[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: How 2095 ended...
Like, good, yet not great at all.

The last game of the 2095 regular season, with basically nothing to play for (yeah, other general managers would say: draft position!, in my opinion, we always play to have a worse draft position, always). We visited the Paris Musketeers and it turned out to be far from a close contest between two losing teams. While the Musketeers embarrassed themselves, continuing to think they can throw the ball on every down, the Merchantmen tired to prove they were worthy of at least ending the season close to 'in balance' in points differential. After a 34-3 demonstration, the team came a field goal short of turning the season into a positive, making it our 19th all time in the negative.

European Division
1. Gothenburg 13-3 (#1 seed)
2. Bordeaux 8-8
3. Maassluis 7-9
4. Paris 3-13

The Vineyards had a chance to make the playoffs, but lost 45-38 at home against the Gothenburg Giants in a game that couldn't jeopardize that #1 seed in the playoffs. The Giants made the best of their top seed, steamrolled through their two AOC playoffs games, only to fall behind 27-3 in the IHOF Bowl and despite dominating the second half, falling 27-19 to the Texas Sharks.


Earnest Ashley finished the season completing 320 of 641 passes (as close as one can be to 50% with an odd number of attempts) for 4,117 yards (13nd in the league), 27 touchdowns (tied 10th in the league) and 21 interceptions (tied 5th most in the league). He ran for 6.56 yards per carry, which hints at giving him a bit more freedom in that area, maybe, but he did fumble 5 times (he got sacked 27 times).

Trey Beyer ran for 691 yards (3.99 per carry), Jack Crane for 413 yards (4.35) and Francisco Patter for 267 yards (3.42), with Beyer scoring 7 touchdowns, Patter 3 touchdowns. Not a threeheaded monkey per se, Beyer took roughly half the carries, while Crane and Patter shared the change of pace carries about 50-50, with Crane also taking the third down stuff, converting a depressing low 6 of 23 attempts, that's Merchantmen unworthy, Jack.

Clay Gaynor had 83 catches for 899 yards and 6 touchdowns
Ed Schulz had 67 catches for 1,161 yards and 4 touchdowns
George Stuckey had 62 catches for 819 yards and 9 touchdowns
Theodore Bondy had 53 catches for 626 yards and 6 touchdowns
Clarence Gore had 39 catches for 431 yards and 2 touchdowns
Gaynor was 3rd in catches amongst tight ends, 5th in yardage amongst his peers, 29th amongst all positions, while Schulz was 18th in the league in yardage (one of 24 to get to 1,000 yards), but really excelled in length being 7th in yards per target and 3rd per catch. Stuckey was tied 9th in most touchdowns, result of being heavily used in the red zone by us.

Howard Humphrey once again lead the line with the most key run blocks (29), clearly ahead of Desmond Pritchett (22), Robbie Zinn (20) and Johnnie Houston (17). Andre Watson had 11 in 7 starts, Isaac Delgado only 6 in 9 starts. Delgado was clearly the weakest link on our pass protection as well, which doesn't bode well for him. Fullback Clay Brosseau finished the season with 0 key run blocks. Yes, you read that right: 0 key run blocks in 188 running plays.

On the defense, it's not really worth listing every single starter. Brandon Brady lead the team in tackles, as to be expected, 132 pieces ranking him 3rd in the league. Devon Farrell had exactly 100 tackles, but also 6 interceptions and 10 defended passes. Adam Harmon lead the team with 15 defended passes, Clayton Jackson had 13 of those. Zachery Weisz had 5 interceptions. Gene Kondovski and rookie Richie Piotte shared the team lead with 8.5 sacks, with defensive tackles Harold Gough (7.0) and Caleb Domis (6.5) not far behind.

Our superstar punter Doug James played in the last 7 games and was clearly not the kind of player he was as a rookie. We'll have a tough decision to make, having to opt for another season of Old Doug Gouynes, or looking further at this position altogether...

And let's wrap the 2095 season up at that. We played several good games, but also ended up getting a freaking high 5 games where we lost by 21+ points, which is an insane number. I haven't checked the numbers, it feels too discouraging to find out it really was our worst season ever in that regard, which I fully expect it to be.

Goodbye 2095, bring on 2096!