[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: A couple of observation about the 2091 regular season
Cuz, you know, we're stats geeks, right?

Moe Sheldon completed 59.7% of his passes for 3,163 yards, 24 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. That's right, a 6:1 td:int ratio, best in the league. His passer rating as a result is 94.6, 3rd best in the league amongst qualifiers. Brandon Bell sucked in the 15 games he was active in (he got under center just once), Francisco Farley played, well, so-so. Farley must have been really happy to get a chance to play again after 60 games on the bench or even inactive.

Reggie Thongchanh ran for 801 yards with a 4.17 average, scoring 5 touchdowns. Francisco Patter ran for 669 yards (3.66 per carry) and 5 touchdowns. Rookie Trey Beyer ran for 202 yards (4.49 per carry) in relief when either half of the starting tandem was missing. We finished 8th in the league with 1,996 rushing yards (124.8 per game), but had no 100-yard rushers. Apparently not a first time occurrence, in 2077 our peak was 92 yards.

Theodore Bondy had 89 catches for 1,242 yards and 6 touchdowns, contrary to popular belief, he had only 6 dropped passes. Sure, that's a career low in yardage and touchdowns for Bondy, but he did have a career best 8.75 yards per target. Rookie TE Clarence Gore had 75 catches for 863 yards and 7 touchdowns. George Stuckey had 41 catches for 417 yards and 4 touchdowns, [b]Branden Sandlin[/i] had 32 catches for 356 yards and 1 touchdown.

G Michael Szott had 36 key run blocks, tying a career high, helped by playing at center in 14 games. RT Howard Humphrey had 33 key run blocks, G Andre Watson had 32 key run blocks, LT Nathan Hadinger had 21 key run blocks. Fill-in G Marvin Silvan had 21 key run blocks. C Butch Pearson was active in only two games: the first one and the division title clincher. FB Clay Brosseau had a career-high 11 key run blocks, which makes him 1st in the league amongst non-linemen.

The defensive line slowed down in the last bunch of games, combined with the team effort being key here, our team leader in sacks had a figure of 6.5. Our defensive ends were more than ever dividing it all: Tony Whiting 6.5, Gene Kondovski 6.0, Archie Exner 6.0, Andy Russell 6.0. DT Darien Fletcher had 4.5 sacks and led the linemen with 65 tackles. DT Jumbo Mojica was the other starter on the inside. We actually let Kurt Ackerman and A.J. Ritt play quite a bit on passing downs, which actually improved our pass rush threat on those down.

LB Brandon Brady will probably miss out on All-League honors due to missing the last two games, as with 104 tackles, 33 assists, 11 defended passes, 2 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles he was on pace for it. We increased Clayton Jackson's activity this season, while Daquan Espino got slightly more action than last season, but still much less than before his endurance drastically changed.

CB Kirk Hitchcock had 4 interceptions and 11 defended passes, CB Jackie Richardson had 2 interceptions and 10 defended passes. Rookie S Devon Farrell led the team with 12 defended passes, but hasn't made an interception yet. Maybe in the playoffs? As a team, we had just 11 interceptions, tied for 4th least in the league. It's interesting as we also rank tied for 4th least fumbles recovered.

Our special teams unit was far above average: we ranked 5th in punt return yards average, 4ht in kickoff return yards average, 10th in punt return yards allowed and 1st in kickoff return yards allowed. I may have cursed at K Mark Giles at times, but he missed 5 kicks all season, being 29/33 on field goals, 36/37 on extra points.

In the end, we're going to grade this season not just based on what we did during the regular season, but a season like this one will be a complete failure if we don't make it to the conference championship game at the very least. Going all the way is the dream, obviously, but realistically we'll be losing at the Tucker Tigers in the AOC Championship game, while the NAC has a couple of tough opponents as well from Kansas and Oakland. Speaking of which, it means we traded rookie T Douglas Grosz for S Devon Farrell and likely the 1.30 pick or so. Grosz is, by our staff, considered the best player in Oakland already. Sadly for them, he's out with a knee injury for the duration of the playoffs. A major reason why we rested a bunch of key players.

I dunno what else to report on. Many numbers are somewhat skewed due to the last two games. We still outscored our opponents 351-250 over 16 games. It still makes us 2nd in least points allowed, 14th in points scored (6th in the conference). Our margin of points is 2nd in the conference and 7th in the league. Would have, could have, it is what it is, you can't claim credits for what didn't happen.

Now, a week of much needed rest and then on to the new game of the season, whomever it will be we're going to face.