BDL 2023 Playoffs Week 2 - #4 Camden Hood Rats @ #2 Cancun Kaiju

[RedGold]

BDL 2023 Playoffs Week 2

Match:  Camden Hood Rats @ Cancun Kaiju

 Away Owner:   @TedLavie

Home Owner:    @Blue @MWil23

 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]

Camden

QB Tua Tagovailoa
RB Zack Moss
WR AJ Brown
WR Rashid Shaheed
WR Cooper Kupp
TE Kyle Pitts
LT Dion Dawkins
LG Quentin Nelson
C Bradley Bozeman
RG Quinn Meinerz
RT Lane Johnson

Bench

QB Justin Fields
RB Austin Ekeler
RB Dont’a Foreman
WR Gabe Davis
TE Gerald Everett
TE Will Dissly 
OL Zach Tom
OL Teven Jenkins

DE Josh Allen
DT Aaron Donald
NT Harrison Phillips
DE Montez Sweat
WLB Nicholas Morrow
MLB Frankie Luvu
SLB Lavonte David
CB L’Jarius Sneed
CB Rasul Douglas
FS Malik Hooker (Q)
SS Jimmie Ward

Bench

Edge Carl Granderson
Edge Boye Mafe
INT Osa Odighizuwa
INT A’Shawn Robinson
CB Darious Williams
CB Asante Samuel Jr.
S Jacquan Brisker 
S Eddie Jackson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cancun

QB Patrick Mahomes
RB Devin Singletary
H-Back Kyle Juszczyk
X WR Elijah Moore
Z WR Noah Brown
Slot WR Chris Olave
LT Laremy Tunsil
LG Isaac Seumalo
C Ryan Kelly
RG Zion Johnson
RT Broderick Jones

 

RB Aaron Jones
RB Emari Demercado
WR Dontayvion Wicks
WR DJ Chark
WR Josh Reynolds
TE1 Foster Moreau
TE2 Michael Mayer
OL7 Rasheed Walker

 

 

DE Kayvon Thibodeaux
DT Justin Jones
DT Jonathan Allen
DE Gregory Rousseau
LB Zaire Franklin
LB Ernest Jones
CB Steven Nelson
CB Cam Sutton
Star Jalen Pitre
FS Kevin Byard
SS Geno Stone

\

Edge Dorance Armstrong
Edge Cameron Jordan
DT Shy Tuttle
DT Travis Jones
LB Pete Werner
CB Carrington Valentine
CB Zyon McCollum
S Marcus Williams

Edited December 17, 2023 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Camden

Offense

Motions and options – This week we face one of the most creative defensive coaches of the league. We have no doubt that Cancun will be ready with a mixture of coverage schemes. We will have a ton of motions to force Cancun to show their hand pre-snap – especially with Kupp from the slot and Pitts. Then Tua will decide to call a play fitting for what he sees – man or zone depending on how the defense adjusts to the motion / how are the DBs positioned, especially the safeties. 

Most of our plays, especially the ones to beat zone, will include option routes, generally for Kupp, Ekeler when he’s in and Brown at least. Those guys have experience and have been here before so, in addition to Tua of course, we trust them to recognize coverage schemes during plays and choose the right route depending on the scheme. In theory, here are the areas we want to target depending on the scheme we face play in and play out:

•    Cover 4 – Middle of the field in the intermediate area will be the first read, mostly by Kupp. Cancun linebackers are solid all-around players, but they get beat quite often in coverage, especially Franklin. A savvy route runner like Kupp will be able to exploit that. Second read will be short outside the numbers to have AJ or Gabe/Shaheed (or Ekeler as safety valve) working on a LB. Davis and Shaheed will rotate fairly equally at WR2 spot.
•    Cover 3 – Overload one side of the field (preferably the right side) on three levels and target who’s open and allow Tua to react to the DBs choices. Another possibility will be a four-go or post routes with the RB staying in pass pro.
•    Cover 2 zone – Be aggressive downfield with multiple go routes
•    Man with Robber– Beat Cancun deep with Brown, Shaheed/Davis, Pitts or our RB (mostly Ekeler) with double moves, post routes or RB Wheels. Steven Nelson and Cam Sutton are good but they can be beaten deep especially with our guys, and we don’t think Cancun can cover Pitts and Ekeler at the same time man-to-man
•    Cover 2 man – Use underneath stuff to Kupp, Brown, our RBs or Everett.

This is an example of play that can be called on (dotted red line is option for cover 4) which will work for all schemes as long as Kupp/Brown (and Tua of course) make the correct read and react play.

 
Complementary running game – It will be important to implement a running game as well. We expect a 60/40 pass-run ratio, but it can trend more towards the mean if Cancun show us many looks with two deep safeties and/or if they have one less LB in their formation to combat Pitts. 

Moss is our starting back but all three backs will see the field, Ekeler more on passing downs and Foreman more on rushing downs. If we see more man coverage in Cancun, we’ll feature Ekeler a bit more as the game goes on for his passing game abilities. 

We want to involve those backs/our running game in different ways:
•    Run outside on Thibodeaux. KT is the biggest pass rushing threat in Cancun but he’s not a great run defender. So we should have success running at him while tiring him out. We will do so with Pitts on the other side of the formation (motioning him out if need be) to avoid running behind him. But we will pull a guard outside and use the run blocking of our WRs against smaller corners to increase the outside running lanes.
•    Screens and jet sweeps to counter potential blitzes from Cancun, especially when Ernest Jones is on the field
•    Wildcat with Justin Fields: We’ve prepared 5 plays from the wildcat with Fields as the QB. They’ll mostly be runs but we will try to throw one deep pass in there on a 3rd and mid situation.

Protect Tua – Because our plan is centered around our passing game, it will put pressure on our OL to keep Tua uptight. Cancun DL is solid, but we think our OL can handle them. When we can, we will try to give some help to Lane when he faces Thibodaux, with a guard if we can or a chip by our TE2 (in 12 formations) or our RB.

We expect blitzes to come. Bozeman will be responsible for blitz pickup inside as we think our guards can handle their own 1vs1. In any situation where we feel like Bozeman has a chance to be left 1vs1 against Johnathan Allen or Rousseau inside, we will either call a quick passing play (a screen for instance) or leave our RB to help in pass pro. Our RB will be responsible for blitz pickup coming from outside. 

 

Defense

4-3 over – We’re facing the great Patrick Mahomes this week. His supporting cast may be underwhelming, but Mahomes is an expert at creating something out of nothing with his escapability and incredible arm talent. To counter this we are going to line up in a 4-3 over with priorities for each position. 
•    Our Nose Tackle (Philipps or Robinson) will line up directly over Ryan Kelly with the responsibility of clogging up the middle running lane, while wasting Cancun best pass protector on our least potent pass rusher in the passing game. 
•    Our defensive tackle (Donald or Osa) will line up between the strong side G and T and be much more aggressive with a 1 on 1 against a guard and a single B-gap to cover. That’s where we want the immediate pressure to come. 
•    Our weak side end (Sweat or Granderson) will take on the weakside C-gap. This player is going to focus first on run defense and containment so that Mahomes doesn’t escape the pocket.
•    The weak side LB (Morrow) will take on the weakside B-gap. His main priority will be run defense, and it is ok if he bites on playaction. His passing game responsibility will be spying on Mahomes / middle zone coverage as Morrow has the athleticism to track down Mahomes.
•    The strong side end (Josh Allen or Uche) will line up over Mayer, be responsible for the D-gap. Containment will be important, but he will be allowed to be a bit more aggressive in pass rush if he’s 1vs1 against a tackle (even Tunsil who he beat two weeks ago IRL).
•    Our SLB (David) gets Mayer in coverage and has the strongside C-gap in run D.
•    Our SS (Ward) will be in the box in the second level and key on the running back. As such, he gets the primary tackling responsibility, which shouldn’t be a problem as Ward is a solid tackler.
•    Since we’re allowing our strong side DT and DE to be more aggressive, and with our NT getting a double gap, our MLB (Luvu) is here to back them up in run D, in case of a counter or something. He gets Juszczyk in coverage. On occasion, especially on 3rd down, he will be allowed to blitz through the strongside A gap to increase pressure inside.

Cover 1 man – As usual, we will play our cover 1 man coverage. With Olave out, Noah Brown gets the Sneed treatment, Douglas gets whoever starts outside between Wicks, Moore, Chark or Westbrook. Darious Williams gets WR3, Samuel Jr. gets WR4. Because most Cancun receivers are more known for their work on deeper routes, we will play more off man coverage on base downs and challenge Cancun to beat us with their short passing game, as we don’t think that’s their strong suit.

Formation versatility – We don’t expect Cancun to stay in base all game long. Here’s our lineups depending on Cancun formations.

11 formation – Williams subs in for Luvu
12 formation – No change of formation. Luvu gets TE2
21.formation – Brisker subs in for Luvu and get RB2 coverage responsibility
10 formation – Samuel Jr. subs in for Morrow. Osa subs in for Philips. We switch our front 4 to a classic formation (see 3rd down defense below) and David is MLB with middle zone coverage.

Situational football - 3rd downs: Bring the heat – On 3rd & passing distance (3rd & 4 or more), we will tweak a bit our defense to bring up the aggressiveness and make the stops we need. We’ll switch to an even front 4 with Osa in for Harrison Phillips. Luvu subs in for Morrow (if nickel defense) to play MLB. We’ll have two main variants of our 3rd down D. In each case, we will apply press man coverage outside to encourage Mahomes to go deep, situations where he is currently struggling.

•    Variant 1: Luvu shows blitz inside directly over Kelly and actually does it. That leaves Osa and Donald 1vs1 against Cancun guards. Our edge will maintain containment outside at all costs and we hope our three guys inside can bring Mahomes down. Hooker (Jackson if out) will have the freedom to choose between deep zone or going closer to the middle of the field to counter a possible Mahomes run. We trust his instincts
•    Variant 2: Luvu shows blitz inside directly over Kelly but actually drops in the middle to spy on Mahomes. That’s where our edge guys will be allowed to be more aggressive with Luvu backing them up. Hopefully the step Kelly has to take to pick up the possible Luvu blitz is enough for Donald/Osa to take advantage of inside.

Situational football – Redzone: Douglas on Reynolds – Cancun main redzone threat in the passing game is Reynolds. So wherever he’s lined up, he gets Douglas in press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cancun

This week, we will be wearing Hood Rat helmet stickers with JL insignias to honor JLash.

 

Offense:

 

There is no doubt in my mind that Camden will do what they have done all season and lean on their defensive front four to get pressure, assuming that they will be able to exert their will on our offensive line, relying on press and man coverage to stop the short passing game they expect us to use. To that we say, f*ck you we’re going deep. Our offensive line has improved throughout the season, with the left side playing at a high level, our center Ryan Kelly competing for All-Pro honors and making the rest of the line better by default, and right tackle Broderick Jones getting better and better every week especially in pass pro. Even our weakest link in Zion Johnson will either get help from Ryan Kelly against Aaron Donald or face off one-on-one in the pass game with Harrison Phillips, who has a whopping 6 sacks over 75 career games. We will be routinely keeping a running back or tight end in for pass protection as well, focusing on the right side of the line to give Mahomes more time. Between our pass pro scheme, heavy usage of shotgun and pistol formations, and Mahomes’ natural ability to get outside the pocket to make plays, we are uber confident in our ability to attack the Camden defense across the middle and in the intermediate/deep portions of the field.

 

We will be heavily utilizing 3 and 4 WR trips formations this week to attack the middle of the field and test the depth of the Camden secondary. In both formations, we will keep either Singletary or Juszczyk in the backfield as an extra blocker. Out of these trips formations, we want to heavily use flood concepts to attack the middle of the field and give Mahomes multiple options.

 

We want to take special note of who Rasul Douglas lines up against in man coverage and start motioning that receiver to the opposite side of the formation pre-snap. That receiver will then start running a route tree of sluggo, hitch and go, and other double move plays take advantage of Douglas’s stiff hips and lack of footspeed in combination with his inability to press a moving receiver at the line. This is a player we want to attack mercilessly throughout the day, because he hasn’t had a good year and we don’t think his game can hold up against any of our top four receivers.

 

In addition, we want to include about ten plays featuring jet sweep motions. We will mix up the playcalling on each of these motions; sometimes we’ll actually hand the ball off to the receiver, other times we’ll hand it off to the running back, and sometimes we’ll throw out of the formation, looking for a man downfield before checking down to the motion receiver running a flat or wheel route.

 

Lastly, we want to run some screen plays out of our trips formations, including tunnel screens to the receivers and screens to the running back. We want to challenge the secondary to make tackles and get off blocks outside, and this will further negate the Camden pass rush by getting the ball out quickly behind the line of scrimmage.

 

When Camden subs out their defensive stars, we will immediately go into no-huddle, hurry-up mode for 4-5 plays. We have speed for days at the receiver position with five players running in the 4.3-4.4 range, and we are going to abuse a secondary that is going to be winded from running sprints every play while our OL handles the Camden B-team on the defensive line.

 

The run game is admittedly a bit of an afterthought this week; we do not anticipate rushing more than 15-18 times, mainly to keep the defense honest. As a result, we expect Singletary to get most touches, with Juszczyk receiving a couple of carries and Demercado or Jones (if he plays) only there to give our top two backs a one or two play breather.

 

Defense: We come into this game very focused on getting a lot of interior pressure on Tua and getting him uncomfortable, while denying the deep ball out of a 2 high safety look, daring Moss and Ekeler to beat us running the ball, which quite frankly we don’t think they can do.

We believe Camden will use Moss as the primary runner and bring Ekeler in as a receiving option, looking to establish the run early, setup the playaction vertical game, and then adjust to screens when they see early pressure.

We get to isolate a linebacker on a RB, and if he goes out for a pass, we have Byard or Pitre as a hot read on the running back in coverage.

We also like to show an inside blitz, then bail while sending a stunt and outside pressure from the apex to or away from the RB.

From an alignment perspective, we will play Rousseau in a JAM/7 to a TE, Allen in a 3 and G alignment, with Thibs being isolated 1 on 1 with the OT and the Joneses rotating to occupy the interior as well. We will be subbing Jordan in on longer yardage to replace a Jones to get our NASCAR package on the field, while subbing Werner in as a coverage MIKE and middle dropper for the TE or a RB coverage in the middle screen game. Frankly, Kyle Pitts doesn’t scare us very much in the passing game as we think he’s very overrated.

From a coverage standpoint, we will stay in a 2 high safety look, while cheating the FS towards Brown to glove him, while keeping Byard as a flexible hybrid free/box roamer to deny the middle of the intermediate field as a run stopper and box robber, driving on the RB flat/screen or in breaking throws to Collins, the slot, or Pitts depending upon personnel. The alignment should look like this:

We have flexibility to run Cover 4, off man, press man, and Cover 2 with this look.

Ultimately, we aim to force Camden into second and third and long situations and will run a variety of interior pressure, simulated pressure, and outside exchange to interior pressure looks to force Tua to get rid of the ball quickly while disallowing him to be comfortable at any given point.

Edited December 17, 2023 by RedGold

[TedLavie]

Olave out for Cancun

 

GL @Blue and @MWil23. Should be a great one

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

put pressure on our OL to keep Tua uptight.

Damn not sure how well he will play if he is uptight 

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

In any situation where we feel like Bozeman has a chance to be left 1vs1 against Johnathan Allen or Rousseau inside, we will either call a quick passing play (a screen for instance) or leave our RB to help in pass pro.

This reads as guessing… in an attempt to account for every possible thing. So any feeling that extra pressure is coming inside you either screen/maybe slants or leave the RB in? 

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

We also like to show an inside blitz, then bail while sending a stunt and outside pressure from the apex to or away from the RB.

So you will audible in response to this cus you’ll “feel” Bozeman could be one on one to a screen or quick pass  

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

Frankly, Kyle Pitts doesn’t scare us very much in the passing game as we think he’s very overrated.

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

Tua to get rid of the ball quickly while disallowing him to be comfortable at any given point.

Or one might say “keeping him uptight”

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

This week, we will be wearing Hood Rat helmet stickers with JL insignias to honor JLash.

 

This is nice

[Scoundrel]

Malik Hooker out for Camden by the way

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

will line up directly over Ryan Kelly with the responsibility of clogging up the middle running lane, while wasting Cancun best pass protector on our least potent pass rusher in the passing game. 

This is smart as Cancun wants to use Kelly to help support Zion against Donald

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

Because most Cancun receivers are more known for their work on deeper routes, we will play more off man coverage on base downs and challenge Cancun to beat us with their short passing game, as we don’t think that’s their strong suit.

This is also smart as Cancun wants to attack this defense deep. Great counter here by Camden

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

In each case, we will apply press man coverage outside to encourage Mahomes to go deep, situations where he is currently struggling.

But then there is this that Cancun wants to do…

[Scoundrel]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:18 AM, RedGold said:

Cancun main redzone threat in the passing game is Reynolds. So wherever he’s lined up, he gets Douglas in press.

Sounds like from Cancun’s plan they would welcome this with their opinion of Douglas’ play