[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: We're falling...
And rising.

2093 is a weid season. At least for the Maassluis Merchantmen. We had a dreadful series of games that saw us trip 14-13 over the Harlem Apollos, fall for the silliness of a 17-17 tie at home against Bordeaux and then a hard fought, yet season determining 26-20 loss at home against Gothenburg. A defense and special teams supported 16-7 win in Brooklyn turned the tide and against all odds, we're back where we belong: at the top of the division.

Europe:
1. Maassluis 6-4-1
2. Gothenburg 6-5
3. Paris 6-5
4. Bordeaux 3-7-1

The division lead is as slim as can be, if not for a tied situation with better tie-breakers, but as Gothenburg has already claimed tie-breakers long before the week 17 clash in their place, we'll have to maintain that 1/2 win lead.

Despite the disappoint results, it wasn't all the struggling Moe Sheldon. He threw for 813 yards, 5 touchdowns and 1 interception in the last 4 games, but also doubled his fumbles from 4 to 8 in that span.

Theodore Bondy had two 100-yard, 2-touchdown games, neither resulting in a win. Rookie Ed Schulz got shut out in Brooklyn with 0 catches on 3 targets, George Stuckey wasn't even targeted in that game. Yeah, I have no idea how and why, Stuckey had 11 targets against Bordeaux in basically the same game plan on offense. Tight end Clarence Gore is struggling a bit, with 27 catches and 332 yards he's by no means in a position to get to 800 yards and 6 touchdowns for the third year in his career.

Our running game has been undefinable. It's either hot or cold, nothing in between. Francisco Patter is still averaging 5.0 per carry, but Reggie Thongchanh's season is turning into a career low with 3.29 yards per carry. Losing Howard Humphrey for the rest of the regular season and most likely the entire playoffs, that's a serious blow to the running game. Guard Andre Watson is a fine run blocker, but he's no Humphrey. And second-year pro Hayden Gaylor is doing the best he can, but he's clearly the weak spot on our line now.

Rookie punter Doug James is ripe for a jinx. The kid is leading the league with most inside 20's, despite that we're in the middle of the pack un number of punts. Mark Giles appears to have a breakout season as our kicker, currently leading with the longest converted kick for 56 yards.

Individual numbers on defense are pretty much silly to point out. We all know that defense is more team effort than anything else. But let's at least mention that Kirk Hitchcock has yet to make that 46th interception to separate himself from Peter Tucker as the all-time franchise leader. He's still 3 defended passes away from tying Ben Greer at 6th place in league history and will need another 4 to catch the fourth and fifth place guys.

All in all, overall we're just playing like one of the hardest to pinpoint teams. We're third in least points allowed, firmly in the top4 in that statistic. Yards per game allowed is always much higher, as our special teams unit is fully capable of making opponents need to gain 5 to 10 yards more per drive, which actually should result in about 40 yards more allowed in even games. We're gaining 323 yards per game versus allowing 344 yards, so despite the -21, it's a good example why we're actually better than the opponents.

For now, as the last 5 regular season games are brutal. We face 8-3 Orlando in their place first, then host 8-3 Chesapeake and 6-5 Paris. The last two games we'll visit 4-7 Williamsburg (they're better than their record!) and finish the regular season at 6-5 Gothenburg.

Well, we're up to the challenge. If we think we're playoffs material, we'll have to come out of that stretch with a 3-2 record. That might not be enough even, unless we sweep Paris and Gothenburg, but that's where we stand. Solecismic's playoffs probabilities even has us at 1 in 500 odds to become the #1 seeds and about 16 in 25 to miss the playoffs. Let's defy the odds, beginning with an upset victory in Orlando. We can do this, team!