[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2105, what a disaster
Pedestrianity it was after all...

The season is over. With still week 17 to be played, out last tiny chances to make the playoffs vanished. In week 15 we already had to congratulate the Gothenburg Giants on the division title. Our 6-3 start was just a big bag of sand and the last couple of games rubbed it deep into our eye sockets. We have the players to play well, but we can't make them play up to their ability.

European Division:
1. Gothenburg 11-5
2. Maassluis 7-9
3. Bordeaux 4-12
4. Paris 3-12-1

Our stretch of the last 3 games started with a pummeling of the Paris Musketeers. Except that we almost choked a huge lead and saw them come 7 yards short of potentially sending it to overtime. We won 23-15, but the defense gave up 400 total yards, including 4.88 yards to The Lost Cause. Embarrassment and a glimp of hope at the same time. This being the last home game of the season, meant we had to win the last two on the road and needed quite some help to get back into the wild card race.

Our playoffs dreams shattered on the road at the Williamsburg Colonials. The tenure of most games this season continued. The defense gave up 394 total yards, while our running game was non-existent. In this game, the glass-half-full QB Evan Drake showed up, connecting with WR Calvin Maxwell and WR Vinny Buysse for 66 yards each, while TE Garrett Alcala had his second 100-yard game of the season and ended the touchdown drought after 5 games without any. All was far too little. We lost 22-16, but the last minute field goal was the only thing that kept this from being our first 2-score loss of the season.

The 2-score loss came in week 17, as we choked a 14-0 lead at the Gothenburg Giants. After decent football in the first 1/3rd of the game, the wheels came off and the Giants played with us like a cat with an unconscious pray. Rookie QB Burt Kiluk, one of the worst quarterbacks to ever face us, lead his offense to 5 straight scoring drives, with all but the second one ending in a touchdown, that single field goal was the result of time running out in the first half. In this 34-24 loss, QB Evan Drake was held to 188 yards passing, RB Broderick Levine was held to 1.69 yards per carry and the defense played their most pathetic game of the season, giving up 5.68 yards per carry to the Giants and 310 passing yards to aforementioned quarterback.

And thus comes a season to an end that saw us won 2/3rd of our games, until we ended things with a disgraceful 1-6 season ending series. The depressing part is that this is quite simply one of the best Merchantmen rosters ever assembled. Losing a game here or there is acceptable, but not by throwing for less than 200 yards and also giving up 400+ total yards on defense. This group of players is far too good to play that terribly.

We do need to figure out why it seems like some teams have figured us out. Our clashes with the Gothenburg Giants this season have been dreadful. I mean, aside from their playing way above his ability quarterback, their team is pretty solid, but it's a team we should play a 50-50 kind of game against, we're not supposed to get fleeced. And sometimes, one missed field goal late in the game can make a difference. Had Oscar Harrington converted that late game kick in our house against the Giants, we would have gone into today's game with the division title on the line in a winner-takes-all clash. For a second ignoring how we choked at Bordeaux in week 1 (throwing an interception when about to kick the game winning field goal) and how some games are decided by a one in a million hail mary pass. That just shows how thin the line can be between victory and defeat.

Still, the inconsistency displayed by both our offense and defense has been a pain to watch. We were not the 12-4 team I thought we could be. The off-season will be tricky, as we'll be in an old fashioned cap hell, estimated at roughly $95M over the cap to start. You know me, we're not the kind of team that will do our best to suck for a season, draft some quarterback in the top3 and after 2 seasons of mediocrity throw the towel again. That's not what the IHOF is built on and we've got too much pride to even consider tanking even a single game.

2106 can't start soon enough for us.