[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Back to the drawing board?
Yup, we lost.

We had our chances to start the season 2-0, but the Hanalei Dragons turned out to be be slightly better, more efficient, or some other combination.

Things starter pretty well. Francisco ran for 7 yards, Theo Bondy caught a pass from Moe Sheldon to convert on third down, Patter ran for 7 more yards, Sheldon found Reggie Thongchanh for 20 yards, Patter ran for 11 yards and 8 yards, but eventually we settled for a 34-yard field goal. We forced them to punt after 4 plays and responded with another solid drive. Patter ran for 7 yards, Sheldon found Bondy to move the chains, Sheldon to Harris Wilkerson for 15 yards, Patter ran for 9 yards, Sheldon to Thonghanh for 12 yards, Sheldon to Bondy for 26 yards and eventually Patter ran in from 3 yards out for the 10-0 lead. After three and out on both ends, Hanalei quickly won the position battle with a 19-yard punt return to start their drive in our half and a 19-yard pass got them in field goal range by the end of the first quarter.

Hanalei settled for a 33-yard kick, making us maintain the lead, with a 10-3 score. Santiago Messenger returned the ensuing kickoff for 41 yards, giving us a short field, but after three and out we punted after all. Then Alvin Engelberger got his offense going, but our pass rusher sacked him for 9 yards and forced them to try a 57-yard field goal and the home crowd cheered as Chance Arnold converted it. So he can make those kicks elsewhere. We failed to make much ground on our next drive and an incredibly bad punt put them at midfield with the ball. A penalty called back a big 23-yard pass play for them and Arnold's 50-yard field goal attempt got blocked by us. Moe Sheldon found Theo Bondy for 23 yards on 2nd and 19 to move upfield and an unsportsmanlike penalty got us in field goal range with a minute left. Their pass rush kept us from making more progress and we settled for a 13-6 half time lead after Mark Giles 38-yard field goal.

First drive of the second half and with a 30-yard pass and 37-yard run they burst into our red zone. They quickly toss a 6-yard touchdown and level the score: 13-13. After our drive got cut short, again, they got into full swing. 21 yard pass, 13 yard pass, 14 yard pass... It was a minor victory to make them settle for a 31-yard field goal for a 16-13 Hanalei lead. We responded with a slow, yet somewhat steady drive, yet punting got us no better than having them start at their 20-yard line. We finished the three and short with Darien Fletcher sacking their quarterback and after a solid punt return we were back at our 42-yard line. Our drive stalled early, but a fumble on their punt return found us in possession again, at their 29-yard line. On third and nine, rather than maintaining field goal range, Sheldon got picked off and their linebacker ran the ball the full 81 yards for a 23-13 Hanalei lead. Our next drive was short and in return their last two plays of the quarter got them just across midfield.

A dropped pass forced them to punt, pinning us deep at our 10-yard line to start the fourth quarter. Moe Sheldon found Theo Bondy for a crucial 23-yard gain, but around that play our running game crumbled into near worthless small gains. Sheldon found Francisco Patter for 6 yards on 3rd and 4, but another short run and back to back sacks put us far away again. We managed to pin them at their 14-yard line, but our defense kept struggling with holding them down. A joint sack forced their quarterback to fumble, but they recovered the ball. It was enough to make them punt two plays later, but with time ticking away, we were back at our own 7-yard line. After a fruitless drive of our own, Hanalei efficiently ran out the remaining two and a half minutes. We did stuff them on a trick play, trying a sneak quarterback play when knee dropping would have secured the victory, but the 23-13 deficit on the road was there anyway.

Moe Sheldon completed 16 of 33 passes for 163 yards, with 1 interception. Theo Bondy caught 11 passes for 109 yards (indeed, moving to third and ahead of Gabe Springer on the all time Merchantmen list). Francisco Patter ran for 77 yards. We allowed them to gain 340 total yards, including 157 on the ground with a 6.8 yards per carry average. Horrendous run defense.

Our division rivals all lost as well. Gothenburg lost 27-13 at the Oakland Black Panthers. The Bordeaux Vineyards were inefficient in a 40-16 crushing loss at home to the Fairbanks Northstars. The Paris Musketeers went back to Gabriel Woodson, but couldn't avoid losing 23-17 at home against the Colorado Cutthroats.

European division:
1. Maassluis 1-1
2. Gothenburg 1-1
3. Bordeaux 0-2
4. Paris 0-2

So yeah, we lost and somehow improved to leading the division on the obscure tie-breakers.

Our game plan for today, well, I've decided to throw it away already. Okay, our first two drives were actually pretty solid, but the rest was so-so. Moe Sheldon is way down on the quarterbacks list. 2 games is a small sample size, but 2 picks in 2 games is very uncharacteristic for him. His pass completion percentage at 51.5 is disappointing.

But yeah, actually more troublesome has been our run defense once again. 2 games in and we're already back in last plays in yards per carry, just like the last 2 seasons. Maybe i should fix that game plan, if only I had a clue how this works, or if my staff had a frickin' clue, which they naturally don't either.
Until then, we're probably stuck with what's been going on the last couple of seasons on that side of the ball, despite awesome front seven, cornerback duo and very useful safeties. Shrug?

It's up to the offense to save the day then. Less short gains in the running game, more completions in the passing game. And we'll make a chance again. But probably not next game, when we visit the always sting y Houston Mustangs. But we can hope and certainly try, no?