[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: A losing record...
I had forgotten how that looks and feels.

In short, we were outmatched by the Houston Mustangs. Sure, we sacked their sack magnet of a quarterback 7 times on 37 passing plays (yes, it was neat to see 7 different guys getting in on the party), but he still threw for 296 yards to guide his team to a 24-16 victory. The run defense was unable to stop their (admittedly) top-notch running game.

Our offense was silly as it has been at times over recent season. Theodore Bondy made 11 catches... for 60 yards. Goodness, what kind of crappy game plan did my staff think we should run? Those are the numbers of a fullback, not the best wide receiver to ever wear the Merchantmen uniform. Sigh.

The unintended comedy of the game came after our turnovers, twice. Moe Sheldon got sacks and fumbled, only to see his Houston counterpart return the favor on the very next play. Also in the first quarter, Sheldon threw an interception, but on the very next plan then, their quarterback lost another fumble after getting sacked.

But really, when you give up a 33-yard pass play on 3rd and 14, and a 22-yard run on 3rd and 1, you know the defense just wasn't clicking on all cilinders. The difference between great and horrible plays was too big.

Elsewhere in the division, Gothenburg and Bordeaux pulled off victories. Paris put up a serious fight with the reigning league champions, but lost anyway.

standings
1. Gothenburg 2-1
2. Maassluis 1-2
3. Bordeaux 1-2
4. Paris 0-3

Next up will be the North Plainfield Plague, again on the road. But not in week 4, because we're once again having our bye week this early in the season.

Will we bounce back from this 1-2 start? Sure, I've got to confident about it. Is it likely? Hard to tell, we've built quite the reputation in recent years to completely lay an egg against the Plague. You'd think we'd throw a Yathzee to brush away all the snake eyes at some point, but we'll have to go back to the drawing board first. You're going to need 5 dice to make that happen, it feels like we're not giving ourselves enough dice to get good numbers.

Win some, lose some? I had hoped to be 2-1 now, but given the competition and locations, 1-2 is probably where we're supposed to stand, if we consider ourselves a 9-7 or 10-6 kind of team. Which is a bummer then, because at some point you'd expect these guys to really get that 12-4 kind of season out of their overpaid talented asses.

Did I just say that? No, but I did write it. These guys are talented, I know they are. They'd better start playing like it. And the staff? Well, we all know all these so-called coordinator and coaches are just making wild guesses and drawing up completely random game plans.

But enough for a rant. It's been a sunny day, life's too good and too short to get worked up about one loss in a game that going into the season was quite possibly the most likely game to be lost anyway. Our goal remains unchanged, patience is tough, but it's sometimes part of the game plan. Not for this team here and now, we're in it to win it and it's up to ourselves to pry open a window of opportunity. We can do this team.