[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Four games in and we're in good shape
Now, let's see if we can not choke this season like 2 seasons ago...

Okay, two more games and two more wins! We continued in week 3 with a weird 12-7 victory at the Rochester Razorbacks and followed up with a smooth 24-17 victory over the San Antonio Tidal Force. No time to go over the full games, but a short summary per game should be doable.

So, week 3 at Rochester. They go up 7-0 on their second play from scrimmage as their quarterback T.J. Devine decides to scramble for the second play in a row and we fail to stop him from a 72-yard touchdown run. But wait, didn't we win this game 12-7? Why yes, we did. On their next drive Devine fumbled the ball and lost it on our half. Until half time it was a three and out fest for our defense. In the second half they went for it on fourth down in field goal range and failed to convert and late in the fourth quarter when they finally got past midfield, Andy Russell sacked Devine, who fumbled the ball and saw our A.J. Ritt recover it. In the final minutes they got into our turf once again, but back to back sacks from Gene Kondovski and Tony Whiting forced them into a fourth and 22 situation where they had to go for it (by then trailing 12-7).

How did we collect our 12 points then? A 20-yard field goal early in the second quarter, then a 52-yarder in the dying seconds of the first half. In the second half we fumbled our first drive that went into field goal range. Half way through the fourth quarter, we pushed them back deep inside their territory on a third down sack and after a short punt and decent return, we started our drive at their 36-yard line. So, although already in field goal range, we saw Moe Sheldon throw a short pass on third and pretty long to Theodore Bondy, who turned it into a magnificent 39-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, but with a 5-point lead, all I wrote about the defense was sufficient to post a sweet road victory.

It wasn't all pretty, as you may assume from the previous text, we were outgained 311 to 241 yards, but by winning the position battle very strongly and overcoming our 2 turnovers with pulling 2 back, it wasn't a stolen victory, we just were too strong in keeping them far away from our red zone, aside from that 72-yard run early in the game.

The home game against San Antonio started with them pushing us deep inside our own turf. After Moe Sheldon completed a 28-yard pass to rookie Clarence Gore, Sheldon fumbled after a sack on the very next play to set up San Antonio's 34-yard field goal. Reggie Thongchanh added to the fumble fest and losing possession later on in the first quarter, but the defense did just enough to maintain holding them between midfield and our 35-yard line to force them to punt after all.

And then our offense finally woke up after 7 quarters of barely doing anything. Sheldon to Theodore Bondy for 16 yards, a third down conversion to rookie Trey Beyer, a 16-yard and 11-yard run from Thongchanh and finally a smooth third down short touchdown pass from Sheldon to Beyer. After three and out, our offense continued, anchored by Bondy's 23-yard reception, the drive ended in seeing Sheldon find Gore for a short touchdown pass. San Antonio's receiver Gus Burns responded by having the key play on their drive and the touchdown catch to trim our lead to 14-10. They tried and came close to putting some more on the board, but they missed a 44-yard field goal attempt.

Gus Burns torched us a couple of times on San Antonio's first drive in the second half, to set up a short touchdown run for their 17-14 lead. Both teams followed up with decent but not close enough drives. The fourth quarter started with three and out on both ends, but we got the ball back close to midfield to have a shot at doing something about that deficit. Thongchanh ran for 11 yards and Bondy made 11-yard, 14-yard and 16-yard catches to get closer and closer and eventually Branden Sandlin caught a short pass from Sheldon in the end zone for the 21-17 lead. After forcing three and out, we had another strong drive, with a key screen pass from Sheldon to Bondy that turned into a 24-yard gain. A sack on second down pushed us back, but after scoring a 41-yard field goal, the touchdown lead of 24-17 was there. On fourth and nine they felt they had to go for it from well within their half, being down to two time outs and after Trey Beyer ran for 10 yards, victory formation was there.

With a mixed bag of results of our division rivals, we're actually at the lead after four game days. But, as the standings already show, it's a tight division so far. In fact, all four teams have a points differential of +14 or better.

Standings
1. Maassluis 3-1
2. Bordeaux 2-1
3. Gothenburg 2-2
4. Paris 2-2

Other things to mention? Center Butch Pearson is still out and unlikely to be back before the playoffs. Guard Michael Szott has been playing center for the last three games, as we gave backup left tackle Myron Hamilton the two road games with mixed results and against San Antonio young backup guard Marvin Silvan had a solid performance.

Running back Francisco Patter sat out the Kansas game with a knee injury, then returned in Rochester with 3 fumbles, which made me inactivate him again to keep him off the field until the knee injury is over. Against San Antonio, Theodore Bondy had his first 100-yard game of the season. Sheldon has taken advantage of it, despite getting sacked a bit too much, he's having a strong passing stat line with 60% completed for 215 yards per game with 8 touchdowns and 1 interception.

The defense still has room to improve, but we've actually been quite okay. A game like the one against Kansas will always throw the numbers around, but we're not getting pummeled. We're giving up 364 yards per game and gain only 338 yards, but that too is in part a result of that 574-yard game against Kansas' offense and also the effect of winning the field position battle in most games.

"Most games", yeah, we're just 4 games in. Let's not get carried away. We've got our bye upcoming and then continue with a home game against the Atlanta Vipers. After a 1-15 campaign last season, they've somehow found ways to win by 3 or less points in all three games. They host the Bordeaux Vineyards next, but that still means we'll be facing a 3-1 or better team while sporting a 3-1 record of our own. That's close to game of the week material. Not bad for two teams that will each on their own claim to have had one of their worst seasons ever in franchise history...

Yes, things can change that quickly. All the more reason to continue to be hopeful for things to get better...