[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Too little, too late
We won, but it wasn't enough.

Yes, we won our last regular season game, beating the Bordeaux Vineyards 26-6. Earnest Ashley completed 20 of 35 passes for 227 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Ed Schulz was the top receiver with 6 receptions for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns, George Stuckey hauled in the other touchdown. Bert Ta'Amu ran for 131 yards with a 5.7 per carry average. The defense allowed the most talented quarterback in the division Walt Czech to complete 14 of 27 passes for 185 yards with 2 interceptions.

The good news came from Houston, where the home playing Mustangs beat the San Antonio Tidal Force 34-24, but the bad news came from Orlando, where the home playing Talons crushed the Snapfinger Jazz and claimed the last wild card in the Atlantic Ocean Conference. And with that, our season came to an end. For the second time in 94 seasons, a team in the IHOF missed the playoffs after an 801 start.

European Division
1. Gothenburg 14-2
2. Maassluis 10-6
3. Bordeaux 6-10
4. Paris 5-11

We scored 419 points (7th in the league) and allowed 329 points (9th in the league), our points differential of +90 is the 6th best in the league.
but that just wasn't enough this season.

Earnest Ashley completed 515% of his passes for a career low 3,147 yards, result of missing almost 4 full games due to injury. His 29 passing touchdowns was a career high though and his 12 interceptions presumes that maybe he can finish a season with less than an interception per game. He also ran for 4 touchdowns.

Ed Schulz finished 4th in the league with 1,399 receiving yards and tied 5th with 11 receiving touchdowns, all that on tied 18th most receptions. The latter somewhat misleading as we targeted him a league 6th most 202 times. George Stuckey had 67 catches for 998 yards and 7 touchdowns, Clay Gaynor 48 for 601 yards and 5 touchdowns, Bert Ta'Amu 48 for 420 yards and 3 touchdowns, Clarence Gore 35 for 393 yards and 2 touchdowns, Malachi Pierson 21 for 255 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Elsewhere across the team, center Robbie Zinn, guard Nickolas Toler, defensive end Richie Piotte, defensive tackle Darien Fletcher, cornerback Ernie Grant and safety Devon Farrell all had All-IHOF worthy seasons. We'll see where they rank amongst their peers after the IHOF Bowl. All it says to me is their contract demands will increase, which will be quite the problem given that we signed Earnest Ashley to a true franchise quarterback contract last off-season and that we'll have to fend off opposing teams for the services of offensive tackle Isaac Delgado after my cap management blunder. We'll also have an expensive collective of draft picks, although our couple of first round picks will be pretty low at the #20 and #18 (from Arizona). Our additional second round pick from Fort Wayne will be #46 overall and our own second rounder #52.

It is what it is. Preparation for the off-season starts a little bit earlier than hoped, perhaps even anticipated. The 5-0 and 8-1 starts mislead us to think we were back in business, we're closing in on Gothenburg, but are not quite there yet. New opportunities will come. As early as 2098.