[MIJB#19]

General Manager notes: division up for grabs...
It's early, but we've somehow maneuvered, or gotten lucky, into having a 3-win lead on the rest of the division. We don't have tie-breakers over any of them, so it's basically 2 1/2 games, but it's a wide margin.

How did we get there from the 2-win lead that we had after week 8?

Our visit to Houston in week 9 wasn't all that pretty. We managed to come away from there with a 26-24 loss, but in all honestly, we needed a late game drive to get back from 9 points down. The good news? In the end, our offense accumulated more points than theirs did, but a pick six saved their day shortly before half time.

Week 10 started the back-to-back last two divisional home games with a visit of the Bordeaux Vineyards. We gave them opportunities to stay in the game, with fumbles and a pick, but in the end, we were the superior team, leaning heavily on a revived Theo Bondy with 11 catches for 155 yards. Rookie Reggie Thongchanh responded well to a full game on the sidelines, bursting out for 116 yards and a score.

The Gothenburg Giants came to Oranje Haven in week 11. To be blunt, it was no contest. Both the offense and defense clicked on all fronts. As if the Giants have recently became our favorite opponent to play against, after years of fearing them most. Ellis McAlister took full advantage of his on fire wide receivers Theo Bondy (13 catches for 178 yards) and Artie Blazewicz (3 catches for 126 yards and 2 scores). A 75-yard long bomb from McAlister to Blazewicz was our first play on offense, Oranje Haven got an explosion of sound.

Standings week 11:
1. Maassluis 6-4
2. Bordeaux 3-7
3. Gothenburg 3-7
4. Paris 3-7

The wild card cut is currently at 6-4, which means all three of our division foes are 3-wins (minus tie-breakers) behind the playoffs spots. Our hopes for a bye week are pretty much non-existent, Orlando (9-1) and Houston (8-2 plus head-to-head win) are way in front of us, while the current #3 seed is North Plainfield (6-4) with a favorable common games record.

So, 6-4 now. I'm probably repeating myself, but this team looks and feels like it's better than our record, basically an 8-2 team. The remaining schedule is far from a cup cake trail. We've got three games remaining against the 6-4 or better NAC Mid Atlantic teams, a home game against the 5-5 Snapfinger Jazz and visits to Gothenburg and Bordeaux, two teams very eager to play spoiler, providing their playoff chances have vaporized by week 15 and 17 respectively.

Are we living up to the hype of favorites to win it all? Sadly, no. But we've been unable to the previous two seasons as well. The promising news is that usually we're capable of scoring at least 3 touchdowns. The defense seems to be slowly recovering, despite injury woes in our secondary. The run defense continues to be elite, while the pass rush is strong enough to really put the opponents in risky passing situations. Helped by the drubbing of the Giants, we've finally reached the point where our offense outgains the defense in yardage, for as long as that will last...

I am moderately optimistic though, perhaps we have righted the ship and set sail towards quieter waters.