BDL 2023 Week 4 - Anchorage Trappers @ Cuba Smugglers

[RedGold]

BDL 2023 Week 4

Match:  Anchorage Trappers @ Cuba Smugglers

Away Owner: @Scoundrel

Home Owner: @MD4L

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 October 1, 2023 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Anchorage

Offense:

QB- Joe Burrow

RB- Breece Hall

X- Hollywood Brown

Z- Ja’Marr Chase

Slot- Josh Downs

TE- David Njoku

LT- Ikem Ekwonu 

LG- Frank Ragnow

C- Erik McCoy

RG- Jamaree Salyer

RT- Terence Steele
 

Bench:

RB- Roschon Johnson 

RB- Tyjae Spears

WR- Ronnie Bell

WR- Jaxon Smith-Njigba

TE- Cole Turner

OL- Andre James

OT- DJ Humphries

QB- Aidan O’Connell

 

Defense:

Edge- Aidan Hutchinson  

DT- Vita Vea

DT- Jordan Davis

Edge- Micah Parsons 

MLB- David Long Jr 

WLB- Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

CB- Christian Gonzalez 

CB- Patrick Surtain ll

CB- Marco Wilson

S- Jessie Bates lll

S- Talanoa Hufanga 
 

Bench:

Edge- Alex Highsmith

Edge- Haason Reddick  

Edge- Sam Hubbard 

DT- Ed Oliver

DT- Jarran Reed

LB- Micah McFadden 

CB- Christian Izien

S- Kam Curl

 

 

 

 

Cuba

QB: Ryan Tannehill
RB: Travis Etienne
WR: Justin Jefferson
WR: Calvin Ridley
WR: Puka Nacua
TE: Dawson Knox
LT: Mekhi Becton
LG: Ezra Cleveland
C - Jason Kelce
RG: Wyatt Teller
RT: Darnell Wright

RB: Zach Charbonnet
WR: Zay Flowers
WR: Marvin Mims
WR/RB: Rondale Moore
TE: Josh Oliver
TE: Austin Hooper
RB: Samaje Perine
OL: Jonah Williams

 

Edge: Bradley Chubb
DT: David Onyemata
DT: Zach Sieler
Edge: Rashan Gary
WLB: Leighton Vander Esch
MLB: Bobby Okereke
RCB: Xavien Howard
NCB: Kadar Kohou
FS: Alontae Taylor 
SS: Vonn Bell
LCB: Denzel Ward

DT/Edge: Dre’Mont Jones
DT: Karl Brooks
Edge: Rashad Weaver
Edge: Lukas Van Ness
SLB: Drue Tranquill
OLB: Henry To’Oto’O 
RCB: Martin Emerson
LCB: CJ Henderson

Edited October 1, 2023 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Anchorage

Overview:  We know how much Cuba is going to want this one after we beat them twice last year. 0-13 may even be stitched on their jersey for all we know. Bottom line is we are going to bring them a fight. We want this just as bad and this game is the pivotal point in our season. We will give everything we have and leave it all on that field. 

 

Offense: 

3 Wide (60%), 2 Tight (20%), 4 Wide (20%)
A 55/45 Pass/Run play split is our goal this week. 3 wide is our base and most prominently used formation followed by a 2TE and an uptick in 4 wide formations this week. We want to spread around the ball and get our playmakers in space. Chase will be a moveable piece with burst motions allowing him easy separation. We know Cuba will be expecting the short game but that won’t stop us from executing our plan with our motions and route variance. 

Man Blocking Run Game: Our backs haven’t produced big games outside of Breece week 1. We have to get this running game going and we are going to look to our man blocking scheme to produce open lanes for our backs. We want to combo block Onyemata inside and work to the backer(s). We will utilize some trapping, guard pulls and power plays as well as some tosses to our speed in Spears and Hall. Roschon will have a bigger role this game with his power running style fitting well in this scheme. Ultimately we look for a 40/35/25 split between Breece, Roschon and Spears. 

RPO and Play Action: Joe worked himself into a rhythm Monday night and started early with quite a few short to intermediate passes leading to some deeper shots. We want to get Joe in a similar rhythm and allow him high percentage opportunities to move the ball down the field and work toward deep shots with a crept up defense. RPO and play action will provide us with some of these opportunities and allow Joe quick attack options. 

Combo Routes: We want to combo and utilize Hollywood’s speed outside in this matchup to threaten the defense and provide openings underneath. Chase will be our Z and run a variety of routes but we will feature quick outs/in breaking routes and flat plays to feed him the ball early in the play and let him eat up space. Josh Downs has earned the start in the slot and is a shifty inside attacker who gains separation easily and provides Burrow a nice safety net. Cuba has a good group of corners so we will be creative in our receiver usage to provide Burrow targets at each level, working some comebacks and back shoulders as well. Njoku will work various levels on the opposite side of Downs from an inline position. Cole Turner gives us a large target as the number 2 TE and Ronnie Bell provides us with a physical YAC target as the additional slot in our 4 wide. If we see heavy zone we will run some more stacking and bunch plays to flood those zones, and against heavy man more rub route concepts. Chase will be utilized in burst motions as well getting him that space separation. Additional pre snap motioning will be used to help identify coverage schemes. 

Back Usage: We will utilize back chipping to help against Gary off the edge as he poses a threat to our passing game rhythm and timing. We will also implement screens to take advantage of their aggressive pass rush and use backs off chips as safety net routes underneath. 

 

Defense:

•Base Nickel against 3 Wide

•Buffalo Nickel against 2TE

•Dime against traditional 4 Wide and Empty

•4-3 against 2RB/1TE

•5-2 against Heavy extra OL sets or any 3 Tight jumbo package. 

We need to play stout defense in this one to have a chance. This is the premiere of Micah as a full time edge. We want to be able to get after the QB with primarily four and be able to drop more into coverage against this passing attack. Gonzo gets the fun assignment of Jefferson in this game. We have a really nice Dline rotation right now with the elevated play of Oliver and Reed inside as well as our edge rotation. Our defense has been playing strong football and we will lean on this unit to carry our team. They have to go with Tannehill due to Watson’s shoulder and that won’t change our plan. Make Tannehill feel every hit. 

Pass Rush: We will bring an occasional blitz from Long or JOK but as stated our primary pressure is going to come from our front four. We will swap sides with Micah and Hutch throughout the game finding preferred matchups with each pass rusher. Our Edge players will rush from two point stances out of any down and distance greater than three yards to go. We will also look to create additional confusion for Tannehill and the o-line by showing blitz and backing out or vice versa as well as delay blitzing at times when we do blitz. We will look to create variance in our rush utilizing stunts and twists. In particular if they want to chip us outside we will have our DT’s at times stunt out to eat those blocks and bring our outside rushers with inside pressure against their interior. Oliver and Reed have been very good as pass rushers in this young season and will see healthy time in rotation with the two mountains in the middle, especially Oliver in clear passing situations with Hutchinson inside next to him and Micah and Highsmith outside. Reddick and Hubbard will see some rotation off the edge as well. 

Run Defense: Gap disciplined defense with sound tackling technique. Etienne is the type that can break a big run at any time so we need to account for all gaps and fill our run lanes. We start David Long at MLB this week as he is a quick run plugger. Our NT will be a two gap player and everyone else will have one gap responsibility. Hufanga will spend a healthy balance between in the box and out of the box this week. He will move around a lot presnap looking to disguise his responsibilities. 

Coverage: We are going to play more zone this week. Primarily cover 3 with a mix of single high man in our base and some cover 2. If in Buffalo nickel we will implement more two high man when we switch to man. Gonzo lines up across from Jefferson in all coverages in the slot or outside. We know this is a difficult task for the rookie but with an elite defense around him he will have top tier support. If Gonzo is outside we will have Surtain cover the slot. We will get physical with their receivers off the line to throw off timing. When in man JOK has RB and Hufanga has TE if not in two high. Our Buffalo nickel brings on Kam Curl and Gonzo and Surtain will be the outside corners. Our goal is to not put David Long in any man coverage situations outside of the Buffalo nickel, so he will either be blitzing or play a middle zone robber looking for those Cuba crossers. In zone he will blitz or have a zone drop. Bates is our deep middle defender a role he thrives at. Dime defense with Christian Izien as the Dime against the 4 wide. 

 

 

 

 

 

Cuba

Intro: We get the defending champions at home. Scoundrel is absolute master building his team and we welcome him to the Cuba jungle. 

 

Offense

We’re going to make a commitment to balance on offense. It will be a tale of two halves this week. In the early going we want to come out throwing the ball with Ryan Tannehill on quick drop backs. Anchorage may consider us on QB2 to be unwilling to keep our same look offensively but we trust the WRs to make plays. Jefferson is the main target Tannehill uses to get into a rhythm. We have aspirations to keep Jefferson’s target share high but want to make the secondary passing option Jaylon Johnson’s coverage responsibility. We will work Puka underneath and use Ridley as a decoy if he deals with a heavy dose of Gonzalez.

 

We also take great interest establish an effort to run the ball against a stout defensive line. The plan is getting Zach Charbonnet involved more this week to add a physical element to our offense. Etienne remains at the forefront of our RB touches so we have a complimentary option behind our ace. Charbonnet will also begin to take some snaps on 3rd down and the 2 minute drill as his receiving upside gives Tannehill a safety valve to check it down toward. We’re going to use a heavy amount of stretch runs behind our right side and a couple inside zone looks to keep our offense from obvious pass situations. In the early going any situations we deal with 3rd and longs are check downs to get yards for the punt. We want to lower our mistakes and rely on the defense.

 

All eyes on Parsons this week. We added Josh Oliver this week as another useful option as a blocker and versatile H-Back option. The goal is lessening the 3 WR looks and finding different formations we can open with motions to find and chip for Becton. When Parsons is on the edge, we are going to use motions to get an additional helper in protection. Expect several 3 TE looks with a couple 4 or 5 WR sets that emphasize getting the ball out of Tannehill’s hands quickly.

 

Defense

 

Joe Burrow has dealt with a slow start for Anchorage’s offense and we’ve taken notice to that. We want to emphasize press coverage on the outside and disrupt the slant and targets that are popular on 3 step drops. We will alternate between man and zone coverage but make jamming a fixture of our CBs.

 

Anchorage is dealing with some injuries in their offensive line so we want to challenge their blockers and make stopping the run a priority. Von Bell will spend most of the day dropping into the box as assistance in stopping the run and enticing Anchorage to take deeper shots down the field. If Anchorage tries to make shifts and motions a major part of their offensive strategy, we will still respond by moving Bell into the box and getting presnap looks that are more favorable to pass friendly concepts.

 

No shadow responsibility this week initially. We’ll study how Anchorage uses Jamarr Chase and make proper adjustments. If we notice they are making him a focal point in the slot, we’ll start moving Ward with him and add Emerson to the boundary with Kohou leaving the game. If Ward lines up in the slot, that is a tell for man coverage. If we deal with heavy Chase-Ward action, that’ll be an instance of shadow coverage. Otherwise, we also want cover 3 to be a staple of our defense. With no Burks, Anchorage’s offense is watered down beyond an absolutely prolific WR1. Njoku will be covered with our LBs patrolling and Bell covering the flats and check downs.

 

Rashan Gary traditionally rushes on the strong side but we want opportunities to line him up against Ikem. Most of our wrinkles will come from pressures on the left side. Kohou will have a couple hot reads where he blitzes behind Gary as a hobbled Burrow slows down his best ability, resetting the pocket while retaining electric accuracy. Jones with Van Ness or Weaver inside present our speed rush while we’ll let Chubb and Gary run games on passing downs next to each other against Slayer and Steele. Brooks gets snaps on the edge when we run a handful of 3 man fronts with Jones opposite and Onyemata as the DT.

Edited October 1, 2023 by RedGold

[Blue]

Having to roll with Tannehill at QB, woof.

It's just hard to trust this Anchorage offense right now with a lack of consistency in the backfield. Hall probably has the ability to be an every-down starter but that's not what the Jets are using him as right now. I think Cuba gets more plays.

[TedLavie]

Going with Anchorage in a slugfest. I think they get a couple of turnovers thanks to their pass rush that help the get over the top.

[Ragnarok]

Both QBs have been very inconsistent.  Both teams have solid gameplans.  I think the Anchorage DL has more of an advantage over the the Cuba OL than vice versa and it'll cost Tannehill a play or two.

[rackcs]

This is going to be an ugly, close game and I've gone back and forth on it. Cuba has some nice weapons but I'm not sure Tannehill is going to be the guy to maximize them. On the other hand, I think people aren't making enough of the depth Anchorage has on the DL. I think they're really going to make this game tough, further limiting Tannehill.

[RuskieTitan]

Anchorage gets the job done on the road, I think they'll be able to execute their gameplan better via the trenches.

[MD4L]

We have a tie here so need an extra vote.

[LAOJoe]

5 votes in a row for Anchorage. I should have waited so I could have gotten that stack from Anchorage.

[Scoundrel]

Just now, LAOJoe said:

5 votes in a row for Anchorage. I should have waited so I could have gotten that stack from Anchorage.

Gotten a what?

[LAOJoe]

Just now, Scoundrel said:

Gotten a what?

Smart to stay coy.

[Scoundrel]

Just now, LAOJoe said:

Smart to stay coy.

Oh you’re accusing me of cheating? Got it

[LAOJoe]

Just now, Scoundrel said:

Oh you’re accusing me of cheating? Got it

With a wink. So actually no.

[Scoundrel]

Just now, LAOJoe said:

With a wink. So actually no.

Lol wink twice if you’re in trouble