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Old 03-12-2019, 04:37 PM   #89
MIJB#19
Coordinator
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
General Manager Notes: 2080 is over already?
Fourth place.

No, not in the league (like two seasons ago) or in the conference (like last season), last in the division. It's been 31 seasons since we managed to fall to the bottom of the division.

Granted, it was a strong division, the strongest in the league last season, but fourth place is beyond all a very disappointing performance. Especially when the team ranks 6th in the Solecismic power ratings at the end of the season. Playing the toughest schedule in the league will do that.

1. Paris 12-4
2. Gothenburg 10-6
3. Bordeaux 8-8
4. Maassluis 7-9

We've won a shockingly low of 1 game inside the division, fucked up pissed away lost 4 home games over the course of the season.

This team should go hide in shame, or go outside, sit in the rain and storm that's torturing the Netherlands and think hard about how disappointing this season was.

We've won 4 games by a large margin, 2 more by 2 scores and beat the Tucker Tigers in overtime. On the other end, we lost 7 games by 6 or less points, lost by 20 at Gothenburg and when the season was already a failure managed to disgust the pride of the franchise with an unwarranted drubbing at home against the Paris Musketeers and their backup quarterback. We finished the season at +45 points, seventh best in the conference and 12th best in the league.

Our inept staff decided to pull our QB Ellis McAllister short of a 4K season, keeping him to 3,990 yard with 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. That's the lowest touchdown figure since Lester Lowe in 2062 (16 touchdowns in just 11 games), but basically the worst since the 2049 season, when Bryson Chow had only 16 touchdown passes. Yeah, that previous 4th place season.

RB Walt Blair came short of the 1K mark, running for 973 yards in 11 games with a head banging 3.96 yards per carry average. He ran the ball in 6 times, including a receiving touchdown. What happened to our 4.97 yards per carry workhorse? He was still a green rookie back then...

WR Dennis Nadell unshockingly lead the league in yards per catch (16.44), but with a pedestrian 49.1 percent catch percentage, his season was still a failure, despite the 85 catches for 1,397 yards. WR Brody Stevens had 81 catches for 1,028 yards, TE Monty Elliott 73 catches for 967 yards.

The defense was supposed to carry this team, but despite leading the league in sacks, that unit completely forgot to force turnovers and gave up a Merchantmen unworthy 346 yards per game. Yeah, we gave up between 351 and 389 in four straight season between 2074 and 2077 (and 367 yards in 2072), but all that was a disgrace to our tradition of fine defenses already. In that light, it was better than average in the '70s, but I had expected a lot more from Battle, Brewer and Craig McCorkle, undeniably the best trio of linebackers in the league and by pure talent could be in Merchantmen history. Amari Lavelli finally made his first career interception, in his 58th and probably final game in orange-white-and-blue. This unit ranked 31st in yarder per carry and 31st in yards per catch.
This all has nothing to do with a turnover prone quarterback or a retired HOF wide receiver. Quite simply: y'all let us down, defense, big time.

The good news? The Texas Sharks helped us get the #12 overall pick on top of the #16 overall pick that we 'earned'. It also means we'll have the #47 and #48 overall picks to work with.

To work with... We'll be about $150M over the cap going into the next off-season, with an underpaid starting quarterback in his final season of contract, an elite running back in the last year of contract, a couple of overpaid WR2s and an overpaid offensive line compared to what they showed us this season.

The defense is, of course, beyond doubt, a depressing unit. The talent is there, but the performance on the field is utterly disappointing. We try to game plan to their strengths, but instead they resemble nothing noteworthy.

Back to the drawing board?
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* 2005 Golden Scribe winner for best FOF Dynasty about IHOF's Maassluis Merchantmen
* Former GM of GEFL's Houston Oilers and WOOF's Curacao Cocktail
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