BDL 2022 Playoffs Week 1 - #8 Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ #1 Camden Hood Rats

[RedGold]

BDL 2022 Playoffs Week 1

Match:  Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ Camden Hood Rats

 Away Owner:  @RuskieTitan

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]

Ivory Coast Black Rhinos

Ivory Coast Offense
QB - Aaron Rodgers
RB - Nick Chubb
WR - Terry McLaurin
WR - Amon-Ra St. Brown
WR - Curtis Samuel
TE - Evan Engram
LT - Trent Williams
LG - Damien Lewis
OC - Jason Kelce
RG - Zack Martin
RT - Kelvin Beachum
------------------------------------
RB - Ezekiel Elliott
RB - Leonard Fournette
WR - Chase Claypool
WR - Randall Cobb
TE - Noah Fant
TE - Albert Okwuegbunam
OL - Teven Jenkins
OL - Josh Jones
------------------------------------

Ivory Coast Defense

DE - Myles Garrett
DT - Teair Tart
DT - Da'Ron Payne
DE - Khalil Mack
MLB - Devin White
SLB - Bobby Okereke
CB - Greg Newsome II
CB - AJ Terrell
NCB - Samuel Womack
S - Trevon Diggs
S - Kyle Dugger
------------------------------------
DE - Darrell Taylor
DE - Amaré Barno
DE - Josh Sweat
DT -  Devonte Wyatt
DT - Jarran Reed
LB - Patrick Queen
CB - Darnay Holmes
S - Ashtyn Davis

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camden

QB- Justin Fields
RB- Austin Ekeler
WR- AJ Brown
WR- Gabe Davis
TE- David Njoku
TE- Gerald Everett
LT- Dion Dawkins
LG- Zach Tom
C- Ben Jones
RG- Kevin Zeitler
RT- Chuks Okorafor

___________________

WR- Terrace Marshall Jr
TE- Harrison Bryant
RB- Pierre Strong Jr
QB- Andy Dalton
OL- Jonah Williams
OL- Bradley Bozeman
OL- Ben Cleveland

 

DE- Josh Allen
DT- Andrew Billings
DT- Davon Godchaux
DE- Montez Sweat
LB- Leighton Vander Esch
LB- Frankie Luvu
CB- L’Jarius Sneed
CB- Asante Samuel Jr
CB- Jeff Okudah
S- Amani Hooker
S- Marcus Epps

_____________________

DE- Yannick Ngakoue
DE- Josh Uche
DT- Osa Odighizuwa
DT- Jerry Tillery
LB- Drue Tranquill
CB- CJ Henderson
CB- Bryce Callahan
S- Keanu Neal

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Ivory Coast
 

Motivation: Win.

Offense

Primary Formation: 11 personnel, with mixtures of 21 and 12 personnel packages as well as 4 wide.

Running Game Focus:

Feed Nick Chubb the football. We’re going to run the ball early, utilizing both interior runs as well as off-tackle, and force Camden to play more in the box. If they decide to use more DBs then we’ll continue to pound the ball inside behind All-Pro Jason Kelce. We’ll have a few sets of split HBs to allow Chubb and Elliott on the field at the same time, will be used for both run sets and passing downs

• Establish the run early and often, working to get Chubb at least 20+ touches on the ground

• Maintain balance of runs inside as well as outside

• Utilize counters and pulls to take advantage of defensive aggressiveness

• Churn out the tough yards and keep drives sustained

Passing Game Focus:

We want the emphasis on offense to be sustaining long drives that end in points, and relying on more consistent passes to keep the chains moving. We’ll take advantage of some deep shots set up by the running game, and sprinkle in play-action to keep the defense honest.

• Use motion pre-snap, both by receivers as well as tight ends moving in and off the line to read the defensive coverage

• Take advantage of trips formations against both man and zone

• Utilizing flood route concepts when encountering more zone

• Run slants, rub routes to beat man concepts, trust our receiving playmakers to win contested balls and get open

• Throw quick screens if the corners are playing off, get our playmakers the ball in space

• If needed, utilize the running back(s) to help block and serve as the checkdown option

• When using two back sets, allow one back to come out and run routes while the other helps block

• Implement a few bootleg play-action passes to open up the defense

Defense

Defensive Formation:

In scouting against Camden we see that they tend to favor three receiver sets, so we’ll align a 4-2-5 front against it. White and Okereke will be our primary linebackers, with Newsome II, Terrell, and Womack operating as the three cornerbacks, with Womack taking the slot. Dugger and Diggs take up the safety slots, and our defensive line will feature Mack, Garrett coming off the edges and Tart, Payne taking up the interior. When Camden goes 2 receivers we’ll take Womack out and slide Patrick Queen at WLB, with Okereke moving into SLB. Against four receiver sets we’ll have Holmes come in for Okereke and keep that same formation against 5 wide as well, leveraging Diggs as the additional coverage man.

Against the Pass:

We’ll primarily use Cover-1 man under scheme for this matchup. Dugger will be the high safety over the top, and Diggs will be playing down closer into the box, serving to cover their primary tight end. If no TE and two RBs, he’ll be taking the primary back out of the backfield, with Okereke (#2 LB) taking the other RB; if there’s a TE Okereke will take the primary back. We’ll sprinkle some cover 2 and cover 3 zones to bait the quarterback (likely Fields) into mistakes, and utilize our playmakers to take the ball. We’re going to lean on our defensive line to win their individual matchups, and avoid needing to use blitzes - instead, letting our pass rushers generate the pressure needed to see the ball thrown into contested situations and let our playmakers take advantage

• Dugger will be the primary safety high in the cover-1 concepts

• Terrell will shadow AJ Brown during this matchup

• Corners will be closer to the line, using jam at times to prevent quick pass attempts and eliminating wide receiver screen attempts

• Devin White will be spying on Fields to take away the run element

• Defensive line will work on collapsing the pocket; we’re going to limit stunts and twists so that Fields doesn’t get any lanes to escape the pocket

• Have Josh Sweat, Myles Garrett, and Khalil Mack all on the field during 3rd and distance (8+), with one of Garrett or Mack kicking inside

Against the Run:

We’re going to play sound fundamental football to stop the run. Trevon Diggs will be able to operate closer to the box as he’ll be covering the tight end or running back; it’ll allow us to limit the times Camden tries to load up the line of scrimmage. 

• Utilize safety closer to the box as needed

• Rely on maintaining edge control with our elite edge players

• Defensive interior will be focused on maintaining their gap discipline and clogging up the holes in the middle, both against planned runs and QB scrambles

• Film study ahead of the game to prepare against any RPO / QB read option to shut down

• Trust our defensive line to win their individual matchups and shed blockers

• Allow linebackers to swarm to the ball and limit yards after contact

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camden

 

Offense (RPO fancy feet zoom ball)

Playoff time baaaaby. We get to face an IC team that has gotten healthy in recent weeks and has gotten dangerous. They boast arguably the best DL in BDL and it’s going to be a tall task but we’ve got some things we want to key on.

RPO’s/Run game- With Fields ability to run we essentially have two options to run the ball at all times in the backfield. With us employing a heavy RPO game today, we put the DE’s in conflict constantly and set up the LB’s for easy passes when they bite on run fakes. Between he and Ekeler, they hold the key to slowing down this pass rush and allowing Fields time to work the areas of the field we think we have the advantage in. Expect around 15 designed runs for Fields today.

Attack the safeties- If Trevon Diggs is playing safety again today, expect a buuunch of slant and go’s on his side of the field. He’s playing out of the position and he’s a gambler, two things that work to our advantage greatly today. Both AJ Brown and Gabe Davis can stretch the field, and we’ll have them working slants and curls heavy to start the game and set these safeties up for double moves. Especially with Njoku and Everett potentially forcing them into conflict by working up the middle of the field, we could get Diggs in some really tough spots.

Work the middle with our TE’s- We think if there is a weakness on this D, it would be the coverage ability by their LB’s. We’ll have two TEs in most of the time today. 1, to help chip those DEs, but also to give Fields targets in the middle of the field with the ability to stretch the seam a bit. We think our TE’s are mismatches today and they’ll serve as great safety blankets for Fields today.

Screens- Another key for us will be screens to Ekeler today. It’s a classic pass rush killing tool and we’ll keep it handy today to surprise the IC defensive line a couple times.

 

Defense (Cover 1 robber Chubb stopper base)

IC made a bold move and finally got themselves a QB this offseason and while Rodgers isn’t the guy he used to be, IC gives him security with a run game and keeps it simple. We think if we can slow down Chubb we can limit Rodgers ability to make big plays.

Cover 1- This will be our base coverage shell as it allows us to have a player deep and gives us an extra man to defend the run. We’ll keep the deep safety shaded to McLaurin’s side this week as we feel like he’s the true deep threat on the IC team. Cover 1 can easily morph into other coverage shells like cover 2 and QQH coverage, and we’ll mix those in a bit today too.

Robber- Our robber today will mainly be Amani Hooker. He’s a very well rounded safety so we’re confident in asking him to play this role today. His main responsibility will be to rotate down in run defense early on in the contest to slow down Chubb. We like our defensive lines ability against the run as well as our LB’s, but having a chess piece down there like Hooker is going to make it harder for IC to establish that run game, and he also sets us up for blitzes.

Blitz packages- With the run game stalled, we gotta pressure Rodgers. We have capable pass rushers, 4 of them to rotate in and out. On obvious pass rushing downs we’ll get Ngakoue and Uche into the game to really threaten the edges with speed. But this is where our robber is truly the most advantageous for us. He’s able to fill responsibilities of our LB’s when we send them on blitzes up the gut, but more importantly he can fill in for L’Jarius Sneed to blitz off the edge in the slot. Sneed has shown this year he’s got a knack for timing these blitzes and his elite speed is a killer off the edge. We’ll send Sneed on some corner blitzes from the slot 4-5 times today to try to make a big play with a strip sack.

Edited December 11, 2022 by RedGold

[VigilantZombie]

@RuskieTitan I thought the layout of your gameplan, thr formatting rather was pretty interesting. Kind cool to see the different look on the format.

Likewise @Jlash I enjoyed the clean look to yours as well. Well done gents.

As far as reading them, I already did so, its a really good matchup. Gonna dwell on this until at least late Tuesday Morning (as well as the other 2 matchups) but well done both of you.

Edited December 12, 2022 by wwhickok

[Blue]

JLash continues to be one of, if not the, best gameplan writers in the league and if his defense wasn't relatively soft up the middle this week, I think his plan to limit Chubb and pressure Rodgers works out for him. By the same token, if Camden wasn't so hard up at receiver, I'd probably go with them since Ivory Coast is pulling some funny business in their secondary with Diggs at safety and the Greg Newsome/Sam Womack combo isn't all that inspiring. The ICBR offensive line is a lot for an overwhelmed Camden OL to handle, but running the ball heavily with Fields is the right answer IMO.

I think this is a very competitive game, but in the end I don't think Camden has the talent to pull off the gameplan they want to run.

[MWil23]

10 minutes ago, Blue said:

JLash continues to be one of, if not the, best gameplan writers in the league

(It's true though)

[bcb1213]

28 minutes ago, Blue said:

 The ICBR offensive line is a lot for an overwhelmed Camden OL to handle, but running the ball heavily with Fields is the right answer IMO.

Let's all make fun of blue for messing up

[bcb1213]

zeitler inactive for camden

[Jlash]

13 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

zeitler inactive for camden

[RuskieTitan]

3 hours ago, bcb1213 said:

4 hours ago, Blue said:

 The ICBR offensive line is a lot for an overwhelmed Camden OL to handle, but running the ball heavily with Fields is the right answer IMO.

Let's all make fun of blue for messing up

To be fair, we'd take our OL in a fight 10 times out of 10 against Camden's, so he didn't entirely mess up.

[VigilantZombie]

I think Ivory Coast's defensive line is going to overwhelm Camden. As good as Justin field might be in the future hes just not ready for this. I think IC forces some turnovers by the young QB and comes away with a win.

35-17 IC

[rackcs]

This is a really tough matchup. I think both teams gameplanned really well but I think Camden does a better job of playing to his personnel's strengths and scheming around his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, particularly how he's going to limit the pass rush and attack Diggs at safety. Gonna think on this one more as well.

[Ragnarok]

23 hours ago, Blue said:

JLash continues to be one of, if not the, best gameplan writers in the league and if his defense wasn't relatively soft up the middle this week, I think his plan to limit Chubb and pressure Rodgers works out for him. By the same token, if Camden wasn't so hard up at receiver, I'd probably go with them since Ivory Coast is pulling some funny business in their secondary with Diggs at safety and the Greg Newsome/Sam Womack combo isn't all that inspiring. The ICBR offensive line is a lot for an overwhelmed Camden OL to handle, but running the ball heavily with Fields is the right answer IMO.

I think this is a very competitive game, but in the end I don't think Camden has the talent to pull off the gameplan they want to run.

I agree with a lot of this.  For me, this game comes down to...Is the gameplan by Camden enough to overcome their injuries?

I think it might be.  IC is putting a more finesse player in Diggs up in the box to help against the run and defend against Njoku while they have a more physical player in Dugger who usually plays more box IRL playing deep.  I think Njoku would have a field day out-physical-ing Diggs in both the run and pass game.  I also think Queen in man coverage will be an issue.  So those TEs should allow Fields a lot of quick opportunities.  Then on the back end you have the best WR in the league this year solo covered while Gabe Davis is solo covered by Newsome.  Both of which present problems for IC.  Fields will, if he has time, be able to take shots down the sidelines all game and hit on more than a couple.  I do think White and Okereke will do well in their roles and, of course, that DL will help mitigate all of this.

I'm going Camden, but this is really close as everyone has said.

[EaglesPeteC]

The matchup for me comes down to inferior o-line and young QB vs elite defensive line. IC for me here

[rackcs]

I think Camden just schemed this all too well and is able to make plays despite the talent disparity. I also think it was a big misstep having Diggs as the box guy and Dugger deep, if you're forced into playing Diggs at safety. Just seems like the opposite of what their skillsets would dictate.