[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen season in a review

Off-season
The off-season was dominated with two major headlines. The Merchantmen gave up on defensive end Harold Wells by trading them to divisional rivals Bordeaux Vineyards. In return, the Merchantmen traded enough draft picks to acquire the #5 pick overall and used it on quarterback Louie Flannery. This came after the earlier moves that put the whole quaterback situation in a strange situation with Justin McDavid on injured reserve, 2005 first round pick Leonard Lyon traded to Springfield for 2005 second round pick Mel Atkins and the trade for Shane Bowers as the temporary fill-in for McDavid. Other important moved were te trade of tight end Jerry Aubrey and defensive end Deon Chapa to Rochester Lake Monsters, the acquisition of cornerbacks Gus Stoffers and Johnnie Stidham from Orlando, trades with Bordeaux that gave them guard Alvin Causey and Maassluis safety Emile William and running back Cedric Rubio. There were trades that gave Maassluis mentors in David Lynch (quarterback from Rochester) and Lane Stedman (guard from Columbus). And finally on the trading deadline, the Merchantmen traded their last initial offensive lineman Russell Malave to the Telluride Outlaws.


Injuries during the season
Injuries didn't have much effect on the Merchantmen, well, that is if you ignore the haunted secondary, at some point all four starters were unavailable. Safety Richard Muller was up for trade, until he was hit by the repetitive concussion syndrome that sidelined him for the entire season and possible the entire 2007 season as well. He joined quarterback Justin McDavid, who was sidelined since the mid 2005 season. Joining the two after the week one game was Maassluis' first rookie draft cornerback Tai Wayne with a high ankle sprain. At mid-season, defensive end Scot Dick joined the injured reserve list, while Louie Flannery suffered a sprained knee that limited his mobility in the second half of the year. Others who missed a good number of games with injury were: right tackle Wilson Grimaldo, cornerback Gus Stoffers and wide receiver Gregory Monti.

Results
After losing the first game against Bordeaux, stealing a win in overtime at San Luis Obispo and dominating Dutch Bowl II versus Orlando, a 2-1 record put us into a good start. After a loss at Syracuse on a 46-yard field goal after interception, we got on fire with three consecutive home game wins. At 5-2 we were one of only eight teams still looking in the race for the playoffs in the AOC. A three-game losing streak on the road dropped us back and a devastating loss to Anaheim put the playoffs out of the picture. A nice two-game winning streak against the F-teams brought us into a miracle scenario situation, but a loss at Paris ended the dreams. With a humiliating loss at Boulder, although sealed with a last second 45-yard field goal and a sort-of stolen win over Gothenburg, the season amazingly ends at 8-8 and us being nineth in the AOC based on common games record compared to the Telluride Outlaws.

Scores
Wk01 . L 21-27 . Bordeaux (11-5, #1 European Division)
Wk02 . W 36-30 (ot) . at San Luis Obispo (2-14)
Wk03 . W 24-13 . Orlando (10-6, #1 Southeast Division)
Wk04 . open
Wk05 . L 14-20 . at Syracuse (12-4, AOC Wild Card #1)
Wk06 . W 20-10 . Rochester (10-6, missed playoffs)
Wk07 . W 21-19 . Boston (5-11)
Wk08 . W 24-14 . Paris (4-12)
Wk09 . L 14-40 . at North Plianfield (12-4, #1 Northeast Division)
Wk10 . L 17-24 . at Bordeaux (11-5, #1 European Division)
Wk11 . L 10-20 . at Gothenburg (10-6, AOC Wild Card #2)
Wk12 . L 13-24 . Anaheim (6-10)
Wk13 . W 23-21 . at Fort Worth (6-10)
Wk14 . W 36-10 . Fairbanks (10-6, #1 West Division)
Wk15 . L 20-40 . at Paris (4-12)
Wk16 . L 10-13 . at Boulder (10-6, NAC Wild Card #2)
Wk17 . W 20-16 . Gothenburg (10-6, AOC Wild Card #2)

Player Reviews
In the quarterbacks department Louie Flannery had a hot start, being a top quarterback after the first six games. Than a streak of 13 interceptions in four games dropped him back and he ended the year with a league high interceptions figure at 23. Flannery ends the year with a decent completion percentage of 57.5, 2765 yards and 15 touchdowns. The previous starting quarterback Justin McDavid spent the year on injured reserve, recovering from ACL knee surgery. Shane Bower filled in for Flannery in two games, however he struggled in his limited playing time. Mel Atkins saw only action as the holder on special teams, while Dominic Lynch was hired to mentor Flannery.

In the backfield Randy Harris had his best season so far, as he ran for 1,203 yards with a 4.1 yard per carry figure. His yardage total was the tenth best in the IHOF. By scoring 10 touchdowns, including a team high 4 receiving touchdowns, Harris was a key player for the offense. He was supported by Jamel Rosenberry at fullback. Rosenberry scored 8 touchdowns as the third down specialist. Jonathan Smith scored his first career touchdown, but with 69 ball touches he had a limited role. Cedric Rubio was limited to just 3 ball touches, Kyle Montoya didn't even play a game. Fullback Greg Berk was signed during the season to replace the earlier on released Doug Nelson.

From the receivers, tight end Jim Reiser was the big man. With 79 receptions, he ranked sixth overall in the IHOF. Gregory Monti and Bryce Ewaldstruggled as the starting wide receivers. Both missed playing time due to injuries and with 42 and 39 receptions respectivelty, their roles were limited. Ewald scored just 1 touchdown after 5 in the 2005 season, while Monti had a career high 3. Third receiver David Henkel was hired for his big play threat in three-receiver sets, but on 23 receptions, Henkel gained only 320 yards and didn't score. Tight end Charles Burley didn't catch a ball, despite being the second tight end. Second year player Devin Henson had his first career touchdown in a win against Boston, while rookie Matt Offord had just 2 catches. Both Henson and Offord were return specialists. So was the late season acquisition Donovan Bradley, who had 3 receptions, and long snapper Charlie Martins, who had no receptions.

On the offensive line Harold Hurtado amazed by not missing a single game. The left tackle had a fine season, until he was 'credited' with 3 sacks in the last game, to destroy the team's acquired position as team with the least sacks allowed. With 28 key run blocks, Hurtado anchored the running game. He was supported best by left guard Butch White. White had 24 key run blocks in 14 games and just barely missed the 40% mark in effective run blocking. Right guard Timothy Lacy had an up-and-down first season, with a run blocking percentage of 23%. Right tackle Wilson Grimaldo missed 3 games, which the team all won, however, with just 1 sack allowed in 400 passing plays, Grimaldo was clearly the pass protection anchorman. Center Brant Heinrich had a decent year, but didn't stand out. Left tackle Kerry McLaurin was hired during the year and in five stars at right tackle and left guard he clearly made a difference as the team won all those games. Center Bubba Kearney was hired during the year, but looked aweful in two starts. Rookie center Ernie Taylor played just one game. The trade acquisitions guard Eric Dietrich and left tackle Edgar Dunkin hardly played a down for the team, but amazingly both were 2-on-2 on run blocking. Lane Stedman was hired to mentor the young guards White and Lacy. Right tackle Russell Malave was active in the first few games, but didn't play a down and was traded after four games to the Telluride Outlaws.

On the defensive line, injuries limited playing time of most players. Tackle Charles Gomez was hardly affected by it and recorded 99 tackles and 12.5 sacks, two amazing figures for a player at his position. Left end Albert Bernardo contributed with 7.5 sacks, right end Scot Dick had 4.5 sacks in 11 games. Rookie end Omar Gougeon made 3.0 sacks, which could have been more if he hadn't been slowed down by injury. Right tackle John Bryant was limited by injuries and started only 5 games after starting all 32 previous Merchantmen games. As a pass rush slecialist, he did record 3.5 sacks. Bryant was sharing time with nose tackle Andy Weliczka, who made 2.0 sacks and 32 tackles in 11 starts. Left end Britt Bycroft showed some skill as a premier backup all around the line. Right end Ian Degrange didn't play a game after it turned out he was bad for team chemistry. Tackle Stanley Jacke spent the season on injured reserve, although he wouldn't have seen much, if any playing time.

In the linebackers department, middle linebacker Cody Cluff topped the team with 120 tackles and 35 assists. strongside linebacker Ellsworth Thelen supported with 109 tackles, but the duo was mainly active as a receptions allowing duo. Together, the two allowed 93 catches, the second highest of all duos around the league. Weakside linebacker Josh Weisberg was hired to mentor Mike Kershner, but Kershner failed to see much progress. Kershner was limited in his role due to the frequent use of the nickel back formation and made just 54 tackles and 1 sack. Weisberg had just 3 tackles and 2 assists, which are the same totals as inside linebacker Carl Meier had. Karl Mercer was released during the season.

The secondary was missing two supposed to be starters all season. Cornerback Tai Wayne played just one game, but didn't allow a catch in that limited action. Johnnie Stidham took advantage and excelled this season with 7 interceptions, which rank him in the IHOF's top five. The other starting corner was supposed to be Gus Stoffers, but he suffered through injuries as well. Desmond Craig was promoted to nickel back for most of the year and even started 5 games. Craig recorded 4 interceptions, which would have been a franchise record, hadn't Stidham been here too. Rookie Myron Stevens got his playing time and sadly accounted for no less than 37 catches. He did return an interception for a score one game, but that just doesn't do enough to make up for the loss. The last corner on the team Laurence Gerry played in 7 games and was mainly hired to be the leader of the secondary, as the team clearly lacked a leader. Free safety Richard Muller could have been a leader, but wasn't and he even missed te entire season while suffering from repetitive concussion syndrome. In his place, strong safety Lincoln Gilmore had 9 passes defended or intercepted versus 22 catches with 54 tackles in 13 games. Supported by fumbles forcing free safety John Cole and backup safety Emile William, the safeties played a bit better than the other pass defenders. Rookie Lamar Singleton had 1 interception, but didn't show much more to make him a promising future starter, he's terrible in supporting the run.

The special teams unit had some interesting role this season. Cary Coles was the field goals and extra points kicker, with which he accounted for 97 points. Rookie Al Bettis was hired as kickoff kicker and it seemed he played his role well. Punter Roscoe Corrales didn't turn out with impressive punting numbers, but with his excellent hang time, he's helping to keep the kickoff return as short as possible. Kickoff returner Devin Henson scored twice on his returns and with that leads the IHOF, untied. In fact, he's only the third player to accomplish it. With 25.7 yards per return he didn't run for peanuts on the 30 other returns either. Rookie Matt Offord added a punt return touchdown, which was one of only six recorded in the IHOF this season. Charlie Martins proved to be an excellent long snapper, as 2 of the 6 missed kicks this season where recorded in his one game absence.Mel Atkins was the holder all season and it looked like he did it very well.

Team statistics
Here's a collection of the team stats. It's scary to know that we rank in the both ten of all four main categories. If you wonder how we made up for that bad play, maybe you should look at the number of penalties, for the second year in a row, we're the least penalized team. Other reasons are possible our turnover margin improvement to +1, decent red zone offense, but that is all cancelled out by allowing the most touchdowns in red zone defense. Maybe it all tells us that special teams can make so much of a difference after all?
Passing - 178 yd/gm (#25 in IHOF)
Rushing - 109 yd/gm (#23 in IHOF)
Pass Df - 248 yd/gm (#32 in IHOF)
Run Def - 128 yd/gm (#23 in IHOF)
Turnovers: 27 committed vs. 28 forced