BDL 2023 Week 2 - Greenland Polar Bears @ Ivory Coast Black Rhinos

[RedGold]

BDL 2023 Week 2

Match:  Greenland Polar Bears @ Ivory Coast Black Rhinos

 Away Owner:   @Pickle Rick

Home Owner:    @RuskieTitan

 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]

Greenland

QB: Tua Tagovailoa 
RB: Saquon Barkley

WR1: Stefon Diggs
WR2: Ceedee Lamb 
WR3: Chris Godwin 
TE1/Backup Oline: Cole Kmet 

LT: Rashawn Slater 
LG: Trey Smith 
😄 Tyler Biadasz 
RG: Aaron Banks 
RT: Spencer Brown

Bench

WR4: Odell Beckham Jr. 
WR5: Van Jefferson
RB2: Cam Akers
QB2: Kenny Pickett 
_______

LE: Deforest Buckner 
NT: Jordan Elliott 
RE/OLB3: Travon Walker 

SOLB1: Joey Bosa
ILB1: Roquan Smith 
ILB2: TJ Edwards
WOLB1: Harold Landry

CB1: Marshon Lattimore 
CB2: Riq Woolen 

SS1: Justin Simmons 
FS1: Jordan Poyer

DL4: Bryan Bresee 
DL5: Gervon Dexter Sr. 
S3: Quandre Diggs
CB3: Joey Porter Jr. 
CB4: Emmanuel Forbes 
LB3: Devin Lloyd 
LB4: Jack Campbell 
LB5: Drew Sanders

 

 

Ivory Coast Black Rhinos

Ivory Coast Offense

QB - Sam Howell

RB - Nick Chubb

WR - Terry McLaurin

WR - Amon-Ra St. Brown
WR - Jordan Addison

TE - Evan Engram

LT - Trent Williams

LG - Damien Lewis

OC - Josh Myers

RG - Zack Martin

RT - Chukwuma Okorafor

------------------------------------

RB - Miles Sanders

RB - Antonio Gibson

FB - Khari Blasingame

WR - Jalin Hyatt

WR - Chase Claypool

TE - Albert Okwuegbunam

OL - Josh Jones

OL - Quinn Meinerz

------------------------------------

Ivory Coast Defense

DE - Myles Garrett

NT - Teair Tart

DT - Da'Ron Payne

DE - Khalil Mack

MLB - Devin White

OLB - Alex Anzalone

CB - Greg Newsome II

CB - AJ Terrell

NCB - Trevon Diggs

S - Jordan Whitehead

S - Kyle Dugger

------------------------------------

DE - Chase Young

DE - Will McDonald IV

NT - Christian Barmore

DT - Devonte Wyatt

DT - Keondre Coburn

LB - Patrick Queen

CB - Samuel Womack

S - Jordan Fuller

----------------------

Edited September 17 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Greenland

Offensive Formations: 3WR/1TE/1RB (50%), 4WR/1RB (30%), 5WR - using RB (10%), 5 Wide - using TE (10%)

Offensive Tempo: Normal tempo this week

Designed Playcall Distribution: 40% pass, 30% run/Slow Mesh RPO, 25% playaction, 5% screens

Running game:  we want to use their edge guys' aggressiveness against them, we will do this by going with heavy slow mesh RPOs.  We want the plays to be run off of their edge guys, ultimately we will take them out of the game bc of it.  By playing spread out formations we can key off their edge guys, if they go for the back, Tua can pull the ball and throw to the hot route receiver coming across the middle, or work through the progressions for the other routes.  He can even run some, but we only want him running if he can slide easy or get out of bounds.  If their edge guys stay outside, we want Barkley and Akers to get their wheels turning and bust some big plays with the holes that open because of their edge guys being occupied on the outside. 

Passing game: with IC spread wide we feel we can use the middle of the field to our advantage with IC trying to stop Lamb and Diggs going for the deep ball. Quick slants, crossing routes and posts from the 5, to 10, 15 yard range will be where we will try and hit them.  Kmet, Godwin, Beckham Jr., and Jefferson will man those routes.  Once their safeties try and come up to help their is when we want to focus on the deep balls to Diggs and Lamb. We don't want to try and pull off some fancy routes, but solid run routes and take what their safeties give us (the middle until they bite and then deep)

RPO/Screens: RPO's and screens will be up to Tua to check into based on his presnap reads.  We want the play checked into an RPO when the LB's and S's are moving into the box and screen's when it looks like big pressure is coming.   The screen check downs will be WR screens mostly with an occasional RB screen.  

First series of the game: we want to establish the pass and the middle of the field 

Defense Base Formation: 3-4 zone run blitz

Run Defense:  We feel that this game could ultimately be decided by how well IC can run the ball.  We will be loading the box heavy on run downs.  We want our lineman to push upfield as much as possible to disrupt plays in the backfield and trust our LB core to clean up things at the line of scrimmage.  We will be slanting heavily into the strong side and trying to shoot the gaps when we do and get up field to blow plays up in the back field.

Pass defense: We feel IC passing attack will be almost no existent to their run attack this game, but we still want to blanket the field on passing downs by using a heavy amount of zone blitzing.  We will switch into various zone coverages out of our 3-4 base to try and keep the pressure on whoever they run at QB and make him 1) uncomfortable in the pocket and 2) not know who is blitzing or where and what type of zone we are running. We feel that his brain will be more focused on not getting popped that he will miss identify zone schemes and we can get some turnovers.  This will also take away the deep ball and big plays from his stars and force things underneath and right into the teeth of our zone 

Within our zone looks we want to bring a decent amount of blitzes from all over the field and to keep ICs QB uncomfortable in the pocket 

Defensive rotation and formations notes:  we have DT, edge, LB, and DB depth to rotate in and keep everyone well rested.  As for formations, even though our base and dominant formation will be 3-4 we do want to sprinkle in some 4-3 and Nickle formations when possible on more clear passing downs 
 

 

 

Ivory Coast

Motivation: Kick the home opener off right against Greenland.

Offense

Primary Formation: 11 & 12 (Single Back, Shotgun and Bunch formations)

Running Game Focus:

Nick Chubb is our primary back, but we now also field a more balanced backfield, with Miles Sanders and Antonio Gibson providing Chubb with some breathers and spilling him on third and long. Khari Blasingame will operate as our fullback when we feel the need to pound the rock for short yardage as well as I-formation looks, and Josh Jones will provide the 6^th OL support in goal line situations.

·         Establish the run early and often, setting up the play action pass

·         Leverage double team inside blocks to support the center and get to the second level (linebackers)

·         Use delays and counters to catch the defense off-balance

·         Feed the Chubb, then fleece the defense with Sanders and Gibson

Passing Game Focus:

We’re going to use pre-snap motion to allow Howell to read the defense and make adjustments at the line. We’re going to focus on keeping Howell upright, featuring chips and blocks by our tight ends and backs, primarily on the right side. Our receivers are fast and quick, and we plan on allowing Howell to dissect the defense, as we feel confident someone will be winning their route on every play.

·         Protect Sam Howell

·         Utilize the play action pass established from the running game

·         Focus on short and intermediate routes, leveraging crossing routes to allow for our quick receivers to separate and create space

·         Especially take advantage of the short crossing routes, our receivers have the agility and quickness to take the small reception and turn up-field

·         Take advantage of our athletic tight ends and shift them out for mismatch opportunities

·         Have a receiver threaten deep regularly and take the shot when the defense allows; otherwise keep one route deep to stretch and let us operate underneath

·         Against Zone we’ll utilize flood concepts against one side of the field

·         Against Man we’ll feature slants, rub routes, and stop-and-go routes

·         Against everything we’ll shallow crossing route them to death until they cheat up, then beat them deep

Defense

Defensive Formation:

The 4-2-5 alignment will be the primary alignment against three receiver sets. Payne and Tart will man the middle, Tart handling more of the nose duties with Barmore supporting him. Garrett and Mack start on the edges, with rotations to keep them fresh all game long. Devin White and Alex Anzalone are the off-ball linebackers, with White being the primary linebacker stepping up to the line. Our trio of cornerbacks will be Greg Newsome II, Trevon Diggs, and AJ Terrell. We plan to use Newsome II and Terrell as our boundary corners, with Diggs manning the slot and providing him with more playmaking opportunities. When Greenland goes with 2 receivers or fewer, Diggs will come out, and Patrick Queen will come on to take the weak-side linebacker spot, with Alex Anzalone taking the strong side and Devin White holding the middle. Fuller and Dugger will operate at the safety spots, rotating the primary deep safety in cover-1 to avoid tipping anything pre-snap. If and when Rome uses 4 receivers, we’ll counter by having Anzalone come out and bring in Samuel Womack as the dime back. If they ever go 5 wide, we’ll play a mixture of zone coverages with 4-1-6 personnel. 

 

Against the Pass:

We’re going to have our defensive interior focused on penetration and eliminating room to step up in the pocket. We’re confident our edges will collapse the pocket around Tua, and prevent him from being able to slide out of the pocket. We’ll sprinkle some wide 9 alignments with our edges on obvious passing downs, as well as throw our pass rushers on the field together. We’ll primarily use man coverage to play tighter to the receivers, trusting our defensive line to make quick work of their offensive line, and we will keep eyes on anyone trying to come out of the backfield

·         Pressure Tua up the middle

·         Utilize A-gap blitzes with linebackers (Not blitzing often)

·         Always keep at least one safety over the top

·         Play tighter to the receiver, but not focused on jamming necessarily – we want to force contested catches throughout the routes

·         Use the wide nine alignment on third and longs (8+ yards)

·         Use Mack and Garrett inside on certain third and long packages

Against the Run:

We want to limit the damage done by their backfield, and will have the defense swarm to the football. If needed, one of the safeties will drop into the box for additional support, regardless of cover 1 or cover 2 post-snap. We’ve got the players to rotate in throughout the game, and really punish and wear down Barkley and Akers.

·         Swarm to the ball carrier and secure tackles

·         Once ball carrier is secured, take opportunities to try and force fumbles

·         Utilize a safety in the box pre-snap to provide additional support against the run if needed

Edited September 17 by RedGold

[Blue]

I don't know on this one. How much do I trust Tua? How much do I trust Howell? I think going wide-9 plays into Greenland's plan to spread out the defense and work the middle in the run game, while loading up in the box by Greenland forces Howell to win with his arm. This might be a game I look back at and wish I voted differently for later in the season, but I'm giving Greenland the advantage in a tight one.

[RuskieTitan]

2 hours ago, Blue said:

I don't know on this one. How much do I trust Tua? How much do I trust Howell? I think going wide-9 plays into Greenland's plan to spread out the defense and work the middle in the run game, while loading up in the box by Greenland forces Howell to win with his arm. This might be a game I look back at and wish I voted differently for later in the season, but I'm giving Greenland the advantage in a tight one.

Wide 9 is sprinkled in on obvious passing downs, want to clarify it is not the default alignment. Especially on running downs.

Why am I fighting for votes? 😆 

[Blue]

Just now, RuskieTitan said:

Wide 9 is sprinkled in on obvious passing downs, want to clarify it is not the default alignment. Especially on running downs.

Why am I fighting for votes? 😆 

Yes, but I think Greenland gets into a lot of passing downs in this game and don't necessarily pass every time, especially given they specifically wrote up the RPO portion of their offense.

[Scoundrel]

3 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

Wide 9 is sprinkled in on obvious passing downs, want to clarify it is not the default alignment. Especially on running downs.

Why am I fighting for votes? 😆 

Because you’re a competitor and I respect the hell out of you. I don’t expect you to lay down no matter the circumstance.

[Scoundrel]

Just now, Blue said:

Yes, but I think Greenland gets into a lot of passing downs in this game and don't necessarily pass every time, especially given they specifically wrote up the RPO portion of their offense.

“Sprinkled in”

[RuskieTitan]

For the record, and this was probably wrong of me to just assume, but imo passing downs would be things like 3rd and 7+, or it's 4th quarter and the opposing offense is down by 2 scores with 5 minutes left. Times when you tell your defensive line to pin their ears back. I'll try to be more clear next time about that and base alignment too.

[Scoundrel]

1 hour ago, RuskieTitan said:

For the record, and this was probably wrong of me to just assume, but imo passing downs would be things like 3rd and 7+, or it's 4th quarter and the opposing offense is down by 2 scores with 5 minutes left. Times when you tell your defensive line to pin their ears back. I'll try to be more clear next time about that and base alignment too.

This should probably go without saying but yeah 

[TedLavie]

This is surprisingly quite a good matchup. Despite being thin as ice, Greenland offense is really good. Spencer Brown is the only weak spot of that starting 11 and Saquon actually played all but 2 snaps IRL so I can't knock them for having only 1 RB on the field. I do think Myles can get past Brown a bit, but Greenland at least has a plan to counteract on regular downs. With that being said, I do like IC secondary and I think they match up well with Greenland weapons.

The difference is on the other side for me. Let alone that IC is run oriented team facing a team featuring Trayvon Walker as a 3-4 end, I think the crossing routes with these weapons work well against a zone blitz scheme. Harold Landry still not looking quite 100% doesn't help imho. And I do like what I'm seeing from Howell thus far.

Ivory Coast 30-20

[Whicker]

Gonna have to come back to this one. Good matchup 

[LAOJoe]

It was 5-0 last I checked and now its 6-5 the other way. WTF.

[Whicker]

Ultimately I went with Greenland. I like their plan on both sides of the ball, and as you all probably know I’m a big fan of the strong CB + run focused defense and I believe it’s able to keep ICBR’s running game capped. I also think they made the right call with the zone blitz and I think it leads to some confusion from a mostly green QB. Ivory Coast definitely gets some pass rush wins and keeps this really close

[Ragnarok]

I'm going Greenland this week.  Tua is playing exceptionally well.  Both teams have great defenses, very good OL, great WRs, and a stud RB.

I wish Greenland would use Travon differently, but that's a lot of athleticism.