BDL 2023 Week 6 - Cuba Smugglers @ Rome Eternals

[RedGold]

BDL 2023 Week 6

Match:  Cuba Smugglers @ Rome Eternals

Away Owner:   @MD4L

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.

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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]

Cuba

QB: Ryan Tannehill
RB: Travis Etienne
WR: Calvin Ridley
WR: Puka Nacua
WR: Zay Flowers
TE: Dawson Knox
LT: Charles Cross
LG: Elgton Jenkins
C - Jason Kelce
RG: Wyatt Teller
RT: Darnell Wright

RB: Zach Charbonnet 
RB: Samarje Perine
WR: Marvin Mims
RB/WR: Rondale Moore 
OT: Mekhi Becton
OG: Ezra Cleveland
TE: Austin Hooper
H-Back: Josh Oliver

Edge: Bradley Chubb
DT: Zach Sieler
DT: David Onyemata 
Edge: Rashan Gary
WLB: Jahlani Tavai
MLB: Bobby Okereke
LCB: Xavien Howard
NCB: Alontae Taylor
FS: Deshon Elliot
SS: Derwin James
RCB: Denzel Ward

Edge: Von Miller
Edge: Lukas Van Ness
Edge/DT: Dre’Mont Jones
DT: Karl Brooks
SLB: Drue Tranquill
RCB: Martin Emerson
NCB: Kadar Kohou
SS: Mike Edwards

 

 

 

 

Rome

QB Justin Herbert

RB D’Andre Swift 

WR Keenan Allen

WR Jaylen Waddle 

TE Luke Musgrave 

TE Zack Ertz 

LT Tyron Smith 

LG O'Cyrus Torrence 

C Ethan Pocic 

RG Chris Lindstrom

RT Ryan Ramcyk 

 

RB Alvin Kamara 

WR Amari Cooper 

RB Jerome Ford 

TE Cade Otton 

WR Robert Woods 

WR Jonathan Mingo

OG Mike Onwenu 

OT Bernhard Raimann 

 

Edge Jaelan Phillips 

NT Andrew Billings 

UT Denico Autry 

Edge Shaq Barrett 

LB Foye Oluokon 

LB Nick Bolton 

CB Marlon Humphrey 

CB.Jamel Dean 

CB Da'ron Bland 

S  Grant Delpit 

S Andre Cisco 

 

Edge George Karlaftis 

Edge Andrew Van Grinkel 

INT Dalvin Tomlinson 

INT Quinton Jefferson

LB Jordan Hicks 

CB Michael Carter II

CB Patrick Peterson 

DB Kyle Hamilton 

Edited October 15, 2023 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Cuba

Intro: This week we play the leagues last undefeated team in Rome. Us against the world.

Offense: Rome has been dealing with injuries on this side of the ball, namely Matt Milano and Matt Judon now out for the season. With Marlon Humphrey still getting himself to his usual standards, we’re going to let Tannehill engineer our receivers and be the focal point of our offense. Rome has keyed on using a man based defense this year but we anticipate more zone looks as we can attack defenses unlike most teams at receiver. If they lock onto a man based scheme, we anticipate targeting Patrick Peterson’s assignment more often than not. Peterson would likely deal with Zay Flowers and we have a significant speed disparity to feed Flowers while consistently motioning him in order to anticipate the man coverage. In any event, we want to make Puka Nacua the primary target. Unless he faces Humphrey (which would open up Ridley), we like the prospect of consistently feeding him in that 8-10 yard range or letting him create YAC with drags and underneath targets which will keep our offense ahead of the down and distance. Ridley still receives 6-10 targets as the the 1B option in the offense.

Charles Cross returns after a 4 game absence and is much needed in our goal to maintain a steady passing game. We want to run a heavy set of snaps in bunch sets with Flowers/Ridley/Nacua together or run splits with Flowers motioning into the slot across the LOS to key on man/zone tells. We have some flood concepts we would like to run against zone coverage with Ridley running into the 8-10 yard range while Flowers begins to take on more vertical concepts. With Marvin Mims substituting as WR4 we can move him into the slot and Zay outside or put him outside with Puka Nacua serving as the slot option. We will work to get Dawson Knox a couple of targets in the flat and make him more of a route runner because our healthy offensive line will be able to keep Tannehill upright against a Judon-less pass rush.

We still have every intention to keep an active running game. Travis Etienne should lead all skill positions with touches. We will incorporate some no huddle sets with our pass first offense and get Etienne some inside zone runs toward the right side of our offensive line. Darnell Wright has grown into an asset in the run game so running at Shaq Barrett allows Etienne to pace the offense. We will use some toss plays with Kelce getting into the open field as a lead blocker and letting Etienne utilize his game breaking speed to spring open a couple big runs. The primary objective of our lead blocker is getting a hand on Nick Bolton at the second level. We want Etienne continuously in one on one matchups in the open field against Foye Oluokon or Cole Holcomb. To diversify our running game, we’ll also use some counter and trap plays with Wyatt Teller serving as the lead blocker on runs toward the left side. We will lineup in two TE sets on about 20 percent of our snaps with Josh Oliver frequently motioning to the H-Back position or moving him next to Knox. We like that two TE set in the redzone as well and we will motion Oliver to one side and use that to run a play action pass with Knox running a crossing route underneath. Zach Charbonnet will serve as the 2 minute drill RB and our goal is to get him 7-12 touches, primarily as a receiver in the screen game. 

All these plans are based on getting Tannehill comfortable. He’s got the weapons and protection. He’s been able to maximize DeAndre Hopkins IRL so we are comfortable trusting him to keep our efficient weapons involved in our offense.

 

Defense

We expect Rome to bring out their zone buster concepts but we will go back to our primary man based defense. At the start of the game we will avoid shadowing and run a traditional man cover defense. If we do shadow, the only direct responsibility will be Xavien Howard following Keenan Allen. Both players are 6’1, and Howard can handle Allen’s athletic profile. Waddle is another dynamic weapon but we’ll get his assignment safety help in coverage. Alontae Taylor and Denzel Ward possess the elite speed necessary to contend with the speedy Waddle. Amari Cooper will be the responsibility of the other cover CB.  If Rome correctly anticipates us running a man cover scheme from the first snap, we’ll move back into a traditional press cover 3 and save man cover looks for early downs.

We get a couple reinforcements with Derwin James returning to the lineup. We are absolutely comfortable with Rome running 4 and 5 WR sets as we have enough depth to matchup with them in such situation. If they do run more than 3 WRs out we’ll commit to a zone base defense and move Derwin James to the 2nd level. With some zone blitz looks, James or Alontae Taylor will rush Herbert and make him guess which one is coming.

Rashan Gary had his best game of the season against Ryan Ramcyzk, so we are comfortable with those two matching up this week. Von Miller played about 20 snaps last week and will have a similar role in this game. We will put him in during two minute drill situations and pass rushing downs. We will sprinkle him a bit more for Gary on some early downs while placing them both on the field on 3rd downs. One of our favorite wrinkles this week is playing both guys together and running stunts as Von Miller will line up over the Center presnap before sprinting toward Gary’s side on the edge. The wrinkle will make Herbert have to be accountable to assess the read and give us an opportunity to use James as a spy on the opposite side next to Bradley Chubb while using Onyemata or Sieler as the space eater.

We also anticipate Rome making the run game a mainstay in their offense with Vander Esch headed to IR. James versatility gives us a difference maker in the run game and we put Mike Edwards on the field when Rome uses their two TE sets in preparation for some no huddle looks to wear down our front four. James will move into the 2nd level while Tavai and Tranquill rotate in as LB2. Bobby Okereke is on the field for all run friendly situations. Dre’Mont Jones will be our edge in those sets to preserve Gary and Miller while giving us more size up front.

Okereke will leave the field on pass downs for Tranquill and James to monitor the middle of the field. Elliot serves as a cover 1 deep safety or receives help in a press two man under scheme from Edwards with James at the 2nd level. One subtle change we’ll make in our two man under looks is rushing with 3 DL (Miller and Gary rush) with Chubb as a spy or a cover one look with James serving as a spy while Onyemata is the only interior DL on the field.

Onyemata has served as a strong defender in the trenches and we will use some 3-3-5 looks to get him/Dre’Mont Jones/Karl Brooks on the field together with Chubb in a 2 hand stance while James rovers into the 2nd level. These looks will keep Elliot in center field and prepare our defense for any RPO looks or stretch plays Rome anticipates to get to edge of our defense.

 

 

 

 

Rome

Formations /Approach 

Formations /Approach 

This week we want to pound the rock up the middle again behind our line against a hobbled lb group and limited size DL group.  We will use two TE as a base but will also be incorporate some three or 4 wr looks as well as some jumbo three TE looks   We also want to incorporate some two RB one TE, two wr looks to attack the lb 

Up Front /the running game

Cuba brings in a solid outside rush with a good trio of edges  The DT spot is a bit underwhelming however so we plan on being able to double bulldoze inside behind our road grading interior and let either of the guards take on that second level that just lost LVE and has some pretty meh options. .   Ramcyk has been his usual dependable self.  We'll have a chip ready to help Smith if we feel he needs it.   We are going to run a lot inside today but we'll also run some counters off of it to get an advantage over an over pursuant defense. Putting Kamara, out of two RB looks, in motion out should lighten the box or allow for a quick RPO hit to him outside if we can get Ivan pace on him whose an edge rusher .  We also have no problem going into heavy formations and running right up the gut with Ertz leading the way for Swift.   As an added running game wrinkle, we have a couple QB draws out of empty sets ready against a zone heavy defense with retreating LB.   We are going to use all types of runs here, zones, power os, dives, and off tackles. We trust the offensive line and Swift and Kamara to get some nice gains for us.   We are going to run more out of the pistol than normal to get Herbert out of taking the snap directly under center 

The passing game 

This week our offense is going to run through a lot of play action with some roll outs added in to get Herbert on the move.  We want to stretch the field with Waddle off of these looks as well as hit Allen on chain moving patterns underneath.  Musgrave will be a large part of the passing scheme as well as the RB. Ertz serves as a dependable security blanket if everything breaks down.   

We as always will have our zone buster flood plays and rb screens. The two TE looks also allow for opposite seams routes to put a deep middle safety in peril 

In longer downs we have dependable vets Cooper and Woods who know how to get to the sticks and beat their coverage in either man or zone 

The QB 

Justin Herbert has been outstanding this year and we are going to lean on him this week to make the right reads.  We obviously have a way better line than he has in real life life and when given time this year, his rocket arm has been deadly 

 

Defense 

This week we catch a break as Cuba has some injury issues to two of their main offensive pieces in Jefferson and Watson. We are going to key in on the running game while playing some off coverage and making Tannehill be patient with the football. He likes his deep shots so we feel if we can force him to be consistent, it will lead to turnovers.  We will go back to our cover three zone look but we also will incorporate some cover two man and cover one looks as well.   We all also incorporate more zones blitz than normal.  We want to keep Tannehill off any easy reads and force him to beat us 

Up front 

Autry and Karlaftis get short yardage down work at edge with Tomlinson playing inside.   Jefferson comes on for billings in obvious passing downs.  Van grinkel serves as depth at edge 

Back 7 

Humphrey gets Ridley while Dean gets the rookie. Bland gets Flowers or Mims or whoever wr3 is.   Carter will take wr 4 and Peterson available for any 5 wide looks.  Bolton has the TE while Foye gets the RB.  Hicks gets any TE two coming on for Bland.  In the cover one, Cisco is high with Delpit underneath.  We occasionally will put Hamilton in for Bland in a big nickel look for his blitzing capabilities without losing much in zone looks. 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by RedGold

[VigilantZombie]

My intention was to vote for Rome, not Cuba, misclick. I think both teams have good gameplans and rosters but the difference is at QB. 

[Blue]

Cuba lost me at "we're going to make Ryan Tannehill the focal point of our offense"

[InjuredReserve]

9 hours ago, VigilantZombie said:

My intention was to vote for Rome, not Cuba, misclick. I think both teams have good gameplans and rosters but the difference is at QB. 

Yea. Thin margin here for me with lots of blowouts this week. Feel bad that it's primarily a QB deciding vote for me, but that's what swung my vote to Rome as well.

[TedLavie]

I do agree with bcb here, running at Cuba is the way to go imho. I think Rome offense is highly effective and, while I do think Tannehill has more success than people think here, I don't think that will be enough on the road in Rome. Rome 31-20

[RedGold]

Rome is just too strong for Cuba at this time.   I don't necessarily have any complaints about the gameplan,  it's just not enough to get Rome off their winning track this week.

[Ragnarok]

I think both teams have very good gameplans that should be effective.  But I think Rome can execute theirs better.