BDL 2023 Week 2 - Anchorage Trappers @ Rome Eternals

[RedGold]

BDL 2023 Week 2

Match:  Anchorage Trappers @ Rome Eternals

 Away Owner:  @Scoundrel

Home Owner:   @bcb1213

 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]

Anchorage

Offense:

QB- Joe Burrow

RB- Breece Hall

X- Treylon Burks

Z- Ja’Marr Chase

Slot- Hollywood Brown

TE- David Njoku

LT- Andrew Thomas

LG- Frank Ragnow

C- Erik McCoy

RG- Jamaree Salyer

RT- Terence Steele

 

Bench:

RB2- Roschon Johnson 

RB3- Tyjae Spears

WR4- Jaxon Smith-Njigba

WR5- Josh Downs

TE2- Isaiah Likely

OT- Ikem Ekwonu

OL- Jon Runyan Jr

OT- DJ Humphries

 

Defense:

LE- Aidan Hutchinson  

DT- Vita Vea

DT- Jordan Davis

RE- Alex Highsmith

MLB- Micah Parsons 

Stud- Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

CB- Patrick Surtain 

CB- Jaylon Johnson

CB- Christian Gonzalez 

S- Jessie Bates lll

S- Talanoa Hufanga

 

Bench:

Edge- Haason Reddick

Edge- Sam Hubbard 

DT- Jarran Reed

DT- Ed Oliver

LB- Denzel Perryman

CB- Derek Stingley Jr

CB- Paulson Adebo 

S- Kam Curl

 

 

 

 

Rome

 

QB Justin Herbert

RB D’Andre Swift 

WR Keenan Allenr 

WR Jaylen Waddle

TE Luke Musgrave

TE Dalton Kincaid

LT Tyron Smith 

LG Michael Onwenu

C Ethan Pocic 

RG Chris Lindstrom

RT Ryan Ramcyk 

 

WR Amari Cooper

RB Najee Harris

TE Zack Ertz  

WR Juju Smith Shuster

WR Jonathan Mingo

OG O’Cyrus Tirrence

OT Bernhard Raimann

RB Gus Edwards

 

Edge Matt Judon

NT Dalvin Tomlinson 

UT Denico Autry 

Edge Jaelan Phillips

LB Matt Milano

LB Nick Bolton 

CB Jamel Dean

CB Patrick Peterson

CB DJ Reed

S  Kyle Hamilton 

S Andre Cisco 

 

Edge Shaq Barrett

Edge  George Karlafitis 

INT Andrew Billings

INT Quinton Jefferson

LB Foye Oluokon 

CB Michael Carte

CB Daron Blandr

S Grant Delpit

Edited September 17, 2023 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Anchorage

Overview:  
Rematch of the Bizz Bowl. We know Rome is coming for vengeance but we plan to inflict the same result as in our Title game. 

 

Offense: 
3 Wide (55%), 2 Tight (35%), 4 Wide (10%)

A 50/50 Pass/Run play split is our goal this week to reach a peak balance. 3 wide is our base and most prominently used formation followed by a strong share of 2TE this week. Slow the game down with rushing offense/quick passing game as well as motioning to eat the clock. We anticipate Rome to expect more running and a quicker passing game but that won’t prevent us from executing our plan with our talent. 

Establish the Run:
Last week we struggled due to Burrow’s health and lack of ability to push the ball down the field. We will have to test his ability in this game but we are going to support him by establishing the run game early to extend drives and eat up the clock. Breece is our lead back and showed last week he is back healthy and dangerous. He will get around 60% of our carries in this one. Roschon we look to get 25% and Tyjae the other 15%. Inside/Outside Zone is our bread and butter, but we will incorporate more man blocking schemes in this matchup than last week. We have explosive runners in Hall and Spears, complemented by power in Roschon to be a hammer in short yardage situations. Our two tight set will allow us to control the line of scrimmage. 

RPO and Play Action:
With having more standard run plays this week we will really look to work in RPO’s and Play Action to get the ball out of Burrow’s hands quickly and to our playmakers to create YAC. More high percentage throws that allow us to maintain possession and keep control of that clock. Take advantage of bigger bodies in Burks and Njoku and speed players in space in Hollywood and Chase.

Combo Routes:
Combo routes will always be a staple of this offense. We will still attempt to attack deep and let Burrow have his opportunities even if we are more focused on the quick game this week. Our combo routes still give us the deeper route options to keep the Rome defense honest. We will get JSN some snaps in the slot again and hope the game experience continues to lead to progression for our young receiver. We will look to our chemistry between Burrow and Chase to propel the passing game to the level we need for success. Chase will be our motion player every play making it difficult for the defense to key on him without giving away coverage. 

Blocking:
We list Andrew Thomas as a starter but he is a game time decision to test out his hamstring. If he does not play it is no small impact so we will have to really rely on second year player Ikem Ekwonu to step up in his absence. We will provide Ickey lots of help through chipping with our TE’s and backs. We will also hold our backs in to stand in pass block a little more this game especially using Roschon in this role as he excels at it. Screens and passes to our backs after chips will help mitigate some of the pass rush from Rome. 

 

Defense:
Base Nickel against 3 Wide/2TE, Dime against 4 Wide and Empty, 4-3 against 2RB/1TE, 5-2 against Heavy extra OL sets or the 3 Tight jumbo package. 

We have a very strong Defense and we expect to be able to slow down a high powered Rome passing attack and a good running game led by a breakout week from Swift. 

Run Defense:
Rome has one of the best olines in BDL. So we want to counter that by bringing our big bodies to bully them inside. We will two gap at times with our interior DT’s on early downs clogging the A and B gaps, specifically when Vita and Davis are in the game. Other downs we will Two Gap one of the DT’s and One Gap the other. Micah will have some freedom to read and react when both two gap and have an interior gap when one two gaps. Oliver and Reed will rotate in to keep our interior fresh and Oliver will see more play on clear passing downs/situations in which we are one gapping. Our ends will have C gap and JOK has D gap with Hufanga spending quality time down in the box to create more chaos especially against 2TE as he has the opposite D gap of JOK. We want to play disciplined and leave no gaps unaccounted for. Highsmith gets the start at RE due to his run stopping ability and overall balanced game. In our 4-3 Denzel Perryman plays as our SLB with JOK WLB and Micah in the middle.

Pass Rush:
Micah will come on many blitzes. Many will be in the A and B gaps behind our big DT’s allowing him the quickest route to Herbert right in his grill. Another key cog in our plan is our NASCAR package in clear passing situations against 3/4 Wide. Which we will move Hutchinson inside with Oliver and bring Micah and Reddick off the edges. We believe this four pack of rushers can get after Herbert and allow us to drop more in coverage. In all of our packages we will utilize some stunts and twists again to bring some exotic pressure packages including Micah lined up over the center in our base while our DT’s occupy the guards. We will incorporate a Gonzo blitz or two out of zone. Reddick and Hubbard will provide us a fresh rotation on the outside. With our edges only having to worry about C gaps they will be able to stop boots and keep Herbert in the pocket.

Coverage: 
Once again a heavy mix of Single High Man and Cover 3. We will not play man specific matchups with our corners except when Waddle is outside Surtain will have him, even lining up across from him in zone to disguise coverage. Jaylon will man the other spot outside with Gonzalez in the nickel. Gonzo’s ability to support the run will be a huge asset from this spot. Stingley has Dime. When Micah isn’t blitzing against single high man in our base defense he will apply double coverage against the slot with Gonzo. Against Five Wide we play a three man pressure package with Hutch, Parsons and Reddick, and bring Kam Curl into the game as an extra DB. We run zone against the 5 wide. We will sprinkle in some 2 High Man against 4 wide as well as some Cover 2. Rome has some good potential at TE, Ertz is saavy but not the threat he once was and the two rookies are inexperienced. We want to be physical with them throughout this game off the line thus throwing off Herbert’s timing. We will mix up press and off coverage with our corners in Man and Zone. 

 

 

 

Rome

 

Formations /Approach 

While we open up in a two TE look, we plan to run multiple formations throughout the game including four wide, 11 personel,  five wide and even jumbo three TE.  With a  mostly healthy group, the playbook is open.  We are going to be more run centric this week than normal with the personal we see opposing us and the advantage we feel we have on the O line

Up Front, the running game 

If Anchorage uses the same base front that they did last week, we feel we have a huge advantage in terms of the run game.  Anchorage has built their team to be an athletic marvel but what they bring in speed, they lack for in the run game.  If we get JOK lined up behind Hassan Reddick, we are going to run tho that side of the field all day with one of our TE playing a defacto hback/FB role using a lot off off tackle plays and zone reads for swift like Philadelphia does.  Once the defense adjusts, we are going to run counters and trapsr and obliterate Ed Oliver inside ,  D’Andre Swift serves as the main bell cow this week after an impressive performance Thursday night while Harris provides a breather when necessary and Edwards gets some short yardage work

The passing game 

This week we are going more a move the chain offense with the capabilities of a big play happening at any point.  We will work more the short to intermediate parts of the field with Allen while allowing our other weapons to go short or long depending on what we are seeing.

While Kincaid and Musgrave  are listed as the starters, all three of our TE will likely rotate in and be a heavy part of the offense.  We are going to run more two TE than usual and get them involved against the Anchorage LB crew off play action.  If we can get Kincaid or Musgrave lined up against David Long  rugularly, we will flex them out and take advantage of that mismatch.  While Long is a solid run defender, he is a negative in the passing game

 With the safetues starting to creep up, we are gonna hit a couple long PA bombs to Waddle running past his defender, we will target Jaylon Johnson early and often if he is matched up with Jaylen Waddle on both the forementioned deep routes and just drags and slants as we don’t think he can run with Jaylen

Justin Herbert is one of the best QB in the league. We trust him to make the correct read throughout the passing game.  Cooper, if he plays will be the third WR pushing Allen inside.  If he doesn’t, Mingo draws that task with Juju the fifth/fourth WR.

We have our usual zone buster floods seams and overloads ready to go for a heavy zone centric defense if that is what Anchorage plans to incorporate. 

The other thing we are going to to incorporate more is the RB screen game which will slow down their edge rushers as well. Wr screens will be less commonly used but will be used if we see off coverage  We’ll normally have a RB bump the edge rusher on Tyron’s side in non screen plays.  On long down’s and distances we are using the Jawaan Taylor method against Aidan Hutchinson (not really)

TL/DR Move the chains offense concentrating on the run game and our o line.  Finding mismatches with the TE and taking some deep shots off play action while still getting everyone involved in the offense

Defense 

We are going to run a cover 1/cover three zone look this week, favoring towards the zone.  Anchorage will likely be looking for our usual man heavy looks, but we want to take away the deep passing game and make them put long drives together.  

Up front 

Ancborage comes in with a solid offensive line bevied by two very good bookend Tackles.  We plan to rotate in Barrett and keep our top three edge rushers fresh.  Where we feel we have an advantage is up the middle.  Jamaree Salyer was a solid if unspectacular player last season even though that partially is him having to play multiple positions and not really being able to get comfortable at one.  On the other end, Ragnow hasn’t seen regular time at guard since 2018 when he struggled there as a rookie and will be tasked with stopping interior pass rush maching Denico Autry as we line Tomlinson over the C/G gap to get Autry  one on one in situations he simply wouldn’t be put in normally in real life. When we bring pressure it is going to be up the middle as we are going to test Burrow’s mobility early and often and not let him set his feet

While the Tackles are definitely good, we think we will still get some pass rushing wins with our trio of edge rushers who all have been consistently great in that department the past couple of seasons.  We have two of the best LB in football ready to mop up anything the front can’t in the run game.  Billings will get snaps from Autry in short yardage situations while Jefferson comes in for Tomlinson in long downs and distances.  If Phillips does not play, we will use Autry more as a 4-3 end on early downs and bring in Billiings inside as we anticipate Anchorage leaning more towards a running game this week.  Barrett will still play the pass rush specialist role eithe rway with Karlafitis getting more run in this scenario

 

The Secondary 

Going with the cover three heavy approach leaves us putting Peterson and Dean on the outside with Reed in the slot.  We want to make sure we have some size on Chase when he lines up outside in any of our man looks.  We want Burrow to throw to the middle of the field where he has his most difficulties.  As mentioned before, we do plan on bringing some pressure up the middle with a LB and occasionally Reed from the slot. This will generally have zone behind it, but we also will play some man with the single high safety shading towards Chase when we blitz a LB.

This isn’t a super fancy game plan because Burrow can read and diagnose defenses so we are going to trust our talent and as mentioned earlier, make them go on long drives and make Burrow look consistently good  if they want to score

 

TL/DR Zone based defense with pressure up the middle to make Burrow's still recovering self not get comfortable and have to move while making consistent accurate passes to score TD.  Rotate the dline to keep everyone fresh, contain the run game 

Edited September 17, 2023 by RedGold

[Blue]

You know it's a dominant defensive front when Haason Reddick is coming off the bench and it makes sense. It's a strength on strength matchup between Anchorage's defensive front and Rome's offensive line here.

I think in the end, Anchorage's defensive dominance is let down by struggles in the offensive backfield. Burrow still isn't quite right (and may have aggravated his injury further, but that's next week's problem). Anchorage just isn't getting consistent production from their backs, and their best one this week is only picking up 15% of the snaps. A fabulous defensive effort is ultimately undone by a struggling offense as Rome wins late.

[Scoundrel]

5 minutes ago, Blue said:

You know it's a dominant defensive front when Haason Reddick is coming off the bench and it makes sense. It's a strength on strength matchup between Anchorage's defensive front and Rome's offensive line here.

I think in the end, Anchorage's defensive dominance is let down by struggles in the offensive backfield. Burrow still isn't quite right (and may have aggravated his injury further, but that's next week's problem). Anchorage just isn't getting consistent production from their backs, and their best one this week is only picking up 15% of the snaps. A fabulous defensive effort is ultimately undone by a struggling offense as Rome wins late.

Makes sense but also makes sad

[TedLavie]

I know Scoundrel has little option right now, but I have to knock Anchorage for using Breece on 60% of the snaps when he's on a pitch count IRL. With Burrow hurt and Thomas out (though Ekwonu isn't a bad backup at all), that's a lot to overcome. I think Rome DL is better than Anchorage OL, and I just don't see where can Anchorage answer besides with Chase tbh. Anchorage D is awesome and they gameplanned well, but Rome has too much talent in this one to not come away with the win.

20-10 Rome

[Scoundrel]

2 minutes ago, TedLavie said:

I know Scoundrel has little option right now, but I have to knock Anchorage for using Breece on 60% of the snaps when he's on a pitch count IRL. With Burrow hurt and Thomas out (though Ekwonu isn't a bad backup at all), that's a lot to overcome. I think Rome DL is better than Anchorage OL, and I just don't see where can Anchorage answer besides with Chase tbh. Anchorage D is awesome and they gameplanned well, but Rome has too much talent in this one to not come away with the win.

20-10 Rome

So sad…

[SirA1]

I think this is going to be a defensive struggle and like the Trappers DL against Rome's OL. Onwenu is struggling so far.

Anchorage 13- Rome 10

[Scoundrel]

1 minute ago, SirA1 said:

I think this is going to be a defensive struggle and like the Trappers DL against Rome's OL. Onwenu is struggling so far.

Anchorage 13- Rome 10

I love this guy

[Scoundrel]

I don’t like this guy though @LAOJoe

[Whicker]

It has definitely been a rough start for the Anchorage offense. It really does seem like Burrow can’t plant and throw and isn’t throwing into tight windows. Outside of Chase, I don’t know what advantage I can give to the Anchorage offense over the Rome defense. Even Chase has shown that his production has been quite limited through Burrow’s struggles. I do think Anchorage’s O line will win their fair share against Rome’s D, but I don’t think the listed RBs can truly capitalize. 
Rome’s offense isn’t particularly inspiring either given the strength of Anchorage D. Micah Parsons is IMO the best defensive player right now and one of the few guys that’s truly capable of winning defensive plays on his own. 
I think both teams play a field position battle early on with both teams getting decent but not great production out of their run games and both struggle to get the passing game going. Parsons makes a big play to help Anchorage grab a TD, but Herbert and the Rome offensive line are able to sustain themselves a bit longer than the Anchorage D can sustain their big plays and are able to pull it out late. 
 

[RuskieTitan]

On 9/17/2023 at 9:28 AM, RedGold said:

WR Keenan Allenr 

RT Ryan Ramcyk

O’Cyrus Tirrence

Probably more too lol

Edited September 21, 2023 by RuskieTitan

[RuskieTitan]

Rome, gameplan and lineup, advantage edge over Anchorage at home, success victory.

[Ragnarok]

I have to agree with a lot of the consensus.  Burrow doesn't look right and against a quality opponent, it costs them.

[rackcs]

I appreciate Anchorage's attempt to run the ball a bit more and use that to set up the pass and I think it was the right move, but it's unfortunate that Breece Hall didn't get much usage this week. And while his rookies are fun and have some nice potential, I don't think they can shoulder the rest of that burden either. So I just think the offense is going to end up struggling all around this week. Great plan from Rome as well and I think they'll be able to execute it better with their pieces. I will say I'm confused why Patrick Peterson is starting, he's been pretty bad so far this year.