[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2103 is over
Another fourth place finish, sadly.

Improvement is there, but at the same time it wasn't. The 2103 season came to an end as we lost 33-21 at the Bordeaux Vineyards in week 17 and finished far away, 2.5 wins behind the required 10-6 record to make the playoffs. We shot ourselves in the foot one more time, fumbling as we were driving to take at minimum a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Turnovers were a problem, but the for this season usual problems also occurred once again: no running game, no run defense, inconsistent passing game and the pass rush once again not living up to their ability.

European division:
1. Bordeaux 12-4
2. Paris 9-7
3. Gothenburg 8-8
4. Maassluis 7-8-1

Bordeaux will be the lone European representative in the playoffs. Paris beat Gothenburg in a close game, but results elsewhere made it all too little too late. Bordeaux missed out on a bye, losing tie-breakers to the other two 12-4 teams in the league. For those wondering, we 'earned' the #14 overall pick in the draft with our performance.

QB Winfred England finished the season completing 47.0% (by far the lowest of all in the league) of his passes for 4,335 yards (3rd highest in the league). Without it being our intent, England threw the 2nd most passes of all players. So much for that very balanced game plan working out as, well, planned. He lead the league with the highest yards per completion figure, but actually a lower one than Earnest Ashley had last season. WR Calvin Maxwell finished 2nd in receiving yards, WR Vinny Buysse 6th. Maxwell was also 2nd in receiving touchdowns. Our running backs were both held below 600 yards rushing by our opponents. Dreadful, I know.

Our defense finished the season in 32nd place in rushing yards allowed, which also added up just enough to also finish 32nd in total yards allowed. Merchantmen unworthy, inexcusable. We finished 29th in points allowed. I'd be willing to claim our special teams unit made up for all the terribleness, but our kicker missed an unusual number of field goals. Sample size be damned.

Other key figures? We're the worst team in terms of yards to go on 3rd down, which is obviously a result of our less than 50% completion percentage and worst running game (okay, technically we rank 31st, but the 32nd ranked team doesn't run the ball other than through quarterback scrambles). Unsurprisingly, we were tied 28th in third down conversions. On the other end, our third down defense wasn't all that great either. And I'll throw our pass rush under the bus one more time: these guys are supposed to be very good, but performed as a below average unit. Unacceptable, guys.

So, now what? On to 2104?

Yes, on to 2104.