BDL 2024 Week 1: Cwmfelinfach Ptrash Pterodactyls @ Quebec Nordiques

[RedGold]

BDL 2024 Week  1

Match:  Cwmfelinfach Ptrash Pterodactyls @ Quebec Nordiques

Away Owner:    @TL-TwoWinsAway

Home Owner:    @TedLavie @vikes635

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 September 8 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Cwmfelinfach
QB Kyler Murray
RB Bijan Robinson
WR Tyreek Hill
WR Jameson Williams
WR Ladd McConkey 
TE George Kittle
LT Paris Johnson
LG Peter Skoronski
C John Michael Schmitz
RG Brandon Scherff
RT Joe Alt

QB Jayden Daniels
RB Ty Chandler
WR Tee Higgins
WR Alec Pierce
TE Mike Gesicki
OT Dillon Radunz
OG Laken Tomlinson
OC Robert Hainsey

Edge DeMarcus Lawrence
INT Chris Jones
INT Christian Wilkins
Edge Sam Hubbard
LB Germaine Pratt
LB Jamin Davis
CB Darius Slay
CB Tyson Campbell
CB Mike Sainristil
S Trevon Moehrig
S Tyler Nubin

Edge Arnold Ebiketie
Edge Byron Young
INT Mekhi Wingo
LB Brian Asamoah
CB Andrew Booth Jr.
CB Cordale Flott
S Antonio Johnson
S Brandon Joseph

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quebec

QB Tua Tagovailoa
RB Joe Mixon
WR AJ Brown
WR Nico Collins
WR Cooper Kupp
TE Kyle Pitts
LT Dion Dawkins
LG Teven Jenkins
C Lloyd Cushenberry
RG Quinn Meinerz
RT Brian O’Neill

Bench

QB Kirk Cousins
RB Devin Singlatery
RB Chuba Hubbard
WR Rashid Shaheed
WR Tyler Boyd
TE Tyler Conklin
OL Zach Tom
OL Garrett Bolles

 

RE Josh Allen
DT Osa Odighizuwa
NT Harrison Phillips
LE Montez Sweat (Q)
WLB Lavonte David
MLB Nakobe Dean 
CB Tre’Davious White
CB L’Jarius Sneed
NB Kenny Moore III
FS Jalen Thompson
SS Josh Metellus 

Bench

Edge Boye Mafe
Edge Joseph Ossai
INT DaQuan Jones
INT A’Shawn Robinson
LB Divine Deablo
CB Asante Samuel Jr.
CB Benjamin St Juste
S Malik Hooker

 

 

Edited September 8 by RedGold

[RedGold]

Cwmfelinfach

Mindset

Cwmfelinfach walks into Quebec as staggering underdogs against a strong Nordiques roster with an experienced owner. A strategy that exploits their few weaknesses will be key to pulling off the upset.

Offense 

Despite their strong defensive personnel, Quebec is limited at the safety position. As a result, Cwmfelinfach will be running a 3-WR formation, with speedsters Tyreek and Jameson starting wide. Ladd will be positioned in the slot, and Bijan will be the lone back. We'll set out calling 65/35 pass/run.

Throughout this game, Kyler will be given the green light to improvise, buying time in the pocket to find either Ladd, Kittle or Bijan in the short/intermediate game while Tyreek/Jameson pressure the outside CBs and safeties deep. If the outside CBs offer a cushion, we'll exploit that space with our short-yardage options and Kyler's scrambling ability. If a safety moves into the box, we'll take a shot deep to one of our speedsters.

In the running game, we'll focus on inside handoffs to get Bijan moving behind Skoronski and Scherff against the less-than-great INT players on Quebec in A'Shawn Robinson and Osa/DaQuan. Although we'll try a few running plays to the outside (towards Kittle's side of the formation, of course), we respect the strength of JHA and Sweat and won't seek to do this frequently. That being said, if Alt starts to show the strengths that made him a blue-chip prospect, we may lean on running off tackle to the right side of the formation more than we thought we would coming into the game.

We feel that man coverage gives us an advantage with our deep threats, and zone should allow Ladd and Kittle to exploit space underneath. Bijan should feast as a security blanket for Kyler. With the above game plan, I expect our offense to be able to move the ball, and we should be able to capitalize on a few deep shots throughout the contest, flipping the field and leading to points.

Defense

This is where things could go south quickly. Quebec has a ton of talent on the offensive side of the ball: Tua is dynamic, their stable of RBs - headlined by Mixon - are strong, and they've got a plethora of weapons in the passing game. To try and slow this group, Cwmfelinfach will be running a base 4-2-5.

Our goal on defense is to allow our defensive line - the strength of our roster - to dominate a solid-but-not-spectacular offensive line, and to do so without assistance. I expect Chris Jones and Christian Watkins to feast, and Lawrence/Hubbard will be instructed to set a strong outside edge, keeping the play inside. This will allow us to start a nickel CB, Sainristil, in our base set. Although he's a rookie, we feel he's pro-ready enough to provide a moderate impact in that role. Pratt will be positioned behind the INT studs, should the play get behind them, and Jamin Davis will align himself on the strong side in a pass-coverage role.

To counter their offensive weapons, Cwmfelinfach will flash both man and zone coverage looks with our seven coverage personnel, and intend on doing so evenly. Ideally, this will keep Tua off-balance, and we aim to muddy the space in the intermediate game as much as possible, further complicating his read progression. If we can slow him down just enough, we expect Jones or Watkins to get home.

We won't pretend that we'll keep Quebec off the scoreboard, but feel that, should we be able to force a few turnovers, our offense should do enough to allow us to escape Quebec with a win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quebec

Bienvenue au Québec ! Afin de respecter la tradition québécoise, ce paragraphe sera en Français. Les Nordiques sont fiers de représenter cette magnifique province pour la toute première fois en BDL. Mais nous n’oublions que nous sommes les champions sortants et comptons bien montrer au nouveau-venu TL qui est le patron ici. Bon match !

Offense

Quick passing game. Cwach strength on defense is the defensive line. Jones and Wilkins are a sick combo inside and to prevent them for causing havoc we plan to use a quick passing game to ease up things for Tua. Brown, Collins, Kupp, Conklin or Mixon are all very suited for this kind of plan and targets will be distributed fairly equally amongst them. We’ll attack in particular the middle of the field and those LBers/safeties. 

 

Running game. Mixon is our lead back today, but Hubbard and Singletary will get touches as well. Expect to see plenty of 2TE sets, with Pitts inline or motioned outside. In those sets or not, we will run outside or inside through draws and counters to use Jones and Wilkins aggressiveness against them. For the same reasons, we’ll use some screens as well to get the ball into the hands of our RBs. Singletary gets the short yardage touches. 

 

Playaction passes. We have no clue of what TL will do with its safeties as they don’t really have anyone across Moehrig. We want to attack them as well as the corners with playaction. We’ll probably have Tua roll out to his left on those occasions to get away from Wilkins/CJ and target Brown, Collins or Pitts deep.

 

Up-tempo offense and pass protection. Cwach has great starters but has no depth inside. So we want to tire CJ and Wilkins out by applying an up-tempo offense all game long. CJ will be double almost every play as we trust our tackles 1vs1 outside. Mixon is responsible for blitz pickups, though with the screens planned we think that we can sanction Cwach blitzes.

Defense

Press cover 3. With Higgins likely out we’re catching a break here, but Cwach still has plenty of threats to worry about. To limit the big plays to Tyreek and Jamo while also having as many bodies as we can close the LOS to contain Bijan and Kyler/Daniels, we’ll use Press Cover 3 as our base scheme.

Sneed will follow Hill all around as him and Moore have the versatility to play inside and outside. If we can disrupt the timing of Kyler/Daniels quick hitters and make them process what they see on the field, we think it will give our edge rushers enough time to get to the QB 

 

Keep bodies facing Kyler and Bijan. As stated, the idea is to have 8 players in the box with Metellus acting almost as a LB to contain Bijan. We’ll rotate heavily on DL, especially inside, to keep everyone fresh. If Bijan is going too good, we’ll sub out Osa for Robinson to just get a meat wall in front of him. After the snap though, with the cover 3 responsibilities, we will have 4 players in the second level with eyes on Kyler to prevent him from getting huge plays outside the pocket.

 

Cover 1 Alternate with QB spy. To not make it too easy on Kyler, we’ll alternate sometimes onto cover 1 press with Snead on Hill, White on the other outside guy and Moore in nickle. Metellus gets Kittle and David gets Bijan, with Dean spying on Kyler. Expect those to be around 20% of our coverage.
 

Edited September 8 by RedGold

[TedLavie]

@RedGold would you mind adding @vikes635 as my co-owner in the game threads please? Thanks a lot!

[InjuredReserve]

Initial Thoughts:

- Both well written gameplans that gave me a good indication of strategy. I like both offensive ones. My biggest takeaway is Quebec did well to clarify their quick passing game approach, which they needed to give me some confidence against the elite Ptrash DLine.

- Main battle to me is the Ptrash defense and Quebec offense and neither gameplan left me feeling there was a distinct advantage prior to evaluating my opinions on overall roster. 

What Swayed Me:

- I came into the week really liking the Quebec offense and Week 1 held some surprises for me that left a strong impression on me.

(1) Quebec's offense is heavily skewed towards its skill position players and the quick passing game is hard for me to argue his OL would negatively impact it - so I expected a negative here, but I think its neutral.

(2) A couple Quebec players surprised me. Joe Mixon particularly looks to have more left in the tank than I expected. Big stock up there for me. AJ Brown is already a dominant #1 WR, but Cooper Kupp put on display what has made him special in Week 1 and I won't be the only person to fear a future write-up I will have to put up against these WRs.

(3) I forgot a number of roster strengths coming into Week 1 and want to give props on that DL to Ptrash. That strength is what keeps this a lot closer imo despite the skill position juggernaut of Quebec.

(4) For all my talk of Quebec's skill positions, I would be remiss to not mention that Tyreek Hill will stretch the defense and I think there would be a lot of success to be had with Bijan running on those planned inside hand-offs, as well as outside runs behind George Kittle (I am voting before his game, but I am confident I am giving him appropriate credit that I expect him to be solid in the blocking game and short yardage underneath routes TL is calling for).

Final result: Quebec just has a bit too much firepower and gains a lead that becomes tough for the Ptrash successful rushing attack to fight against when they have to shift to a pass heavy offense in Q4. 

Quebec 31 

CWM 21

[Scoundrel]

I really enjoyed this effort from TL… if I was him I would be really excited about the prospects of this offense. Outside speed for days to take the top off having defenses have to respect it and play off resulting in more space for QB runs from a QB room that has guys capable of shredding defenses with their legs. The crafty Ladd to work the slot, a big bodied target in Kittle and a dynamic weapon in Bijan… if Daniels puts it together this is a fun and formidable group. I think Ted countered the offense very well with his primary Cover 3. If this was more man I think it falls into what TL wants to do better. Although there are definitely areas of attack even against the zone which TL alludes to. The entire Dline for Cwmfelinfach is a tough group to run on as their ends are noted plus run defenders. I don’t think Mixon has the same day he did in the NFL for Quebec. They have the receivers though to terrorize and the use of the quick passing game as well as the screens they mentioned are a helpful extension of the run game. Uptempo attacking the lack of depth of the DT’s for Cwmfelinfach is a good move by Quebec also. In the end I think Quebec takes this in a pretty close game with just some more established pieces. Great first gameplan though by TL I applaud him. And great work by Quebec. 

[Blue]

I don’t think the Dactyls are as much of a dog in this game as they seem to think they are, and they got some impressive performances from a lot of young talent to start the season, especially on offense. Quebec has a nasty passing offense and I think the game ends up a shootout where the more experienced Nordiques finish on top, but in 6-8 weeks? I dunno, I might go the other way next time.

[bcb1213]

Huh, never thought taking French in high school would come in handy.  Color me surprised.  Its a really close game so kudos to both teams.  I think it's a rough week to have Mike Saniskill get lit up while Cooper Kupp went off across from him in an equal man vs zone scheme.  Likely the difference in this one in a high scoring affair.  Give me Quebec at home 34-27

[MWil23]

On 9/8/2024 at 12:08 PM, RedGold said:

Defense

Press cover 3. With Higgins likely out we’re catching a break here, but Cwach still has plenty of threats to worry about. To limit the big plays to Tyreek and Jamo while also having as many bodies as we can close the LOS to contain Bijan and Kyler/Daniels, we’ll use Press Cover 3 as our base scheme.

I recognize this graphic. I’m not sure if I’m flattered or angry 

[TedLavie]

18 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

I recognize this graphic. I’m not sure if I’m flattered or angry 

Did you make it?

Because that's like the 2nd result in a Google image search for cover 3 press 

[MWil23]

1 minute ago, TedLavie said:

Did you make it?

Because that's like the 2nd result in a Google image search for cover 3 press 

It’s a nice graphic isn’t it?  

[EaglesPeteC]

Close game.

The idea of Kyler running around and finding Tyreek Hill could hit some big plays, but I think there are less holes in CWM's roster that Quebec can exploit. That Kupp vs rookie nickel is key for me. 

[TL-TwoWinsAway]

1 minute ago, EaglesPeteC said:

That Kupp vs rookie nickel is key for me. 

Me too. I was cringing watching Kupp absolute eat on Sunday night. Not a good match-up for us there.

[SirA1]

I like Kyler more than most and initially had him as my planned FA target before Dak dropped in my lap. He punched the Bills in the mouth early this week.

I like both teams but will give the edge to the home team in this one in a high scoring affair. A rematch in a few weeks could be different.

Quebec - 35-28

[Xmad]

Once The Pterodactyls rookies find their footing this could be a different matchup but until they do.....their back seven can't stop the nordiques offense. 38-31 shootout.