[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: No playoffs once again
... and we still have two games to play.

With a much deserved, but somewhat lucky performance, we've managed to beat the Paris Musketeers 33-27 in their house. We once again struggled to get the ball in the opponents' red zone, settling for 6 field goals and needing a 78-yard interception return touchdown to get back into the game in the fourth quarter. Although, with Paris going with Wesley Elliott at quarterback, they were basically throwing the game away to begin with, his a serious mismatch for our kind of defense.

Division standings
1. Gothenburg 10-4*
2. Maassluis 6-8
3. Paris 5-9
4. Bordeaux 4-10
* division champions

So, we did our job: win. But it was too little too late, the other wild card hopefuls, most specifically the Orlando Talons posted a victory to make this once again a season that ends after week 17. It will mean three seasons without playoffs, the last time we were this bad for so long was in 2062-2064, shortly before we broke out for our first and so far only IHOF Bowl victory.

So, red zone play, we suck at it, apparently. We've got a league worst 3.7 points per visit, scoring just 11 touchdowns on 35 visits. Our inability to get good stuff out of Theodore Bondy is also hurting us. He's second in the league in receptions, but only eighth in receiving yards. That makes no swear word sense to me. It's not my intention to hold him short, but the staff thinks this is how we should do this, I suppose.

Today's win marked the second straight for Brandon Bell as well, second straight with less than 200 yards thrown and actually completing less than 46 percent of his passes. He's actually doing worse than Moe Sheldon now, but with Nathan Hadinger missing, going back to Sheldon was a bad idea. Hadinger will be back in week 16 against the Colorado Cutthroats, which might be an opportunity to bring Sheldon back as well.

Cornerback Ted Frias had the first career interception and he made it count with the 78-yard touchdown return. It's quite the surprise it took him this long, although he was kind of stuck in a fourth choice role until this season.

Two more games and this from bad to worse season is over. I wish we had done something right here, but when we turned into a turnover machine (in a bad way), our season was a lost cause. I hope we recover next season, when we'll be in our usual deep cap trouble to start the off-season. Looking forward to it, but for now a chance to beat Colorado on the road and then finish the season with a face saving victory over Gothenburg, possibly costing them a bye week, but most likely it can only cost them the #1 seed. We'll try though, after we've visited and beaten Colorado. Let's stay confident.