[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Not this again...
Has the choking began?

First give some credits where due. Week 12 featured a game against the Chicago Norsemen, as I mentioned before the game, a team with a talented defense and ditto quarterback. But with that out of the way, we were finally back at home after all those road games so far this season, the games where we actually should be favored to win. And then this happens, the defense plays okay, but the offense goes completely missing in action. And we actually still had chances to win this game, virtue of the defense, but a couple of missed field goals from, what so far has been a reliable kicker, made our small chances vanish. Gosh, what an awful performance.

First play of the game, for whatever dubious reasons the play collapses, Moe Sheldon goes for a run and basically goes nowhere. Two plays later, the line collapses and Sheldon looks just happy to throw it away. We get the ball back after our own defense forces three and out, but on the next drive, Sheldon doesn't throw the ball away in time and as he gets bowled over, he fumbles the ball and gives Chicago takes full advantage with a 19-yard run to set up their touchdown for a 7-0 lead. Next drive, Sheldon starts running again and on third down he throws backward to a far from open Theodore Bondy. But on the following drive, Kirk Hitchcock shifts momentum with an interception near midfield. We drive downfield, but Mark Giles shanks a 43-yard field goal, this is usually just a walk in the park for him (sigh).

Defenses continue to dominate and we get the ball at our 4-yard line to start the second quarter. We get a semi-decent drive going, but eventually it's just enough to shift field position to have Chicago pinned at their 4-yard line. Despite their efficient third down play, to get within field goal range, a holding penalty sabotages their drive and we are lucky to force them to punt. Moe Sheldon continues to be unable to connect with Theodore Bondy, as Theo drops a pass (seriously, Theo!?) and then a cornerback blitzing out of a linebacker role blocks the pass on third down. A 45-yard punt return (yay, our special teams unit has fallen apart all of a sudden as well) gives them a really short field and we're lucky to come away with allowing a 27-yard field goal for a 10-0 deficit. A nice kickoff return and a 33-yard reception then seem to get us quickly into scoring position, but the catch is called back for a holding penalty and the first half ends there, with Chicago leading 10-0.

Second half, Chicago has first possession. Despite solid play on first and second downs, we give up four straight third down conversions. Their fifth attempt finally gets halted, but a 46-yard field goal does give them a 13-0 lead after 9 minutes of play. Our offense continues to not know how to make plays, but Jackie Richardson accounts for the second interception of the game on Chicago's next offensive play, returning it all the way to their 12-yard line. Of course we continue to play hilariously bad on offense and a 21-yard field goal is all we can get. Our defense then makes a strong statement on the next drive, making back to back sacks to pin the Norsemen deep and after a smooth punt return we're already in their half.

Fourth quarter, still trailing 13-3. We're still struggling, but a face mask penalty on one of their linebackers saves the drive. Inside their red zone, Moe Sheldon actually finds Theodore Bondy for a third down conversion and two plays later, Reggie Thongchanh runs it in from 6 yards out to make it 13-10, still in Chicago's advantage. They continue their clock draining game plan, but once they get close, we actually stuff their running back on second down and as their kicker shanks a 38-yard field goal, we've got about 4 minutes left to do something to avoid back to back losses. A third down failure gets called back as the player that batted down the ball was offsides, but three plays later, we're still far from moving the chains and we punt. A third takeaway almost appears, but they recover the ball on their dropped punt return. We're forced to put all our time outs into stopping them from eating the clock, but we get the ball back at our 19-yard line. Moe Sheldon quickly finds Theodore Bondy for a long pass turning into a 38-yard gain and before he can spike the ball to set up for a (probably not even called) hail mary attempt, encroachment is called on one of their players. We end up with a 55-yard field goal opportunity, but Mark Giles' kicking leg is too wimpy, so it appears, and as the ball falls short, so do we as a team: the 13-10 loss at home becomes reality.

In a defensive slugfest, we managed to gain 162 total yards. It's actually credits to our defense and Chicago's ill timed penalties to give us a chance to even try to tie it up that late in the game. Moe Sheldon actually completed 14 of 26 passes, but for only 119 yards. As if the receivers all decided to run backwards when they were supposed to go long... Theodore Bondy's late game reception actually made him the receiving leader of the game with 68 yards. Our running game was for the second straight game missing in action. Francisco Patter gained a grand total of 7 yards, Thong' at least got 45 yards on the ground.

Mark Giles' 55-yard field goal miss is, well, we can forgive him, but that earlier miss really made things so much harder on us. We got lucky that Chicago returned the favor to even get into that 55-yard opportunity.

Looking around the league, other teams in the AOC apparently also really struggled today. Turnovers made the Tucker Tigers throw away a win that could have pretty much secured the #1 seed, falling 27-24 at home to the Williamsburg Colonials. The Houston Mustangs fell 36-21 at the Outer Banks Ospreys, as did teh Fort Wayne Fury 27-14 at the Texas Sharks. It means the deep south division leaders continue to sit 1.5 wins behind us with tie-breakers obviously in our advantage. The Gothenburg Giants fell 22-17 at the now 3-8 Arizona Miners, in a remarkable fashion as they gained 550 yards and allowed 356 yards. Yes, football can be cruel at times, today it apparently was for a lot of teams that felt like they were cruising. The Southeast teams that all started so well behind Tucker have all gone 1-2 in their last three games, meaning that sweep of the wild cards has suddenly become much less of being a given, although still likely to happen.

Division standings:
1. Maassluis 7-3-1
2. Gothenburg 6-5
3. Paris 5-6
4. Bordeaux 3-8

Our journey continues with a home game against the Snapfinger Jazz. They're sitting 7-4 and are coming off an impressive 27-10 victory at the Brooklyn Fightin' Bums to snap a two-game losing streak. They rank #1 in the league in takeaways, by a very wide margin. We'll have to return to our A or at least B game, as we've done before this current 2-game losing streak. We should be able to do that, but after these last two games, I don't think we can write in any more remaining games as a clear cut victory, especially not against a 7-4 team that's seriously fighting for their chances to make the post season as a wild card team. Their running game is below average, their passing game very efficient. Their pass defense on par with ours as being amongst the better 20%, their run defense is beatable.

One game at a time, I know that's what we should do, but I'm weak at that. Thankfully I have no influence on my players, as far as I know, they're really treating it on a one game at a time basis. So, Merchantmen, do your thing. Stop that pass and run and let the offense score just enough points to get a close win here. We got this, just do it.