[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2121, one of those memorable seasons?

The regular season has finished and it had quite the nail biting ending for the European Division, including for us. So, let's recap the last bunch of games.


Week 13 vs Tucker
We played along with the Tigers for about two and a half quarters, but in part due to our lack of success in the red zone, eventually we fell apart and let the best quarterback in the league throw for 455 yards against us. It got so bad, we even threw our backup quarterback out there. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 351 yards with a touchdown pass to WR Rodolfo Lane, WR Rufus Montgomery gained 111 yards receiving. K Jeffery DeGroot converted a 53-yard field goal shortly before half time.
19-41 loss

Week 14 at Chesapeake
We bounced back with a solid and much deserved victory. The defense played admirably well, keeping a talented quarterback to under 200 yards passing. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 274 yards with a touchdown pass to WR Rufus Montgomery, while also running for a touchdown. RB Jackson Powell also ran for a score.
27-16 win

Week 15 at Gothenburg
A crucial game in the race for second place in the division, as likely only the winner would stay in it. Paris was looking out of reach, securing the division this week with a solid win over Bordeaux. We started well, intercepting the Giants quarterback on their first possession, but the 10-0 lead was short lived as we gave up touchdowns on their second through fourth drives. Interceptions on back to back drives in the third quarter helped snowball the Giants into a big lead and our spirit looked broken. The Giants had two 100-yard rushers, an unacceptable pathetic showing by our defense. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 284 yards with 2 touchdown passes to TE Kyle Baker. RB Jackson Powell ran for a touchdown.
24-37 loss

Week 16 vs Williamsburg
After some incredibly silly losses earlier this season, in this game we got one of the most luckiest unsportsmanlike conduct penalties by an opponent. In a game where we were the better team, we struggled to put the ball in the endzone and saw K Jeffery DeGroot convert 5 field goals. In return their kicker kept them in it with a trio of 40+ kicks.
With the game on the line, trailing 26-22, we had to go for it on 4th and 2 from their 31-yard line. The pass fell incomplete, but one of the Colonials defensive linemen misbehaved and helped our drive to stay alive. A couple of plays later, QB Renaldo Wilson found WR Roman Randle on a short pass into the end zone to take a 29-26 lead. The defense held ground and a freak victory was ours. Wilson threw for 216 yards with touchdown passes to TE Francisco Andersen and WR Roman Randle. RB Jackson Powell ran for 102 yards.
29-26 win

Going into the final regular season week, with a 9-6 record, we were barely still in the race. Ranked fourth inside the division, we were going to head to Bordeaux (also 9-6) and needed help from Paris to beat Gothenburg as well as help from Snapfinger to win at Orlando. The latter would be a huge upset and Paris beating Gothenburg would also be unlikely as Paris was already set in stone as the #2 seed. And elsewhere in the AOC, Augusta knew they would have to win at guaranteed #1 seed Tucker to maintain their wild card spot. But they decided to go all out and it resulted in a spectacular ending.

Week 17 at Bordeaux
Despite our supremacy in gaining yards, a fumble and a bad punted helped Bordeaux get a short field and take a 17-7 after the first quarter and a bit. A pair of missed field goals and an interception threw more wrenches in our engine, but a series of three and outs by the defense kept the score as is. Momentum shifted in the second half as we scored on our first drive, got a defensive interception on the next play from scrimmage and followed that up with a field goal to tie it up 17-17. Our domination continued and early in the fourth quarter we took a 24-17 lead. The Bordeaux offense finally woke up and replied with their best drive of the game, resulting in a score tying touchdown. On our next possession, we kept going and going and albeit forced to settle for a short field goal and a 27-24 lead, Bordeaux had only 24 seconds remaining. They very first play from scrimmage became the anticlimax for the home crowd as the ball was picked off and victory formation was next for us. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 361 yards with touchdown passes to TE Francisco Andersen, TE Kyle Baker and WR Roman Randle. WR Rufus Montgomery had 106 yards receiving.
27-24 win

Elsewhere in the league, we received the news that Orlando had fallen 26-24 at home to Snapfiger, whilst the Gothenburg vs Paris clash was heading into overtime. We witnessed a missed field goal on Paris side and not much later, Gothenburg did convert the game winner that also sent them into the playoffs.

European Division
1. Paris 12-4
2. Gothenburg 11-5
3. Maassluis 10-6
4. Bordeaux 9-7

Indeed, everybody had a winning record. The two divisions that we collectively crushed each had a 9-7 winner. Houston (9-7), Brooklyn (9-7) and Frederick (8-8) made the playoffs while combining for an 1-11 record against the European Division teams. The 10-6 record made us the 7th seeds in the AOC, also ending up behind 13-3 Tucker, 11-5 Toronto and 11-5 Augusta. Aforementioned Frederick was the 6th seed in the NAC.

Our season ends with 6 losses to teams with a winning record, of those Bordeaux and Atlanta (9-7) missed the playoffs, while Tucker, Toronto, Paris and Gothenburg did make it. In return we won 5 games against playoffs making teams, on top of Houston, Brooklyn and Frederick we also beat Paris and Gothenburg. At the same time, we got outscored by our opponents by 7 points. Which makes the weird season we had even weirder. Having played the toughest schedule in the league doesn't quite make it feel any better, we're still not amongst the 12 teams still in the race for the bowl.


QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 4,546 yards, with 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. It's the 4th highest passing yards figure in Merchantmen history and it was insufficient to make the playoffs. Wilson also ran for 865 yards and 4 touchdowns with a league leading 7.03 yards per carry.

RB Jackson Powell ran for 1,199 yards with 9 touchdowns, he also had 1 receiving touchdown. TE Francisco Andersen had 98 catches for 1,043 yards and 8 touchdowns. WR Roman Randle had 86 catches for 1,249 yards and 4 touchdowns. WR Rufus Montgomery had 57 cathces for 941 yards and 4 touchdowns. TE Kyle Baker had 55 catches for 543 yards and 8 touchdowns. WR Rodolfo Lane had 37 catches for 586 yards and 3 touchdowns, not counting his all-time career IHOF record tying 11th punt return touchdown. RB Preston Tanner had 1 rushing touchdown, FB Rich Hartman 1 receiving touchdown.

We ranked 9th in rushing yards (138 per game, 4.64 per carry) and 9th in passing yards (285 per game, 6.95 per pass attempt). Our defense was mixed, 12 in rushing yards allowed (103 per game) but also 31st in yards per carry (5.22 per carry), 26th in passing yards allowed (285 per game) and 17th in yards per pass attempt (6.38 per attempt). We tied for 7th in most defensive turnovers (28) but also tied for 20th in giveaways (also 28). We were not the best special teams unit, we were by far outdone by Williamsburg. We also 'shined' in terms of penalties, finish with the 2nd most penalty yards.

One more "sigh" and we move on. Our focus goes to 2122, cliché of clichés.