[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Stayin' Alive mode
5 games to go and we're not out of the picture yet.

Granted, unless we start getting more efficient in our red zone offense, we'll be a long shot. But today's 23-13 win over the Capital City Blues at least keeps us in pursuit of both the division title and the wild cards. We gave up an 82-yard pass play in the first quarter to fall behind 10-0, but from there on we regrouped and the defense was strong enough to allow for two more visits to our half of the field and a failed and succeeded field goal on their end was enough to give us a chance. And the offense did just enough to get there. Earnest Ashley struggled once again, 17 of 39 completed passes, but gaining 251 yards with 123 of those by Ed Schulz was just enough to get the job done. Defensively, our should be state of the art pass rush actually lived up to our potential and broke up 15 of 48 passing plays. Richie Piotte was once again the big man, leading the unit with 3.0 sacks. In the secondary, Ernie Grant continues to improve and is turning into the shutdown corner that we thought we selected in the 2095 draft a full round ahead of Piotte.

We lost one of our running backs for the remainder of the season. Jack Crane dropped out with a severe hamstring pull. On the offensive line I made one major change: benching free agency signing Todd Springer. Rookie Nickolas Toler will step in at left guard and get a chance to prove he's a top10 guy from his class. Good old Howard Humphrey will continue to play at right guard, we need him to maintain cohesion on the line. Youngsters Johnnie Houston and Isaac Delgado are undisputed at the tackle slots, Robbie Zinn at center. The only alternative is Delgado at left guard, Toler at right guard and Humphrey at right tackle, but that would put our best run blocker on the left side of the line, while we're running slightly more often to the right.

European Division:
1. Gothenburg 8-3
2. Paris 7-4
3. Maassluis 6-5
4. Bordeaux 3-8

Yup, Bordeaux is done, they lost 6 in a row now. That team is too good for such a record, but there they are, the strongest roster in this division. Gothenburg has 4 road games remaining, but the only way we can catch up with them is not just beating them in our place in week 17, but to get tie-breakers we need to beat Paris in week 15 and hope for the strong Bordeaux team to beat the Giants in that same week.

But that's getting ahead of ourselves, to even be in the mix by then, we'll have to put down a good display at the Fort Wayne Fury in next week's game. Despite their 4-7 record, we know their quarterback Max Dillon too well, he used to be Paris' guy in previous seasons. Sure, we crushed Paris and Dillon twice last season and we beat the Fury in the last three clashes with them, but results in the past are no guarantee on the day after tomorrow. We'll have to stick to the plan, yet find a way to improve it at the same time. The season is far from over, but one game at a time might be the only way to approach it and have a chance come week 17.