coverages to let Taylor blitz or cover the short zone area as his 6’0, 195 and sub 4.40 speed can track down Hurts should he leave the pocket. 

 

We will lineup in man a fair certain amount of times and dare Lancaster to beat us. Emerson-Pittman, Taylor-Boyd, Ward-Johnson. We will bring James into the second level and cover Gesicki with Kendricks.

 

We do feel comfortable with our matchups when we rush the passer with 4. Crosby will test both edge blockers because Hurts is such a threat to run already, so making him find Crosby helps us in that RPO area. We still like the potential of Crosby and Derwin running twists and especially this week with Hurts using the mesh point and the edge rushers move to decide whether to keep it himself. Riddick plays a stronger share of snaps but will have a few plays as off ball LB so we can blitz him from the second level and put him with Crosby on stunts. We can bring Derwin James down on those plays and greatly increase the likelihood of Hurts being uncomfortable in the pocket.

 

 

 

Lancaster

Lancaster Offensive Strategy:

This is it, we win this game and we’re in the playoffs. But on top of that, we’ve had this game circled since after week 1, when we lost to Cuba 9-6. We’ve been hungry to beat them since then and now the stakes are even higher. Our plan this week is to open up the passing game a bit more against a Cuba secondary that has underperformed and been hit by injuries. When we run the ball, we want to attack the edge a bit more to avoid their beefy interior defensive line. We will look to have a roughly 60:40 ratio of pass to run.

Our running backs will see a mix as usual, with Sanders starting and getting roughly 45% of the carries, with Dillon getting about 35% and Allgeier getting about 20%. As stated previously, we want to attack the edges with our running game this time so we aren’t running at a wall of DJ Reader and Zach Allen or Sieler. This of course doesn’t mean we will avoid the interior completely, just that it won’t be our focus. Whether we’re running inside or outside, we want to get our big guys on the move so we’ll be having our guards do a lot of pulling. And of course we will be utilizing Jalen Hurts’ legs through designed runs and read-option looks. While the ground game is not going to be the focus of our offense this week, we still want to make good use of our talented running backs and our quarterback and we think we can get solid gains this way.

We want to run a varied passing attack this week and utilize our guys in different ways. We will utilize a lot of RPO and quick concepts early but open things up as the game goes on. We want to get targets for all of our skill position players plus some of the bench guys. A number of our younger offensive playmakers have played well lately so we will look to get them involved. We want to focus a lot this week on our main target, Michael Pittman Jr. We will use him at all levels of the field, getting the ball to him short, medium, and long. We think he can win fairly consistently against whichever corner Cuba lines up across from him. With Diontae Johnson, we want to use him how he should be used, on short throws that give him opportunities for YAC. Boyd and Gesicki will get their looks attacking the middle of the field. We want to utilize Miles Sanders in the passing game with screens and occasionally splitting him out wide. We will mix in Skyy Moore, Quez Watkins, Greg Dulcich, and Chigoziem Okonkwo as well in different personnel looks to get them involved, particularly to attack more vertically. 

In pass protection, we will be sliding protection over to Maxx Crosby as he’s our main worry from a pass rush perspective. We also will have our tight end(s) chip regularly and when we look to attack deep, we will most often leave a running back in for pass protection. And finally we want Hurts to have the green light to run when he doesn’t see something downfield as he can do damage with his legs and force a defender to account for him.

Lancaster Defensive Strategy:

We think that Cuba will start Tom Brady in this game but there is always the possibility that they will start Deshaun Watson. We will expect Brady but be prepared for either quarterback. It doesn’t change much of our gameplan either way. Our main focus will be to eliminate Justin Jefferson and stop the running game. Those are the two main threats coming from the Cuba offense.

Cuba has the players to roll out many different packages and looks. This presents a challenge when gameplanning but we know that he almost always starts three wide receivers so we will again roll out our nickel man defense as our base package. Jalen Ramsey will cover Justin Jefferson with Minkah Fitzpatrick always providing bracket coverage on him. Justin Jefferson will certainly still make some plays but we think by committing these two players to him full time, we can severely limit his impact. Jaire Alexander will cover Rondale Moore and Dane Jackson will cover whoever the 3rd wide receiver is, whether it is Keenan Allen, DJ Chark, or Braxton Berrios. Fred Warner will be keying on Dalvin Cook the entire game. Warner will cover Cook if he comes out of the backfield, he will go after him if he gets a carry, and blitz if he stays in to block. Willie Gay Jr. will cover either the opposing tight end or the second running back if they go with 20 personnel. Rodney McLeod will be playing in the box and watching the run. When it’s a pass he will play a middle of the field zone or occasionally blitz. If they come out with only 2 wide receivers, then Malcolm Rodriguez will come in for Dane Jackson and will have responsibility on the extra tight end or running back. On obvious passing downs, Darrick Forrest will come in for McLeod and will play a deep zone.

In terms of stopping the run, we have committed Rodney McLeod to being an extra man in the box for most of the game which should help. We also have two linebackers who have sideline-to-sideline ability solely focused on the opposing running backs. On top of that, our offensive line is very good at stopping the run in general so we feel that all of these factors will give us an edge in that regard. When it comes to pass rush, we will occasionally have our linebackers and safety blitzing as outlined above. On top of this, we in particular think we can have some success against the interior offensive line and so we want to run some stunts with TJ Watt to get him against Ezra Cleveland on the interior. Brady also struggles against interior pressure so that’s where we want to focus on getting to him from.

Edited December 4, 2022 by RedGold

[LAOJoe]

Tough choice here but I feel if Lancaster went with a 60-40 or possibly even 50-50 run to pass ratio they'd really be able to make the most of their offense and maybe even challenge the middle of the line with Dillon. I also do like Cuba's plan on O.

[VigilantZombie]

I think lanaster passing attack is really being underrated I also think Tom Brady is being overrated. If anything Tom Brady has been on a more downward trend this season and Jalen Hurts has been damn near lighys out.

 

Lanacsters wide receiver group has also really stepped up and they got a damn good defense.

 I think both teams get a really good job on the game plans and I think this is a vacant 4th game but I like Lancaster by one score

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by wwhickok

[bcb1213]

White castle and Lanaster, poor rack can't catch a break

[VigilantZombie]

5 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

White castle and Lanaster, poor rack can't catch a break

The 2nd one I think it's at least reasonable to explain how that happened. The 1st one I have no idea

[VigilantZombie]

But come on everybody loves them some White Castle

[bcb1213]

37 minutes ago, wwhickok said:

But come on everybody loves them some White Castle

I mean I didn't even know white castle had a passing attack so it for sure is under rated 

[VigilantZombie]

11 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

I mean I didn't even know white castle had a passing attack so it for sure is under rated 

Just one blow a couple of White Castle Sliders and you will be passing gas all night long

[MD4L]

2 hours ago, wwhickok said:

Lanacsters wide receiver group has also really stepped up and they got a damn good defense.

Pittman is a good player, no doubt.

Last 5 games for Boyd: 16 rec, 200 yards, 1 TD

Last 5 games for Diontae Johnson: 23 rec, 227 yards, 0 TD

Hurts is MVP worthy no doubt. But are his WRs actually stepping up?

 

[VigilantZombie]

55 minutes ago, MD4L said:

Pittman is a good player, no doubt.

Last 5 games for Boyd: 16 rec, 200 yards, 1 TD

Last 5 games for Diontae Johnson: 23 rec, 227 yards, 0 TD

Hurts is MVP worthy no doubt. But are his WRs actually stepping up?

 

In my opinion, yes. Theyve been better and more consistent lately imo

[rackcs]

1 hour ago, MD4L said:

Pittman is a good player, no doubt.

Last 5 games for Boyd: 16 rec, 200 yards, 1 TD

Last 5 games for Diontae Johnson: 23 rec, 227 yards, 0 TD

Hurts is MVP worthy no doubt. But are his WRs actually stepping up?

Both have more receiving yards than anyone on your roster not named Justin Jefferson. And let's not ignore that Diontae Johnson is playing with probably the worst play caller in the league with a rookie QB.

[MD4L]

11 minutes ago, rackcs said:

Both have more receiving yards than anyone on your roster not named Justin Jefferson. And let's not ignore that Diontae Johnson is playing with probably the worst play caller in the league with a rookie QB.

Yes because DJ Chark and Keenan Allen have played a combined 11 games this season. 
 

Allen and Chark also have an 85+ yard game with a TD in recent weeks. Your WR hasn’t done that since Boyd in week 7 with a high level QB (Burrow) at his disposal all season.

[bcb1213]

15 minutes ago, rackcs said:

Both have more receiving yards than anyone on your roster not named Justin Jefferson. And let's not ignore that Diontae Johnson is playing with probably the worst play caller in the league with a rookie QB.

Matt Patricia coaches pittsburgh?