BDL 2022 Playoffs Week 2 - #8 Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ #2 Anchorage Trappers

[RedGold]

BDL 2022 Playoffs Week 2

Match:  #8 Ivory Coast Black Rhinos @ #2 Anchorage Trappers

 Away Owner: @RuskieTitan @ny92mike

Home Owner:  @Scoundrel

 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
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RB - Ezekiel Elliott
RB - Leonard Fournette
WR - Chase Claypool
WR - Randall Cobb
TE - Noah Fant
TE - Albert Okwuegbunam
OL - Teven Jenkins
OL - Josh Jones
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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
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DE - Darrell Taylor
DE - Amaré Barno
DE - Josh Sweat
DT -  Devonte Wyatt
DT - Jarran Reed
LB - Patrick Queen
CB - Darnay Holmes
S - Ashtyn Davis

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Anchorage

 

Anchorage 

Offense:

QB- Joe Burrow

RB- Josh Jacobs

X- Donovan Peoples-Jones

Z- Ja’Marr Chase

Slot- Hollywood Brown

TE- Isaiah Likely 

LT- Andrew Thomas 

LG- Frank Ragnow

C- Erik McCoy

RG- Austin Corbett

RT- Rob Havenstein 
 

Bench:

RB- Jonathan Taylor

RB- JK Dobbins 

WR4- Zay Jones 

WR5- Jameson Williams

WR6- Mack Hollins

TE2- Jordan Akins

OL- Ikem Ekwonu

OL- Jon Runyan Jr

 

Defense:

End- Sam Hubbard 

UT- Ed Oliver

NT- DaQuan Jones

End- Aidan Hutchinson

MLB- Micah Parsons 

Stud- Isaiah Simmons

CB- Patrick Surtain 

CB- Jaylon Johnson

CB- Jaycee Horn

S- Jessie Bates lll

S- Talanoa Hufanga

Bench:

Edge- Alex Highsmith

Edge- Bradley Chubb

Edge- James Houston IV

DT- Greg Gaines

DT- Jordan Davis

LB- Mykal Walker

Dime- Budda Baker

S- Kam Curl

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Ivory Coast

Motivation: Defeat Anchorage.

Offense

Primary Formation: 11 personnel, with mixtures of 21, 12, and 10 personnel packages.

Running Game Focus:

Control the clock. We want to try and limit the possessions that Anchorage has this game, and work on sustaining long drives that result in points. We’re going to feature Chubb heavily as the bellcow, with Zeke coming in on third downs.

• Focus on moving the chains, giving our backs plenty of touches

• Utilize double teams with All-Pro Jason Kelce and our guards to open the middle and work to the second level

• Feature some tosses, sweeps, and jet sweep handoffs to receivers to force their interior defensive linemen to run around and wear down

• Use delayed handoffs to catch the defense off-guard

Passing Game Focus:

With our emphasis on controlling the clock, Rodgers and company will be prioritizing first downs and keeping drives alive to result in points and milking the clock. We’ll be willing to take deep shots if and when the opportunity presents itself, but by and large we want to thrive in that 5-15 yard range for routes

• Give Rodgers the keys to the offense, and let him make pre-snap reads, including the ability to switch to run plays based on defensive alignment

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

• Pre-snap motion to be used to allow for free release or jet sweeps

• Take advantage of lining up ARSB and McLaurin on the same side of the field, one attacking deeper than the other and letting Rodgers hit the man winning his route

• Sprinkle in some quick screens if the corners are playing off, getting the ball in our playmakers as quickly as possible

• Zeke Elliott will be the primary third down back, both to leverage his elite protection skillset as well as a checkdown option

• Feature a few plays with the back performing a wheel route to slip out the backfield

• Limit the deep drops and focus on quick throws to try and avoid their pass rush from making an impact

Defense

Defensive Formation:

Last week Anchorage came out with a three receiver set, so we’ll align a 4-2-5 front against it. Devin White and Bobby Okereke will be our primary linebackers, with Greg Newsome II, AJ Terrell, and Sam 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 Anchorage 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 know that Anchorage has some elite playmakers, and we don’t want to give up anything deep. We’ll be mainly operating with cover-2 man under scheme to keep our safeties high and helping shut down anything deep, though we’ll sprinkle a little cover-1 man under and cover-3 zone to mix things up

• Diggs will be the primary safety high in the cover-1 concepts, will be used strictly in deep zone coverage to support our corners and read the quarterback to make plays

• No specific assignments for corners, we’ll play them tighter to the line to eliminate shorter concepts and trust our safeties to assist if beat off the line

• Trust our elite pass rushers to win their matchups and generate the needed pressure

• Limited number of blitzes, instead relying on the defensive line and clogging up throwing lanes with our linebackers

• White will have the primary tight end responsibility, with Okereke taking the primary back. When using Cover-1, Dugger will take the tight end and we’ll have White either sitting and taking away the middle or on rare occasions blitzing through the A-Gap

• 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 for the hydra front

Against the Run:

Play smart, fundamental football, and limit the damage that Taylor and the rest of the backfield does. 

• If needed, drop a safety into the box pre-snap to provide additional run support

• Trust our elite edge players to contain the edge and prevent their backs from reaching the perimeter

• Defensive interior will be focused on maintaining their gap discipline and clogging up the holes in the middle, keeping our linebackers clean and flowing to the ball

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

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

• Instill confidence in our corners to make tackles if/when the ball comes their way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anchorage

 

Overview:  
We got over the no playoff win hump last week but we aren’t done. This Ivory Coast team beat us by one earlier in the year and an Aaron Rodgers led team beat us by one in the playoffs last year in our own stadium. It’s our time to get our revenge against a very good team that just knocked off the number one seed. We will play balanced and control the clock while playing disciplined defense to close down run lanes and prevent big plays in the passing game. 

 

Offense: 3 Wide (45%), 4 Wide (35%), 2RB (20%)
A 60/40 Pass/Run play split will be our goal this week. We want to control the clock this game and keep the IC offense off of the field with our motions, quick passing and running game. Efficient passing and running will set up big plays with play action. We are going to play our brand of football and stick to what got us this far attacking the IC weaknesses and playing to our strengths.

•Get our running game going through zone and man concepts. 

•If Diggs is in the box at safety run at him often and toy with his aggressiveness in coverage 

•Test Dugger if in a center fielder role

•Get Chase matched up with Terrell as much as possible

•Provide extra chipping/support against the edge rushers

•Play action and boots to manipulate the pocket, slow down pass rush, and get coverage to bite on double moves.

Run Game:
Zone and Man mix to present different advantages for us and challenges for the IC front. They have quite a front seven and we want to utilize their aggression against them. We will run some traps and pulls out of our man concepts and utilize inside and outside zone to ride out wide end alignments or seal in tighter end alignments to get some big runs outside. Getting extra bodies on Garrett and Mack and working to the second level will be key to springing big plays for us. If they drop Diggs into the box as an extra safety and balance out gaps with their linebackers we are going to run tosses and pull outside right at him to take advantage of the lighter linebacker presence on the outside to his side. As they overload to help support his side we will counter and run more weak side to take advantage of the lighter side of the defense. We will mix in some RPO and use misdirection in our 2RB sets with our counter and some read option. We will use Burrow’s legs as needed on boots and if plays break down he has the ability to run. We will once again use him as a compliment on the goaline and inches to go situations to our running game. We will run a 50/25/25 snap split with Jacobs, Taylor and Dobbins. Jacobs will see most of the third down work.

General Passing Game:
We will run combo routes, rub routes out of twins and bunch, and flood zones attacking this secondary in a multitude of ways. We believe we can take advantage of their DBs and will target our ideal matchups. We will always be motioning to eat up clock and determine coverage. We will sometimes motion to double twins in 4 wide, or single twins in either 3/4 wide with more spacing on the other side. We will also bring in our Z off the hip of our TE allowing us a twins type alignment with the in-line TE and create spacing issues for the IC defense. We will attack Terrell, Holmes, and Newsome relentlessly in the passing game. Terrell has given up 7 touchdowns and we want to test him with our best receiver and college nemesis Ja’Marr Chase. If they bracket Ja’Marr or play matchup coverage with anyone else we won’t be shy about still targeting him. However them bracketing Ja’Marr will just open up more of our other receiving weapons to our benefit. We will motion Ja’Marr around to get him on Terrell and tip zone or man coverage while getting him working in AJ’s zone. Dugger is not a single high type safety and is more of an in the box type player. 52 of his 500 defensive snaps have come at FS this season. So if they are using him there we want to challenge his deep coverage with some deep shots with our speed. We will utilize some double verts with a seam stretcher as well especially if we are seeing single high and really put the single high safety in a tough position. Targeting Holmes in the nickel/dime will be a sweet spot for our passing attack as well. We will rotate between Hollywood and Zay Jones as our third receiver in three wide. Once again we will always have some underneath routes working to allow Burrow quick shots to negate the pass rush and keep the chains moving consistently.

Diggs:
Diggs is their best DB if they want to assign him to our TE that is fine with us. Diggs is an aggressive player. Chipping with our TE and using delayed releases will test his patience early and we expect will cause him to drift off in zone. We will mix in stand in blocking with our TE where they never release, delayed releases up field and TE screens to still make our TE’s weapons and manipulate the IC defense. Diggs will either be forced to be patient or will drift off giving us openings underneath. Same thing goes for our RB’s if he has coverage on them in man he will be tested in the same ways. If he is dropping to 2 deep shells or single high our double moves and double verts will test his patience and toy with his over aggression. Any other corner they put at safety will get tested just the same if they try and switch it up. There is a chance they start Ashtyn Davis at safety. He has 12 defensive snaps on the season and if they do we will pick on him often.

Pass Protection and Back Routes:
We will utilize our backs to chip these impressive pass rushers. Primarily helping out our RT Havenstein who gets the start for Steele. Havenstein has super bowl winning experience and we believe this big game isn’t too big for him. But we acknowledge he may have his struggles with these ends so we want to give him as much support as possible with the chipping. If our TE is not to his side or we are in 4 wide we will chip to his side. If they overload there even with the TE we will chip with our RB to support. As mentioned we will always be helping out with our TE in some way. We will screen with our backs some and release them as safety nets for Burrow after chipping. We will occasionally utilize our backs as just stand in blockers for extra protection especially if we start to see heavy blitzing from the backers. We will close down inside if we start to see heavy middle blitzing with the extra chipping and support on our tackles. We will pass off stunts and be disciplined in our pass blocking.

Play Action: 
We will utilize play action off of our run game mixed with boots to manipulate the pocket and slow down the pass rush. We will use double moves with our play action hoping to get the aggressive DB’s to bite and provide us big shots. Jameson will get some run again this week to use his speed to challenge the defense. Chase will also get these opportunities to use his speed and stretch the field. Their deep speed presence can open up the underneath passing game for us as well. 

 

Defense: Nickel Base, Dime against 4 wide, 4-3 against 2WR or less sets:
Ivory Coast has a very talented offense and we need to play disciplined against their passing and rushing attacks to win this game. We have some instinctual playmakers on defense that we will deploy to our advantage and look to wreck Rodger’s day and stuff Chubb and Elliott. 

•Gap disciplined. Contain the outside and fill gaps with our second level speed.

•Man and Zone coverage mix. Mix in press/press show to bail to throw off offense’s rhythm and timing

•No free releases off the line for Engram to also disrupt timing

•Banjo technique against twins and bunch to cover rub routes.

•Additional backer plays a jack of all trades role with blitz/robber/bracket assignments in man

•Blitz disguise and utilizing Hufanga/Parsons/Simmons as blitz options as well as utilizing some stunts/twists for added pass rush variance.

 

Run Defense:
We are starting Ed Oliver and Daquan Jones inside, two players that had a big hand in holding Nick Chubb to 19 yards on 14 carries for a 1.4 ypc in November. We are going to utilize Hubbard and Hutchinson as our starting ends this week. We will play gap control and utilize Hufanga in the box for extra run support. We want to limit their big rushing plays and keep their ypc low to force them into 3rd and long situations. If they go RPO Micah will be meeting Rodgers at the mesh point while Simmons meets Chubb/Elliott. We are going to play a physical brand of football and punish their backs. We will rotate in Jordan Davis and Greg Gaines to keep our interior fresh against their strong running game. Chubb and Highsmith will see some run at end to keep our starters fresh. Mykal Walker comes on as the third backer against 2 WR or less formations.

Pass Defense:
We are going to play an even mix of man and zone (cover 2/3). We aren’t going to play player matchup specific presnap this game. Surtain and Jaylon are outside and Horn is the nickel against 3 wide. If they motion their slot from side to side we will have Horn just follow presnap even in zone and with any of our tracking presnap we will shift zones accordingly. If Jaylon/Surtain’s outside receiver shifts over to form a trips on one side we will have that corner follow even if in zone. If the outside receiver to the slot side motions over, Horn will track him across the formation and the outside corner that was on that side just squeezes down to the slot who is now solo on that side. If they are in 2 wide and motion to twins/bunch that corner will follow that receiver and we will just adjust our zone/man on the other side with our SS and/or backers. We will run our traditional single high when in man with Bates deep. We will play Banjo technique against twins/bunch to cover rub routes. Against 3 wide in man we will have Parsons/Simmons cover RB alternating between who has RB and the other backer will either blitz, play robber or bracket Engram with Hufanga. We run Dime against 4 wide and run zone. Budda will come on as the Dime, Parsons moves to Edge, Simmons to MLB and Hufanga to Stud. We will give Budda help with Hufanga or Simmons in zone. Horn in Dime will lineup across the better of the inside receivers McLaurin/Amon Ra/Samuel/Cobb in that order. Against 4 wide, if they motion the RB out and go empty then Hufanga will track him presnap even though we are in zone. Simmons will work as a middle zone robber then spying Rodgers in case he takes off. Against 2 WR or less, Horn and Surtain are our corners. In man Hufanga has TE1, Walker has RB2/TE2 and Simmons has RB1. Parsons will blitz, robber, bracket (alternate between bracketing with Hufanga and Walker) same role as the Nickel. Against 2RB/3WR Hufanga now has RB2 instead of a TE. We want to mix in press and show press to bail to throw off the offensive timing and rhythm. We will ensure Engram does not get free releases inline to also disrupt timing. 

Pass Rush:
Parsons or Simmons will be our primary additional blitzers when we send heat. We will often show blitz and drop back to the coverage responsibility and mix up who shows and who goes between the two to create added confusion for the offense. We are going to use Hufanga and his impeccable timing on some blitzes when we are running zone to bring another added weapon to our defensive attack. We will incorporate some stunts and twists again to force the offensive line to make adjustments and bring varying pressures throughout the game. As mentioned Parsons will move to edge against 4 wide and we will blitz minimally against this set as we rely on our front four to get home mixing in those stunts and twists as well. We will give James Houston who has 7 pressures and 4 sacks on 34 pass rush attempts some run at edge against 3 and 4 wide on clear passing downs. 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by RedGold

[Scoundrel]

55 minutes ago, RedGold said:

NCB - Samuel Womack

Was inactive 

[Scoundrel]

1 hour ago, RedGold said:

DT - Teair Tart

Also inactive

[VigilantZombie]

If there is one team capable of shutting down Ivory Coast, It's the team with the best defense in the league. I think This has the potential to be a very good game, But I think Anchorage is defense comes up with a late turnover that seals it.

 

31-28 Anchorage

[Blue]

Gonna wait until Tuesday to vote but already I'm excited to see the match here.

[Scoundrel]

8 hours ago, RedGold said:

WR - Chase Claypool

Was also inactive

[RuskieTitan]

Fudge yeah ICBR all the way!!!

[RuskieTitan]

Anchorage is nice in the take home to meet mom sense, but all ya'll playas know ya'll want to vote for ICBR let's go!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RuskieTitan]

Just now, RuskieTitan said:

Anchorage is nice in the take home to meet mom sense, but all ya'll playas know ya'll want to vote for ICBR let's go!!!!!!!!!!!!

no regerts.

[RuskieTitan]

3 hours ago, Scoundrel said:

Was also inactive

[Scoundrel]

13 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

[Scoundrel]

19 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

Fudge yeah ICBR all the way!!!

[Scoundrel]

16 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

no regerts.