[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen 2089 Pre-Season Recap
The Maassluis Merchantmen have finished their pre-season action with a 2-2 record. It ends a three-season streak of losing pre-seasons. Let's look over what the Merchantmen did in those games (and limited sample size).

W2: 44-3 win, 395-108 total yd, +3 turnovers (6-3)
W3: 13-21 loss, 242-303 total yd, equal turnovers (1-1)
W4: 9-33 loss, 237-411 total yd, -1 turnovers (1-2)
W5: 24-19 win, 326-336 total yd, +1 turnovers (2-1)


Passing:
W2: Bell 22/42 for 196 yd, 2 td, 0 int
W2: Sheldon 0/1 for 0 yd, 0 td, 1 int
W3: Bell 8/10 for 58 yd, 1 td, 0 int
W3: Sheldon 8/20 for 38 yd, 0 td, 0 int
W4: Farley 4/6 for 26 yd, 0 td, 1 int
W4: Bell 15/25 for 105 yd, 0 td, 0 int
W5: Farley 18/21 for 211 yd, 2 td, 0 int
TOTAL:
Bell 45/77 for 309 yd (4.01 ypa), 3 td, 0 int
Farley 22/27 for 237 yd (8.77 ypa), 2 td, 1 int
Sheldon 8/21 for 38 yd (1.80 ypa), 0 td, 1 int

Bell's performance was acceptable, Farley's play was encouraging, aside form the interception. Sheldon was unable to get anything going.


Rushing:
Thong' 63 for 275 yd (4.36 ypc), 0 td
Patter 29 for 168 yd (5.79 ypc), 2 td
Szporluk 20 for 43 yd (2.15 ypc), 1 td
QB Bell 7 for 44 yd (6.28 ypc)
QB Farley 8 for 32 yd (4.00 ypc)
QB Sheldon 4 for 23 yd (5.75 ypc)

Patter really pushes Thong' here for being the main ball carrier. Szporluk got very little going as the 'passing downs hb'. THe quarterbacks all showed some flashes of their scrambling skills.


Receiving:
Bondy 20/45 for 218 yd, 2 td
Hammond 18/30 for 188 yd
Sandlin 19/24 for 70 yd
TE Holliday 6/7 for 60 yd, 2 td
TE Crawford 5/6 for 52 yd, 1 td
TE Blake 2/2 for 20 yd
FB Brosseau 2/2 for 14 yd
RB Szpurlok 0/4 for 0 yd
RB Thong' 0/1 for 0 yd

Bondy still struggles, but when he makes the catch, it will be a good play. Hammond is in the same camp. Sandlin was used mostly for short throws. The rest are just there to keep the opponents from (correctly) focusing on the wide receivers.


Pass defense:
CB Hitchcock 3 int, 5 pd
CB Blackwell 1 int, 2 pd
S Marty 1 int, 1 pd (63 yd td)
S Newsome, CB McNeil 1 int each
LB Espino 3 pd
DE Russell, S Sword 2 pd each
LB Jackson, CB Frias, S Harper, LB Iveans, DT Mojica 1 pd each

Nothing surprising here. Hitchcock is the man. The other starters showed their face. CB Frias perhaps with the most underwhelming numbers.


Sacks and stuff:
DT Mojica 3.0 sk, 3 hur, 0 blk
DE Whiting 3.0 sk, 2 hur, 0 blk
DT Ritt 2.5 sk, 0 hur, 0 blk
DE Russell 2.0 sk, 2 hur, 0 blk
DE Exner 1.5 sk, 1 hur, 0 blk
DE Kondovski 1.0 sk, 6 hur, 0 blk
LB Jackson 1.0 sk, 1 hur, 0 blk
DT Fletcher 0.0 sk, 2 hur, 1 blk
LB Espino 0.0 sk, 1 hur, 1 blk
DT Ackerman 0.0 sk, 1 hur, 0 blk
CB Blackwell 0.0 sk, 1 hur, 0 blk

Nobody really stood out, which is to be expected from this talented bunch. 14 sacks in 4 games is probably what you can expect or at least want from this crowd.


Blocking:
LT Hadinger 4/9 run, 1 sk
LT Hamilton 1/13 run, 3 sk
LG Szott 8/17 run, 0 sk (1x pancake)
C Pearson 5/14 run, 0 sk
C Labbe 3/5 run, 0 sk
RG Theisen 4/14 run, 0 sk
RG Watson 2/4 run, 0 sk
RT Humphrey 10/29 run, 0 sk (4x pancake)
FB Brosseau 0/5 run
TE Crawford 1/1 run (1x pancake)
TE Holliday 0/1 run

Hard to judge without down and distance numbers. The starters played well. Watson and Theisen hard to compare due to Watson's activity being much less than planned.


Scoring:
5x pass td
3 x run td
1x interception return td (63)
9x field goal (1x 49, 1x 47)

Scoring allowed:
5x pass td
1x run td
2x punt return td (74, 62)
6x field goal (1x 52, 1x 46)
1x safety

On both ends roughly a 50/50 between touchdowns and field goals. Couple of punt returns resulted in the somewhat inflated 33-9 score. Pick six was in the 44-3 blowout.

All in all, really hard to make any judgement call on what makes and doesn't make sense for the Merchantmen in terms of the leading decisions to make. Well, decisions, there's basically one, that's not just a question mark, but also has an exclamation mark behind it: who will be the starting quarterback? The Merchantmen published their depth chart with Brandon Bell starting, Moe Sheldon the backup and Francisco Farley inactive. But how accurate and honest is that? We'll have to wait and see what happens in week 1 against the Gothenburg Giants in what could be considered already a crucial game. If the Merchantmen are for real, they'll have to do well in their home games inside the division to have a shot at the division title.