Maassluis Merchantmen, take 3 (FOF MP)

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Pre-season 2120 roster set

Our 2120 roster is getting more shape as we just trimmed down from 70 players to 61 for pre-season. Yes, 61, as RT Perry Georgopulos is going into it on injured reserve. It still meant we had to release 9 players from our training camp group of 70 players.

Yes, we were at 68 players last time I wrote, we signed 3 new players and released another to not go over the 70-player roster limit. QB Julian Andrews was released to make room for veteran QB Tyrone D'Arms, with the intent to make good use of D'Arms' mentoring skills. We also signed rookies P Elias Alexander and K Kirk Pietrzyk. Initially intended as pre-season insurance policy for you never know silliness, but I figure that the market for punters is good enough to still find a solution, while at kicker there's no player out there capable of what our current guy can. Along with Alexander and Pietrzyk we also released QB Harrison Singleton, RB Greg Buckley, TE Wally Stephens, TE Asher Hodges, DE Gage Bensen, LB Marco Long and CB Horace Pratt. I mean, these will be announced tomorrow,

Yes, the end of the era is here, we released both our starting quarterbacks of the last 11 1/2 seasons. Singelton took over from veteran Evan Drake in his rookie season, while Tanner took over when Singelton got hurt and after Singleton's return was unspectacular, Tanner became the undisputed starter. Except for when a couple of hold outs made Tanner an expensive player and as I lost the faith in him in the previous pre-season, now felt like the time to get it over with. Since we also let go of our kick holder, it means 4 new quarterbacks on our pre-season roster, with Renaldo Wilson our starter, Al Schneider the project, D'Arms the mentor and Damon Franz the potential new kick holder, if he manages to look better than Schneider to win the backup job. Schneider had an okay training camp (+3/-2), just okay enough to win me over to get this pre-season to show what he can look like.

At running back, we released the second-year pro Gary Buckley. The rookies Corey Ward and Diego Kosters didn't wow us, but both have more to give us. Jackson Powell had a nice training camp (+3/0) and has a convincing case to stay ahead of the rookies. At fullback things will stay put.

At tight end, last season's star Francisco Andersen had a solid training camp, showing he can be even better than he already was in his All-IHOF honors worthy rookie season. Rookie Wally Stephens had a nice camp (+3/0), but he's just not the right guy for this team. Asher Hodges also didn't impress, which means that Jackson Henselman is the rookie that makes the team as the 4th tight end, for now.

At wide receiver the big three will remain unchanged, but behind them I'm expecting us to release Antonio Price, if he gets another age related decrease. Rookie Tyrone Dillon had a tremendous training camp (+5/-1) and has to make the roster. Fellow rookie Maurice Hadnot is also looking good enough to make the pre-season roster.

Our offensive line saw quite the improvement in training camp. Second-year pro's and kind of emergency starters last season C Tracy Stewart(+6/0) and G James Tucker (+5/0) made the biggest improvements. Rookie C Chester Coffey (+4/0) and injured RT Perry Georgopulos (+4/0) also improved. Third-year pro G Greg Brizzolara (+2/+2) even had an unexpected improvement.

On the defensive line, the overhaul will continue. Biggest gains were for DE Phil Wakefield (+5/0) and DT Floyd Dillon (+5/-1), but DE Roger Graf (+4/-2), DE Bradley Osborne (+4/0), DT Jeremiah Cortez (+4/0) and DT Neil Burton (+4/+1) jumped up. In the linebackers group, the second-year pro's Sam Hastings (+5/0) and Brendan Tatum (+5/0) also improved a lot. Rookie Marco Long (+4/-3) was a mixed bag and his lack of special team skills meant the end with us.

In the secondary, CB Andre McAninch (+3/0) didn't make a big jump up, unlike S Kim Fox (+5/0), S Bart Parker (+4/0) and S Max Junker (+4/-1). Rookie CB Billy Cochrane made the pre-season roster and actually will be active in the first two pre-season games ahead of veteran CB Byron Sokol, who might end up axed with the arrival of McAninch and depending on what happens to CB Zachary Blair and CB Asher McElroy in pre-season.

And shortly we'll re-evaluate everything another time, because, you know, in pre-season weird stuff can happen to players...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Pre-season 2120 has begun

Our 2120 roster is taking shape. Pre-season giveth and taketh, but we went through this unpredictable phase pretty quietly. Let's take a swift look at what did our staff sees in our players. First numbers are the overall rounded up/down to nearest 5s, at the end are the pre-season changes.

Quarterbacks
65/65 QB Renaldo Wilson -1/-1 trade acquisition
25/45 QB Al Schneider +1/+5 rookie
10/35 QB Damon Franz +1/-1 free agent signing
05/05 Tyrone D'Arms -10/-10 free agent signing
Wilson is our starter, Schneider the back up enough upside to be our future starter or solid backup. D'Arms will mentor Schneider. Franz will be out, we'll go with Schneider as our kick holder for 2120.

Backfield
55/55 RB Jackson Powell -1/-1
50/50 FB Rich Hartman +1/0
30/35 RB Diego Kosters 0/0 rookie
30/35 RB Corey Ward -1/-1 rookie
30/30 RB Renaldo Billodeaux -4/-4
10/10 FB Kenneth Holse -6/-6
The verdict is not out yet, I'm going to throw Kosters ands Ward out there in the last two pre-season games to fight it out for the last roster spot. Holse is still going to stick around as our elite special teamer.

Tight Ends
65/65 TE Francisco Anderson -1/-1
35/45 TE Kyle Baker +2/+3
30/30 TE Arnie Huffman 0/0
20/35 TE Jackson Henselman 0/0 rookie
Same trio as last season, basically, with Henselman the inactive, yet unavoidable due to injuries 4th guy.

Wide Receivers
60/60 WR Rodolfo Lane 0/0
60/60 WR Rufus Montgomery 0/0
55/60 WR Roman Randle +1/0
25/40 WR Tyrone Dillon 0/0 rookie
25/25 WR Antonio Price -5/-5
20/20 WR Blake Begay 0/0
15/20 WR Maurice Hadnot 0/-2 rookie
10/10 WR Maurice Sweeney -10/-10
A very good trio, each with his own skill set. Price will lose the battle of the WR4 role to Dillon. Begay will stick around as our special teams alternate, making Hadnot the other casualty. Sweeney remains as our kickoff return specialist, while Lane will continue to be the punt return elite.

Offensive Line
75/75 G Greg Brizzolara
75/75 LT Dan Clancy
45/60 G James Tucker +1/-1
50/50 LT Roy Wilkerson -6/-6 free agent signing
40/55 RT Perry Georgopulos +1/+1
45/45 G Alfred Pearsall 0/0
40/45 C Tracy Stewart -1/0
25/50 C Chester Coffey 0/-2 rookie
30/45 C Clyde Van Lanen +1/+3 free agent signing
3 spots are filled with Clancy, Brizzolara and Tucker. Wilkerson will be our right tackle until Georgopulos is ready to return and if he's then capable of playing up to the level he had. Pearsall is the alternative for Stewart to boost cohesion and the overall talent level. Coffey or Van Lanen will be released once Georgopulos is ready to return.

Defensive Line
45/80 DT Floyd Dillon -1/-2 rookie
55/55 DT Neil Burton 0/0
55/55 DT Rodney Gagliardi -14/-14 free agent signing
40/55 DT Jeremiah Cortez +1/+5
40/50 DE Phil Wakefield 0/+1
45/45 DT Francisco Blades 0/0
35/50 DE Roger Graf 0/-5 rookie
40/40 DE Glen Kafka +1/+1
35/35 DT John Craig 0/0
25/30 DE Bradley Osborne -6/-7
A big blow to veteran free agent signing Gagliardi, but he remains as a very solid pass rusher, which means he'll be on our passing downs group. Wakefield, Kafka and Graf will be the pass rushers on the outside. Dillon is all downs capable, but we'll give him some time to grow into it. Burton and Cortez will be run stoppers, with Blades the alternative. Craig and Osborne won't make the final roster.

Linebackers
55/55 LB Sam Hastings +2/+1
50/50 LB Jorge Mayes -10/-10
45/45 LB Ezekiel O'Neal 0/0
35/40 LB Brendan Tatum +1/0
35/35 LB Scottie Rice -4/-4
30/30 LB Xavier Hoover -5/-5
This unit fell apart, with all our running downs specialist taking big hits. Hastings will take over as the main man, especially on passing downs, with Mayes demoted to being the side-kick. O'Neal will jump back in as if his injury never happened and will get my preference over Rice and Hoover. Hoover and O'Neal are also the special teamers of this group. Tatum sticks around as the inactive backup.

Secondary
60/75 CB Andre McAninch +3/-3 rookie
60/60 CB Zachary Blair +5/+5
45/45 S Cesar Welch -3/-3
45/45 CB Asher McElroy 0/0
34/45 S Kim Fox 0/+1
35/35 S Bart Parker -1/-1
35/35 CB Marquis Wolf 0/0
35/35 S Peter Hinsley +1/+1
15/35 S Max Junker -6/-19 rookie
20/25 CB Billy Cochrane +1/-5 rookie
20/20 CB Byron Sokol -3/-3
Junker felt like the steal of the draft for us, but he's looking quite less impressive now. We'll still keep him over Parker, purely because Junker will be an improvement to the interceptions making group this is. Blair made a nice boost back up, he'll be our CB1 for another season, showing better man-to-man ability than McAninch. Sokol will stick around as the inactive backup, in case one of the other corners gets hurt. The rest of this group are all zone defenders.

Special Teams
85/85 K Jeffery DeGroot -1/-1
50/50 P Andre Marincic 0/0
20/20 LS Roderick Kaeding 0/0
DeGroot is the best kicker in the league, certainly in the kickoff department, but also showed us last season he's capable of nailing every field goal attempt. Kaeding is in the top four elite long snappers. Marincic will be our punter for another season. Unless we find a replacement more capable of the nailing opponents in their own 20.

Pre-season will continue with 1 more cut to be made and we'll start with the contract extensions for a bunch of players that are about to become free agents, most notably QB Wilson, K DeGroot and LS Keading. Far behind them we'll have to consider what to do with RB Billodeaux, TE Huffman, WR Begay, LB Hoover and CB Sokol. We'll likely have the cap space available for all, although the lion share of our $24M available will go to Wilson and DeGroot.


Oh yeah, we actually played two pre-season games. We beat Chesapeake 19-10 and lost 24-37 at Texas. Curiously, Chesapeake selected QB Darrin Tucker with the #8 overall pick, a player we decided not to pick at #5 overall and instead we decided to trade down to spot #10. Tucker is now scouted by our staff as being the 3rd most talented quarterback in the league at roughly 35/75. Texas played with WR Cameron Dewacht, scouted by us as a 45/70 kind of player, 8th best wide receiver in potential, ahead of our trio. Dewacht was taken at spot #23 overall and was our other option to pick at #16 where we traded in for DT Floyd Dillon. I was already considering Dewacht as an option at spot #5 and #10. Time will tell whether we made two big misses here, but right now, despite having acquired QB Wilson, CB McAninch and DT Floyd Dillon, as well as Harlem's 1st round pick in 2121, long term, having Tucker toting the ball to Dewacht, it could have been our best QB-WR combination ever, or on par with QB Rusty Harrison and WR Gabe Springer back in the early 2020's...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Pre-season has ended, almost

Bad news around RT Perry Georgopulos' recovery from the knee surgery he needed. Our staff has downgraded his overall grade from 40/55 to 10/15. One of the biggest hits I've seen in 117 seasons with this team. It's rough. He'll sit out the season on injured reserve, I don't see how it makes sense to even activate him when he's upgraded to 100%. Releasing him makes no sense either as of yet, as it would accelerate the dead cap hit for 2121 to $13.3M, instead of $6.65M for 2121 and 2122 separately. The good news is that I can postpone this decision to week 21. Still, bummer this happened and it makes the signing of RT Roy Wilkerson and re-signing of G Alfred Pearsall even more important now.

Better news came from the renegotiations with QB Renaldo Wilson as he signed a 2-year deal with us, he came in one a 1-year contract. I tried 4-year deals previously, but he declined those. But this is good enough for having good odds to not pull a Bennett Morris on us and retire after one fantastic season.

We also extended with WR Rufus Montgomery from a 2-year to a 4-year deal, making him lees expensive in his cap figure for this and next season. Now we can cap him out next off-season, if needed, but the 2122 off-season is going to be even trickier, with the likes of LB Sam Hastings, TE Francisco Anderson and WR Ramon Randle hitting their final rookie contract season. We're likely going to use this additional cap space to extend the deals of RB Renaldo Billodeaux and CB Byron Sokol. We've already made sure TE Arnie Huffman, WR Blake Begay and LB Xavier Hoover are still signed through 2121. It would mean only RT Wilkerson is an unrestricted free agent at the start of the 2121 off-season, if he doesn't retire by then.

Our cut down to 53 was also made. I decided to let go of undrafted rookie RB Corey Ward and stick with RB Diego Kosters as the inactive backup to RB Jackson Powell and Billodeaux.

In case we want to hire a free agent with a bonus request later on, we can still offer a cap out to CB Asher McElroy or DT Francisco Blades, as we re-signed them to 4-year deals in 2119.

Our pre-season action has ended in a 2-2 record, with 104-103 scoring. QB Renaldo Wilson played quite well, showing his passing skills and his rushing ability was likewise to if not better than QB Bart Tanner. In relief, QB Al Schneider played well too. But WR Roman Randle was exceptional, with 3 100-yard showings. I tired to get WR Tyrone Dillon out there as well, but we all know how this works: the staff members really like to take the rookies off the field in pre-season as quickly as possible.

All in all, I'm feeling moderately optimistic about the upcoming season, if we can stay relatively injury free. We're as high as second best roster by the DogBytes metric, but that's something I'd like to see before I believe. But, who knows? Things went fast back in the 60's, when a bunch of talented rookies on defense quickly developed into the best defense we ever had (one of the most impressive any franchise ever assembled) and we did have an encouraging second half of 2119 already.

Back to where we are now, let's stick with the one game at a time approach. The Bordeaux Vineyards are coming to Oranje Haven in week 1. They cruised through pre-season undefeated. It doesn't always translate into regular season success, but we're at least warned.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: early 2120, signs of progress or dumb luck?

The 2120 regular season has kicked off. We're 6 weeks in and, naturally, already had our bye week. The main changes on the team are clearly the switch from released QB Bart Tanner to trade acquisition QB Renaldo Wilson. On a smaller scale, the O-Line saw the addition of short-term RT Roy Wilkerson. On the defense, together with veteran DT Rodney Gagliardi, a bunch of rookies were added, most notably CB Andre McAncich, DT Floyd Dillon and DE Roger Graf.

Week 1 vs Bordeaux
After a 4-0 pre-season, the Vineyards felt ready to make a leap upwards after a long stretch of seasons outside the playoffs. But so do we feel improved this season and we showed that we were more right on that. We dominated the game for three quarters, as Bordeaux scored their only touchdown on a 75-yard pass play and settled for a pair of field goals. In return, we started the game with touchdowns on our first two possessions, but also saw K Jeffery DeGroot's miss his first field goal attempt in 21 games, we lead by just 4 points at half time. In the third quarter our domination was evident and we cruised to a 3 score lead. Bordeaux did come within a touchdown on their last possession, but on our last possession, we solidly played out the clock. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 287 yards with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. TE Francisco Andersen caught 2 touchdown passes, RB Jackson Powell ran for a touchdown. WR Ramon Randle had 11 receptions for 150 yards and 1 touchdown.
Score: 31-23 win

Week 2 at Outer Banks
For the first time since getting traded by the Outer Banks Ospreys in 2119, QB Renaldo Wilson returned to the stadium of his original IHOF team. Wilson was the Osrpeys starter for 9 seasons from week 1 of the season when they picked him #1 overall in the draft. From time to time we struggled, but in return our own defense kept the Ospreys offense from scoring touchdowns, settling for 3 field goals. A punt return touchdown was required for them to stay in pace with us. Trailing 17-16, the Ospreys saw their quarterback throw the ball in the hans of our S Kim Fox and we chose to pound it in, with a bit too much time on the clock. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 247 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. WR Rodolfo Lane and WR Rufus Montgomery were on the receiving end of those touchdowns, while RB Renaldo Billodeaux ran for a touchdown.
Result: 24-16 win

Week 3 vs Orlando
In a clash between two 2-0 teams, we kept our nerves in control a bit better. Orlando needed a 53-yard field goal to get on the scoreboard and got their first touchdown on a short field situation. In return, we failed to dominate field position and struggled to get near the red zone, let alone, into the end zone. A pair of missed long field goals by the Talons gave us the ball back on back to back possessions near midfield and and scored 10 points on those drives to go ahead. While penalties kept piling on for Orlando, we scored a late game field goal to make it too much to overcome 2 touchdowns in barely a minute to go. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns with 0 interceptions. TE Arnie Huffman and WR Rodolfo Lane were the touchdown scoring receivers.
Result: 23-10 win

Week 4
We enjoyed our bye week, coming out of it as one of two perfect record teams, sitting behind the 4-0 Toronto Lake Monsters, our opponents in week 7.

Week 5 at North Plainfield
After our strong defensive performances, today was quite the letdown as our defense failed to get in the way. The Plague scored touchdowns on their first two drives and added field goals after long drives in their next two drives. In return, we scored 2 touchdowns as well, turned the ball over on downs and saw K Jeffery DeGroot miss another field goal, ending the first half with neither team punting. In the second half the defenses showed up, but in particular the Plague's did. When the Plague offense scored a touchdown after a 15-play drive to go up by 12 points, we were forced to take risks. We turned the ball over on downs after a failed fourth and goal situation and despite that we got the ball back with still 2 minutes on the clock, QB Renaldo Wilson's first interception in orange-white-and-blue ended our hopes. Wilson threw for 277 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. TE Arnie Huffman and WR Rufus Montgomery scored the touchdowns, while TE Francisco Andersen had a 109-yard performance.
Result: 17-29 loss

Week 6 vs Rochester
Facing, on paper, so far the weakest opponent (1-4 Rochester) and at our own Oranje Haven even, surely we would bounce back and advance to a 4-1 record, right? But not in the cutthroat IHOF. 11 minutes into the game, we were already trailing 14-0 and were actually lucky to not be down by 3 scores as their quarterback tossed an interception in our red zone after our QB Renaldo Wilson had done that 2 plays earlier as well. We gave up another touchdown and a field goal before half time, but in return we had one touchdown-scoring drive and shortly before their first half ending field goal, we saw WR Rodolfo Lane pull his punt return magic with a signature 92-yarder. Despite giving up a 60-yard touchdown pass, we fought back and barley into the fourth quarter level it up at last at 31-31 each. The Razorbacks responded with a go ahead touchdown after a solid 13-play over 6-minute drive. WR Maurice Sweeney restored our hopes with a signature 40-yard kickoff return right into their half of the field, but just as we felt like we were ready to tie the score, Wilson got picked off for a second time and this time it was returned for 76-yards and a game sealing touchdown.
Result: 31-45 loss


European Division standings
1. Gothenburg 4-2
2. Maassluis 3-2
3. Paris 3-2
4. Bordeaux 1-4

No less than 8 teams in the AOC are sitting at 4-2 or 3-2. Far behind the 6-0 Toronto Lake Monsters. And it happens to be that they will be our next opponent, in our home. As this will be our fourth home game already, we really can't afford to lose this one, if we want to stay in pace for the playoffs spots. But they're honestly the best team in football at the moment. Yeah, quite the challenge. But we're up for it. If the Renaldo Wilson of weeks 1 through 3 shows up, we have a reasonable shot at the upset victory.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Renaldo Wilson, the missing piece?

Our new quarterback is making things look good in Maassluis. We won the first 3 games, but in the next 2 games QB Renaldo Wilson threw some interceptions and all of a sudden, it feels like there's not that much different between Wilson and his predecessor QB Bart Tanner.

Week 7 vs Toronto
No kidding around anymore, the visiting Lake Monsters would tell us where we really stand. The last remaining undefeated team was coming to town. The first half was a classic shoutout, Toronto scored last to go into the break with a 24-21 lead. But Toronto also had first possession in the second half and while our defense looked hopelessly lost and the offense incapable, the scoreboard was getting lopsided. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 309 yards with 4 touchdowns, but also 2 interceptions. WR Roman Randle and WR Rufus Montgomery each had a 100-yard game with a touchdown. TE Francisco Andersen and TE Arnie Huffman scored the other touchdowns.
Result: 28-41 loss

Week 8 vs Paris
Having fallen to 3-3, rolling up the Musketeers wouldn't be the usual recipe for confidence it used to be. Given their own 4-2 start, there was nothing to be too optimistic about, this was likely going to be a close game, decided by a last minute field goal. Or not. We stormed to a 24-0 lead helped by a pair of interceptions and despite that Paris woke up in the second half, sort of as a 72-yard pick six was required for them to get back within 2 scores, we rolled on to a convincing victory. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 378 yards and 4 touchdowns, while he also ran for a score. WR Rodolfo Lane caught the ball for 143 yards and 2 scores, WR Roman Randle had 11 receptions for 101 yards and a score. RB Jackson Powell scored the other touchdown.
Result: 41-23 win

Week 9 at Harlem
What started as a back and forth with the Apollos, eventually snowballed into a blowout as they couldn't keep up in scoring and had to keep going (and failing) on fourth downs. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 313 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception. WR Roman Randle was on the receiving end of the touchdowns. RB Renaldo Billodeaux ran for a pair of touchdowns.
Result: 40-17 win

Week 10 at Bordeaux
With the top of the division back in sight, the various power ratings were telling us the Merchantmen were the second or third best team in the league, we were in for a wake up call. And it came, hard. We scored first, like it was a normal game, but in response the Vineyards scored 27 unanswered points, including a pair of 75+-yard touchdown passes. We sort of regrouped in the second half, but settling for field goals kept us way short of getting back in it. QB Renaldo Wilson had an unusual game, completing just 19 of 49 passes, for 281 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. WR Roman Randle caught 9 passes for 147 yards on 20 targets. WR Rodolfo Lane was the only player that got into the end zone for us in this game.
Result: 16-27 loss

Week 11 at Gothenburg
And surely, after getting thumped by the Vineyards, the logical result at the Giants would be an even bigger beat down. Not quite. We took the gamble on fourth downs a couple of times and it ended up being good to us. Helped by the best defensive performance in any first half this season, we steamrolled to a 28-0 lead. The Giants scored a touchdown just before half time, but even though they had clearly woken up, while QB Renaldo Wilson got picked off twice, it was all too little too late as kept ground, at times just barely, to post an incredible unusual big win in Sweden. Wilson threw for 340 yards with 3 touchdowns, finding WR Rodolfo Lane, TE Arnie Huffman and WR Roman Randle for the scores, with the latter posting yet another 100-yard game. RB Renaldo Billodeaux and RV Jackson Powell each scored a touchdown on the ground.
Result: 35-26 win

Week 12 vs Capital City
Every now or then, the home playing stronger team plays better than the visiting team, take a quick lead, slowly builds it and at the end of the day they do win. It's been a crazy seasons so far, but that's how it went today. Our defense picked off the Blues' quarterback 3 times, while in return we kept our turnovers limited to a single fumble. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also running for a score. TE Francisco Andersen gained 136 yards while he split the receiving touchdowns with TE Arnie Huffman.
Result: 31-12 win

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

Watch that, the division is extremely tight. We seriously can't afford to drop the beat, because the tie-breaker situation is good, but not locked up. The wild cards are currently held by the second and third place teams in the Southeast division with a 7-4 record each.

Our next stop will be at the Fort Wayne Fury, a struggling team (they're 1-10 and 1.5 wins behind the second worst team in the league), but they're holding our first round pick and have every reason to beat us. No, we can't except to cakewalk here, we have to stay focused and stick with the one game at a time approach.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Man Down...

The extremely tight European Division came down to an exciting finish. Let's run down the last 5 weeks of the regular season. Did we make the playoffs?

Week 13 at Fort Wayne
The final stretch started with a cakewalk opponent. But only in our dreams did we roll them up with a 40-6 score. In reality, we played our turdiest game of the season. Curiously enough, we got the lead a couple of times and the only score that got us behind was a 63-yard pick six. Which turned out to be the only score of the entire second half. We didn't even got closer than midfield in the fourth quarter. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 256 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. The sole touchdown pass went to TE Arnie Huffman.
Result: 13-20 loss

Week 14 vs Texas
In a game where we struggled to get into the end zone, we got into the red zone frequently enough to slowly, yet steadily, build on our biggest takeaway day of the season, forcing 5 turnovers, including a pick six from rookie CB Andre McAninch. QB Renaldo Wilson completed a touchdown pass to WR Roman Randle, amidst his 243 yards and 2 interceptions, as he shared in the struggles with the Texas quarterback's 5 giveaways. There were times we were proud of this kind of wins. Maybe we should be again given how much we invested in our defense in recent drafts.
Result: 26-10 win

Week 15 at Paris
With how the division was shaping up, this was looking like it could be the make or break game for both 8-5 teams in their pursuits for the division title. Gothenburg (7-6) was falling behind and Bordeaux (6-6) still playing catch up.
Paris was up 10-0 before we did anything well, as QB Renaldo Wilson got intercepted on our first play from scrimmage, right after Paris had taken a 3-0 lead on their first possession. The game quickly turned into a shootout and by half time we had taken a 17-13 lead.
The defenses took over control in the second half and despite that the game remained turnover free, the crucial element was shaping up to be our ability to keep the field position in our advantage. A late 47-yard field goal got us 20-16 up, which meant Paris had to play for a touchdown or nothing. A drive for the ages commenced from their 18-yard line. They got out of a 2nd and 25 situation, twice converted on 3rd and 4. With 46 seconds remaining, Paris arrived at our 4-yard line, surely to pound it in and leaves little time to even get into field goal range and try to reach overtime. The Musketeers chose to throw the ball and contrary to the earlier 3rd down situations, their backfield players and tight end failed to make the catches, on 4th and all or nothing, Paris decided to throw for it and as their star receiver Tevin Mayes made the catch, our LB Jorge Mayes kept him about a yard short from reaching the end zone But it didn't end there as with 21 seconds remaining, we chose to run from our own 1-yard line and RB Renaldo Billodeaux was tackled in the end zone for a safety. Still trailing by 2 points and after a holding penalty on the kickoff return, Paris had 1 more hail mary play from their own 12-yard line. CB Zachary Blair batted the ball down, game over, after a game finish for the ages.
Wilson threw for 182 yards and 1 touchdown versus 1 interception. TE Kyle Baker and RB Renaldo Billodeaux scored the touchdowns.
Result: 20-18 win

Week 16 at Moontown
After two prior piss poor games against cellar dwellers of the 2120 season (Rochester and Fort Wayne), visiting the worst team in the league was by no means going to be regarded as a walk in the park. TE Francisco Andersen walked off after just 1 play from scrimmage with a separated shoulder and out for the rest of the game. We carried on and smooth sailed to a 14-0 lead. Then on third down on our first possession in the second quarter, QB Renaldo Wilson took a late hit, no penalties given, and he had to be carted off with a concussion. Moontown responded with a long touchdown drive, whilst our rookie QB Al Schneider responded with a 55-yard pass to WR Roman Randle on Schneider's first play from scrimmage. A couple of plays later, RB Jackson Powell ran it on for the a 21-7 lead. Moontown responded with an impressive drive with long throws and just as we hoped to reach half time with the 21-14 lead, Schneider was strip sacked at our half and a field goal trimmed the lead. On our next drive, with under a minute to go, Schneider was strip sacked again on 3rd and long, but this time rookie DT Floyd Dillon made a key play, sacking their quarterback and as the clock ran out, they didn't get a field goal attempt to make 21-17 the half time score.
Despite our defense playing well, Schneider was picked off at midfield on the first play of our first possession in the second half. The defense bailed him out, forcing three and out. We drove downfield on our next possession, until Schendier was picked off again, this time seeing the ball get returned 76 yards for a touchdown and a 24-21 deficit. A couple of 15-yard penalties then helped us out and eventually Schneider connected with WR Roman Randle for the go-ahead touchdown. On the ensuing drive, the tides really turned as LB Sam Hastings picked their quarterback off deep inside their redzone and Hastings returned it the full 9 yards with the touchdown. The game then slowed down and as our defense took control, our offense did just enough to score a bunch of field goals to extend the lead. A couple of failed fourth down attempts later, the game was over.
QB Al Schneider threw for 211 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions after QB Renaldo Wilson had thrown for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns. WR Roman Randle caught 10 passes for 189 yards and 1 touchdown. TE Kyle Baker, TE Arnie Huffman and RB Jackson Powell scored the other offensive touchdowns. LB Sam Hastings accounted for the defensive touchdown.
Result: 41-24 win

Week 17 vs Gothenburg
With a 10-5 record we secured a trip to the playoffs with this final game to go. Behind us, both Bordeaux and Paris were sitting 9-6, but playing head-to-head, only one of them would be able to catch up if we'd lose to Gothenburg. Curiously, Gothenburg already 'çlinched' last place with their 7-8 record. A win or tie would make us division winners, but a loss would only cost us the division if Bordeaux would catch up. The latter would be a likely scenario as Bordeaux was playing at home and on a 6-game winning streak. Moreover, my confidence in QB Al Schneider wasn't very high after his 4 turnovers at Moontown...
We struggled early on as our first three drives ended with a pair of interceptions sandwiching yet another 40-something field goal getting missed by K Jeffery DeGroot. In return, our defense held ground well and by half time, Gothenburg had settled for field goals 4 times. We were trailing only 12-7 as we responded with a touchdown after a short field situation.
Despite remaining mistake free in the second half and seeing Schneider play well, his inferior scrambling skills to QB Renaldo Wilson's made clear that we were not as good, whilst in return, Gothenburg did find the end zone a couple of times to see the flipflopping lead go the Giants' way with under 4 minutes to go. We had our chances, but came short today. Schneider threw for 254 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. WR Rodolfo Lane and first game rookie TE Jackson Henselman made the receiving touchdowns, RB Jackson Powell had the rushing touchdown.
Result: 22-26 loss

Over in Bordeaux, the Paris Musketeers pulled the upset win and gifted us the division title, seeing Paris also go into the playoffs. Even luckier, the Atlanta Vipers choked as well, which kept them to a 9-7 record and into the 4th seed.

European Division:
1. Maassluis 10-6
2. Paris 10-6
3. Bordeaux 9-7
4. Gothenburg 8-8

Next up, Paris at Maassluis. My hopes to beat them for the third time this season are quite low as we'll still be without QB Renaldo Wilson and TE Francisco Andersen. Switching to a more run heavy game plan isn't in our best interest either, seeing how much RB Renaldo Billodeaux has been struggling with our current offensive coordinator, despite playing from behind a pretty good offensive line. The defense has made a difference in recent games, with some big plays from the first round pick investments and the hard to forget goal line stand in Paris. Which will be on the Musketeers' mind as well, them hoping to get their three times the charm...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2120 Regular season stats

let's take a look at the performance of the team, also taking a look at what some individuals have for their stats lines.

QB Renaldo Wilson
11th in IHOF with 4,022 passing yards
T-7th in IHOF with 30 touchdown passes (also had 2 touchdown runs)
threw 15 interceptions
5th amongst IHOF QBs with 549 yards rushing
5th amongst IHOF QBs with 6.95 yards per carry
As a team, we finished the season with the 4th best yards per pass attempt (7.58 average) and 9th best passing yards (280 per game).

LT Dan Clancy proved to be the elite offensive tackle in the league, allowing 2 sacks in 620 pass plays, although together with the also amazingly talented G Greg Brizzolara, the entire line allowed 28 sacks (13th best in IHOF).

RB Jackson Powell ran for 792 yards with a 3.92 average and 6 touchdowns
RB Renaldo Billodeaux ran for 531 yards with a 3.20 average and 7 touchdowns
As a team we finished the season with only 20th in yards per carry (4.17) and in 19th in yards per game (115), we've clearly dropped in that area since the arrival of our current offensive coordinator.

WR Roman Randle had 110 catches for 1,514 yards and 8 touchdowns
WR Rodolfo Lane had 50 catches for 889 yards and 7 touchdowns
TE Francisco Andersen had 73 catches for 772 yards and 4 touchdowns
WR Rufus Montgomery had 34 catches for 455 yards and 3 touchdowns
TE Kyle Baker had 40 catches for 423 yards and 3 touchdowns
TE Arnie Huffman had 26 catches for 256 yards and 6 touchdowns
RB Jackson Powell and TE Jackson Henselman had 1 receiving touchdown each

WR Rodolfo Lane lead the league with 17.0 yards per punt return
WR Maurice Sweeney had only 25.9 yards per kickoff return (quite the step back after 4 straight 29+ seasons)

K Jeffery DeGroot wasn't as head and shoulders above the rest, but still solid finishing 1st in kickoff distance, 2nd in touchback percentage and 3rd in average field position. His points production was down as well, with 6 missed field goals all in the 40-49 yards range.

LB Sam Hastings lead the team with 124 tackles (T-4th in IHOF)
DE Glen Kafka had 9.5 sacks, DT Floyd Dillon had 8.0 sacks, DE Roger Graf had 6.0 sacks, DE Phil Wakefield had 5.0 sacks
S Kim Fox and CB Andre McAninch had 4 interceptions each, CB Zachary Blair and LB Sam Hastings had 3 interceptions, LB Hastings also defended 19 passes (he allowed the most catches in IHOF, whatever that means)

As a team, defensively we finished 16th in yards per carry allowed (4.29), 13th in rushing yards allowed (104), 19th in yards per pass attempt allowed (6.72) and 21st in passing yards per game allowed (272). We were 13th in sacks made (34), but 7th in overall pass rush percentage. All of those were improvements compared to our 2119 performance. Disappointing was our low number of just 20 turnovers, tied 29th and 30th in the league.

[TheseBoots]

Very nice season and very nice write-up! Where did you finish in overall scoring relative to the other teams out there?

Looking forward to see how it all resolves. So far I have resisted to check out the WC Results on the IHOF homepage =)

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by TheseBoots

Very nice season and very nice write-up! Where did you finish in overall scoring relative to the other teams out there?

Oh yeah, I see I didn't mention where our offense ranked in the stats areas.
We finished the season 5th in points scored (27.4 per game), with 385 total yards (7th in the league), 19th in rushing with 115 yards per game (20th with 4.17 yards per carry) and 9th in passing with 280 yards per game (4th with 7.58 yards per attempt). The special teams unit was solid again, clearly outgaining the opponents in return yardage versus return yardage allowed, but we can't claim we were unarguably the best, Orlando was roughly on par with us.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Wild Card Round 2120!

Week 18 vs Paris

With QB Renaldo Wilson out with a concussion and TE Francisco Andersen also still out, the last thing we needed was a banged up lead receiver WR Roman Randle, who broke a finger in the last game versus Gothenburg. Rookie QB Al Schneider was starting for the second time this season.

The first bunch of drives went Paris way in terms of field position and on their second possession, they were helped by an unsportsmanlike penalty to score first and take a 7-0 lead. QB Al Schneider responded with a 50-yard pass to WR Roman Randle, soon after followed by their 25-yard connection for a touchdown. The defense took over and the first quarter ended with the score tied 7-7.

We started the second quarter pinned at our own 1-yard line, a familiar place, the place our last game against Paris saw us almost but not quite win the game after getting sacked for a safety. This time around, with a lot to play for still, we moved the ball, again, and again, and again, all the way to the Paris 3-yard line. We got stopped there, but went up 10-7 nevertheless. The Musketeers tried to respond, but good plays got followed up by long sacks or ill timed penalties, giving us the opportunity to gain some ground back and pin them at their 1-yard line after a punt. Their long drive ended at our 37-yard line as time ran out.

The third quarter was a defensive battle, with neither offense even sniffing at field goal range. On our first drive of the fourth quarter, we finally broke the staleness and saw K Jeffery DeGroot convert a long overdue 48-yard field goal for the 13-7 lead. Our defense continued to dominate and with just under 4 minutes remaining rookie CB Andre McAninch came up big with an interception return touchdown, a 21-7 lead after the 2-pointer. Paris got the ball back for a one more drive with under 2 minutes remaining and this time around, they were stopped short at our 3-yard line as time expired.

QB Al Schneider threw for 243 yards, 1 touchdown and no turnovers. WR Roman Randle had 104 yards and 1 touchdown receiving.

Result: 21-7 win

So, the story continues, with a trip to the #2 seeded Toronto Lake Monsters. Earlier on this season they pummeled us after a close score at half time. Can we play it close this time around and pull the upset?

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2120 Conference Semifinals

Week 19 at Toronto

After an 11-game winning streak from the start of the season, the Lake Monsters stumbled into losses at Tucker (14-2 record) and Frederick (13-2-1 record). No shame in that, but those were out of character losses amidst a whole bunch of games with 40+ points scored and usually giving up under 20 points. We already lost 28-41 in Oranje Haven against them.

Toronto scored first on a curious play where they fumbled the ball at our 1-yard line, yet saw one of their own players land on it in our end zone. We got three and outed right after, but our response came on defense with LB Jorge Mayes' 41-yard interception return touchdown. And just like that, the score was tied 7-7. It didn't last long, we looked hopeless on defense, until a red zone defense forced them to settle for a 10-7 lead. Or more than half decent drive then saw K Jeffery DeGroot shanked another 40-something field goal attempt, but on Toronto's never in doubt drive, instead of tossing it into our end zone, CB Andre McAncich's second interception return touchdown in as many playoffs games was a phenomenal 98-yarder for a 14-10 lead. We stalled them just enough to force another short field goal, but our own promising drive that reached their 27-yard line turned fruitless after a 10-yard penalty and a sack. Fresh into the final minute before half time, we pulled a rare punt forcing series of defensive plays, but we came time short to make much more of it than a failed Hail Mary attempt. Still, leading 14-13 was not within expectations...

Our first drive of the second half saw us flipflop between strong gains and unforgivable many sacks, forcing us to punt from their half of the field. We gave up a 40-yard pass to see them get close, but not close enough as they settled for a field goal and going ahead 16-14. Sadly, that's as far as we could hold them off, both with our offense and defense. Toronto hauled in an impressive drive with 10+ gains after another and the 23-14 deficit was there at 3/4th of the game.

The fourth quarter saw us reach their 32-yard line, but after yet another pair of sacks (what the bleep was our offensive line not doing!?) the second one became a strip sack that set them up for a quick 3-play drive to go 30-14 up. The next drive saw QB Al Schneider's second turnover, this time an interception at midifield. It took Toronto only 2 plays to score another touchdown. On our next possession, Schneider found WR Rufus Montgomery for 36 yards, but after yet another another sack, we had to settle for a long field goal, this time seeing K Jeffery DeGroot not miss it and trim it to 37-17. Toronto drove downfield, draining the clock and pumping it up with another field goal. We tried to Hail Mary our way into slimming it, but Schneider failed to get it into WR Roman Randle's hands.

QB Al Schneider threw for 194 yards without touchdown and 1 interception. WR Roman Randle was invisible, with just 3 catches for 17 yards on 10 targets. In return, we allowed a freaking 3 different wide receivers to have a 100-yard game and managed to get Schneider sacked 6 times. We got on the scoreboard, but mostly by the earlier interception return touchdowns by LB Jorge Mayes and CB Andre McAncich.

Result 17-40 loss

Ouch, what a painful way to lose. Toronto outgained us 565 versus 241 total yards. I've already mentioned the shocking high number of sacks allowed and the silliness with their receivers all have a way with us. Never mind that the turnover battle was level at 2 each and we somehow won the field position battle by a pair of yards. But the only really meaning full part are the numbers on the scoreboard. Our 2120 season has ended in the Conference Semifinals.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Welcome to 2121!

Just before the finals of the 2120 season, we signed 6 players that will be restricted free agents in the off-season. Four of them should be familiar names.

QB Orlando Garrett already spent his rookie season inactive (2118) and a full season active as our kick holder (2119), but kept him unsigned in the 2120 off-season. Maybe he can return as our kick holder and help K Jeffery DeGroot return to perfection.

RB Corey Ward was our final cut before opening day 2120 and I think he's still got enough upside to get a new shot at making our team. He lacks the endurance to carry the ball more than 10 times, so it's still a longshot.

FB Rusty Garrison was a training camp cut in 2119 after jumping on as an undrafted rookie. He sat out the 2119 and 2120 seasons unsigned, until we gave him the call.

DE Gage Bensen was a 6th round pick for us, but failed to make our pre-season roster. He's still a promising pass rusher, hence, we think he deserves a second chance.

DE B.J. Shellhaas is a former first round pick from the Chesapeake Chitterlings. In his first pre-season he looked night and day different from the player they had scouted and as a rookie he didn't even make their 2119 roster. He was signed in the post-season by Chesapeake, failed to get a contract in 2120 anywhere and now we will give him another look as a potential gunner.

LB Luther Goffee failed to get a contract anywhere in his rookie season (2120), until we offer him the future contract in the post-season. He's potentially an excellent special teamer, so could be interesting for our unit.

We also offered such a contract to CB Todd Weaver, but he demanded a signing bonus, didn't get it an now he's retired after 1 season in the IHOF, as he spent the 2119 season on our team as a nickel/dime.


Fresh into the new season, two players announced their retirement.

CB Byron Sokol said goodbye to the IHOF after 12 seasons on our team. An undrafted rookie signing, him jumped onto our active roster right away and didn't miss a game in the first 11 seasons, tallying up to 176 regular season and 7 playoffs games. With 26 interceptions and 74 defended passes, he's made his fair share of plays on the defense. Sokol's man-to-man coverage skills, combined with his interception skills, made him a valuable member to the defense, until we picked CB Andre McAninch last season.

TE Arnie Huffman called it a game after 9 seasons with us. Despite begin an undrafted rookie signing, he never missed a game for us ever since his arrival, adding up to 144 regular season and 7 playoffs games. With 29 touchdowns scored, he got his fair share of time in the spotlights, specializing in getting the short yardage targets near the end zone, while the big name receivers were used as a diversion. Another typical role player.


Our coaching staff saw one change as our assistent coach Randy Holliday was picked by the Snapfinger Jazz as their new offensive coordinator. We chose 46-year old unexperienced Caden Hoffman as the replacement.


Other news around the league with Merchantmen ties saw some other retirements. T Edwin Northcutt played in 2116 with us, underwhelmingly so, forcing me to even bench him, but he bounced back with 55 key run blocks the season after. He retired after 13 seasons in the league, adding up to 410 key run blocks in 188 regular season games. LS Wayne Brewer spent his first four seasons with us, he retires after 10 seasons in the league.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: goodbye Harrison Singleton and Bart Tanner
In the 2120 off-season, we had to make the tough decisions to release QB Harrison Singleton and QB Bart Tanner. Both were on our team a long time and were our starting quarterback for many seasons. Fun to watch players, with the awareness and speed to extend drives with their running skills. And both had their ups and downs with us. Let's give them each one last shout out.


QB Harrison Singleton
In the 2108 draft, after the selection of LT Earl McBirney, DE Frank Bernard, DT Efrain Hutchins and LB Caiden Hastings all within the top 36 picks of the draft, at pick #37 the Maassluis Merchantmen selected QB Harrison Singleton. An agile and fast player with enough arm strength to also throw the ball downfield. The plan was to bring him slowly behind QB Evan Drake, but once injuries and lack of performance hurt Drake, Singelton received the keys and guided the team to a 5-2 record as a starter.
The 2109 season saw Singleton build on it, throwing for 25 touchdowns versus 6 interceptions in a 9-7 campaign, he earned All-IHOF Second team honors, the first Merchantmen quarterback to ever get recognition as a top2 quarterback in the league.
In 2110 the progress continued in the win-loss part of things, as Singleton guided his team to a 12-4 playoffs reaching record and earning his first playoffs win, a 22-6 victory at the Harlem Apollos. That season ended with a 21-34 loss at Gothenburg.
In 2111 the woes started with an uncharacterstic 22 interceptions whilst also throwing for an (eventual) career high 3,862 yards. The 6-10 record was a major letdown.
In 2112 a 9-game winning streak with Singleton under center saw the Merchantmen thrive, but a career altering knee injury took him out in week 16.
After spending the 2113 season still recovering and waiting for his return that didn't come, his comeback came after all in 2114. But after 6 games with no less than 10 interceptions thrown, it was clear he wasn't the same and the team moved on to Bart Tanner as the new starter.
In 2115 injury to Tanner brought Singleton back to the front and the Merchantmen managed to go 5-0 when Singelton was on the field. It was just enough action to get Singleton willing enough to stick around.
He hung around as the backup for 3 more seasons and the inactive third choice in 2119, but in the 2120 off-season an overhaul of the quarterback position was also cause for release of Singleton.
His career in Maassluis and the IHOF ended after 88 regular season games, with 17,606 yards passing, 111 touchdowns, 83 interceptions, 2,811 yards rushing and 19 rushing touchdowns. Singelton also played in 3 playoffs games. His career ended with a 47-33 win-loss record.

QB Bart Tanner
A 4th round pick in 2112, Tanner was initially picked to be the backup to Harrison Singelton. Then regarded as the best fit as the understudy, the Merchantmen felt it was one of the steals of the draft. Due to injuries for Singleton, Tanner already got to start twice as a rookie, but with the first one being a 5-interception game, expectations were somewhat dampened.
In 2113 the Merchantmen signed QB Dakota Peterson to fill in for the injured Singleton, but as Peterson struggled to mimic Singleton's performance, Tanner took over in week 8 and despite struggling to guide the team to wins, it was clear that Tanner was the alternate from there on.
In 2114 it became clear that Singleton was less agile and speedy. As a result, Tanner took over, guiding the Merchantmen to a 8-2 record (when starting) and a playoffs spot, but also a depressing 6-34 loss at Tucker in the playoffs.
Despite now promoted to the clear starting role, in 2115 the good vibes looked gone and Tanner threw more interceptions than touchdowns in 13 games, going 5-8 as a starter.
Then Tanner bounced back strong in 2116, leading the Merchantmen to the playoffs in his first 16-start season with 4,210 yards passing and 24 touchdowns versus 13 interceptions. The wild card round loss in Gothenburg was enough inspiration to keep improving.
Although, improvement wasn't the right word in 2117 as Tanner struggled with 23 interceptions, yet he also threw for 4,388 yards and 25 touchdowns, and with a 10-6 record, the Merchantmen snuck into the division title, surprised with a convincing win over Augusta and played a close game against the powerhouse Toronto Lake Monsters.
Despite improving to 4,422 and 4,692 passing yards in the next two seasons, the Merchantmen struggled and eventually blamed Tanner for it. Especially the 0-8 start to the 2119 season threw his win-loss record to below .500.
Tanner was cut in the 2120 off-season to make cap room for the arrival of QB Renaldo Wilson. The Merchantmen could have capped out Tanner to keep him as a backup, but chose not to. After not getting a call from another team, Tanner decided to call it a game.
Tanner finished with 26,056 yards passing with 157 touchdowns and 133 interceptions, whilst rushing for 2,666 yards and 13 touchdowns. He played in 104 regular season games and 5 playoffs games, finishing with a 51-53-1 record as a starter.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Training Camp 2121, here we come!

It's been a quiet off-season in Maassluis. We traded away the 1st round pick that we had in the draft and signed a grand total of 2 veteran free agents, including a guy that was on our team last season. Let's recap how we got to the 66 players that will go into training camp.

The draft
We held pick 1.18, acquired from Harlem last season a trade down, but as soon as it went on the clock, we got a great offer from Kansas: their 1st round picks in 2122 and 2123, as well as the 2.26 pick this draft. Our only target for the first round, LB Bert Rickles, was picked at spot 1.17. So, it became basically a no brainer. People asked me why we didn't draft an offensive tackle. I considered the top two candidates at that position, but I figured we'd gamble on going with the guys on team for one more season, we'll try to address right tackle in 2122.

Our original 1.26 pick was traded to Fort Wayne during the 2120 draft to be able to pick DT Floyd Dillon at spot 1.16. A trade I have no regrets making. This pick ended up in Toronto and getting used by the Lake Monsters on a tight end.

Our original 2nd round pick (pick 2.26) travelled to Harlem in 2120 amongst others in return for QB Renaldo Wilson. The pick got passed along to Kansas and returned home in the trade of pick 1.18 this draft. We spent it on LB Cristian Beyer, the 6th linebacker taken in this class and the second best on our draft board.

Our 3rd round pick (3.26) was sent to Harlem for QB Renaldo Wilson in the 2120 off-season. The Apollos spent it on a linebacker.

We sent picks 4.04, 4.26 and 4.32 to Hanalei in exchange for their 3rd round pick in 2122. The 4.04 was acquired from Fort Wayne in the trade that made us acquire the 1.16 in 2120, while the 4.32 was acquired from Williamsburg for the 4.7 pick in 2120. Hanalei picked a guard, defensive end and defensive tackle with those picks.

We acquired the 4.20 from Bordeaux in exchange for our 2nd round pick in 2123. It may seem a hefty price, but I put that pick on the table from early in the third round and wanted to convert it into P Devon Middleton, the 11th best player in this draft class. We got him there, 47 picks after the first punter was taken.

The 5.26 was used by Fort Wayne, our original 5th rounder sent to them to acquire the 1.16 in 2120, they got a cornerback with it.

We spent our 6.26 pick on RB Glyn Sloane and 7.26 on TE Sedrick Hill.

After the draft, we signed as little as 5 undrafted rookies: RB Claude May, RB Preston Tanner, CB Cooper Baker, CB Bert Hines and LS Bobby Waters.


In the meantime, to address the right tackle position, we offered LT Roy Wilkerson a new 1-year deal. He stept in as our emergency RT last season during Perry Georgopulos' recovery and kept the job when it turned out Georgopulos was no longer capable of being a starter in the IHOF. Georgopulos was released by us. A sad, but unavoidable move, likely ending his pro football career after just 9 games.

26-year old TE Perry Bussey joined us as a free agent. He's a special teams specialist, but also has decent receiving skills, with courage over the middle and third down ability.

We also re-signed a whole bunch of restricted free agents: QB Orlando Garrett, RB Corey Ward, RB Diego Kosters, TE Jackson Henselman, WR Tyron Dillon, C Clyde Van Lanen, DE B.J. Shellhaas, DE Gage Bensen, LB Luther Goffee and CB Billy Cochrane.


We spent quite some time renegotiating with many players to get under the cap and in the process extended a couple of contracts to key players. We failed to agree terms with QB Renaldo Wilson and G Greg Brizzolara, but after the first two pre-season games, we'll get aroud the table with them again. Brizzolara already turned down a $206M 5-year offer and Wilson a $236M 3-year deal, so this might continue to be really annoying. We have $37M of cap space as it is, so we're not really tight as of yet.

We should be good to go for next season as well, we're $134M under the cap for next season. But, we might go and spent that much on Wilson and Brizzolara already... We have 42 players under contract next season and it will be the off-season where we will have to make a decision on the quintuple 1st round picks from the 2119 draft. Yes, it will be an interesting off-season then, with likely the start of a new snowballing cap situation, at some point (2124?) probably leading to more tough decisions.

For now, we're getting ready for 2121, with a modest rookie class and having lost just 1 player that was a contributor then in TE Arnie Huffman.

Once we're about to hit the 53-men cutdown day, I'll try to not forget to write about why every single one of those 53 players made the team.


But wait, why so little information on the rookies? That's one of the fun parts of the off-season: rookie reports! Okay, okay, here we go.

RB Claude May - undrafted
A 30/35 rated 21-year old with very good breakaway speed (80) and elusiveness (75), but also modest hole recognition (30/40), acceptable endurance (40/45) for a timeshare role. May's not suitable to join the special teams unit and doesn't bring blitz pickup ability, which hurts his chances to make the team.

RB Preston Tanner - undrafted
A 20/30 rated 23-year old with very good power inside (80) and third down running (70/85), whilst also bringing in good breakaway speed (60) and interesting receiving potential with his route running (25/75) and third down receiving (35/45). No pass blocking skills, endurance of special teams skills to speak of though.

RB Glyn Sloane - pick 6.26
A30/45 rated 23-year old with very good breakaway speed (75), good hole recognition (50/65) and interesting elusiveness (65/80). Sloane might develop into a capable receiver with his route running (30/85), but he doesn't bring other bonuses in terms of blitz pickup or special teams skills.

TE Sedrick Hill - pick 7-26
A 20/30 rated 21-year old with acceptable special teams ability (55/65) and promising getting downfield (65/75).

P Devon Middleton - pick 4.20
A 45/65 rated 22-year old punter, excelling in the directional punting (50/90), which combined with his okay power (40/55) and hang time (55/70). He's an immediate upgrade to Andre Marincic, if he holds up, but we're really banking on him being underrated and worth a 2nd round pick. We might put him in the kick holding (85) duties as well, if he improves on it a bit.

LB Cristian Beyer - pick 2.26
A 25/65 rated 23-year old with underdeveloped run stopping (25/80), play diagnosis (25/85) and zone defense (10/50) skills. He's got the endurance (55/75) to become an all downs defender, whilst lacking the special teams skills to play double duty.

CB Bert Hinson - undrafted
A 20/35 rated 24-year old with zone defense (45/70) and special teams (65/75) skills, our type of backup defensive back. His interceptions making is non-existent (0/0), but he does have run defense (25/50) and play diagnosis (40/70) skills, to make him a potential running downs back.

CB Cooper Baker - undrafted
A 20/45 rated 24-year old with excellent man-to-man (35/90) potential. His interceptions (35/55) ability is good, the rest is lacking, he won't making the special teams unit. A serious shortcoming (no pun intended) is his (lack of) height, coming in as the shortest player on the team at 5'6".

LS Bobby Walters - undrafted
A 21-year old excellent long snapper (90), but unlikely to make the team given that we have an elite veteran on the team.


So, there you have it, the trainging camp report will likely be the next update. Hopefully we'll have a lot of great news from the rookies and other promising youngsters around the team getting closer to their potential, like G James Tucker (55/60), DE Phil Wakefield (45/50), DT Jeremiah Cortez (45/55), QB Al Schneider (30/45), TE Jackson Henselman (20/35), WR Tyrone Dillon (25/40), DE Roger Graf (45/50), DE Gage Bensen (20/40), DT Floyd Dillon (65/80), S Max Junker (15/35) and LB Luther Goffee (15/35).

Can't wait!

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Early Pre-season cuts
Going into training camp 66 players deep, it was unavoidable to release at least 6 players - bar trades - to get to the pre-season limit of 60. We got there by letting 6 players know their stint in Maassluis as short or long as it was, has come to an end. Although some might think a second or third chance is still an option.

DT Francisco Blades was by far the biggest name on the list. A 6th round pick in 2111, made it to our special teams unit in his rookie season, then spent 2 seasons waiting in the wing to, finally, making it to the active front four group in his fourth season on team. A run stopper with play diagnosis and pass rush strength, a suitable player on any d-line. But no longer on ours, after we spent 1st round picks in 2119 and 2120 on DT Neil Burton and DR Floyd Dillon, in between signed veteran DT Rodney Gagliardi and right after we picked Burton, we picked up undrafted rookie Jeremiah Cortez, who turned out to be a pretty similar player to Burton and Blades. And that's where it became a problem, too much of the same. Cortez sat out most of 2120, but now it will be his time to run havoc on opposing offensive guards and centers. Blades played in 123 regular season games and 6 playoffs games spread over those 10 seasons.

TE Jackson Henselman played in week 17 and the playoffs games last season as an undrafted rookie promoted from inactive fourth stringer to a TE2 role. He played it admirably well, scoring a touchdown in his first game in the IHOF, but the arrival of TE Perry Bussey and TE Sedrick Hill made it hard to stick with Henselman.

RB Corey Ward was our bubble boy for the 2120 regualr season roster, but this time around, there was too much competition in the backfield. Still lacking endurance, we just can't afford to keep a roster spot for him, knowing he's a 10-carries-at-best-back. A bummer, his hole recognition and breakaway speed are a nice combo.

RB Claude May got cut as well from a crowded backfield in training camp. Despite his breakaway speed and elusiveness, a tiny bit making us remind him of blast from the past RB Donald Terry (lead the league in rushing in 2039 when he carried the team to the IHOF Bowl), but those were different times.

DE Gage Bensen was a post training camp casualty for the second straight season. This time he lost the roster spot battle to DE B.J. Shellhaas, a better run defender and a clear upgrade to our special teams unit. Last season he lost to the earlier mentioned run stopping defensive tackles.

CB Bert Hinson misses out primarily due to his lack of interceptions making. We liked his other skills, as you can imagine from the profile I sketched the other day, but we just have enough defensive backs already.

The release of DT Francisco Blades was also a cap friendly move, putting us at almost $42M under the salary cap. Which we'll likely end up spending for the most part on QB Renaldo Wilson anyway, providing pre-season will be good to him. Fingers crossed, we'll find out soon...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2121 roster set, almost?

Pre-season action has commenced and in our first two games, we scored a league most 68 points and allowed 31, the 7th lowest figure. But the real news was the cutdown to 53 players, as after these games, I've already made up my mind, at least pretty much.

RB Renaldo Billodeaux is by far the biggest name on the list of casualties. A late 7th round pick in 2111, he came in with a phenomenal rookie campaign, running for 1,105 yards and a 5.9 yards per carry average. With his hole recognition, breakaway speed and elusiveness, Billodeaux set new standards for what a Merchantmen running back should be capable of. Despite all that, he was in a time-share with a power back throughout his career, which made his 4 1,000-yard seasons that much more impressive. After 155 regular season games, his tally for the Merchantmen has added up to 8,880 yards (4.71 yards per carry) and 66 touchdowns rushing, with his fair share of good and bad showings in 7 playoffs games throughout. It makes him easily a top 5 rusher in Merchantmen history.

P Andre Marincic was a 7th round pick in 2119, punted for us for 2 seasons, but with the arrival of 4th round rookie Devon Middleton, Marincic' time is up. A very good corner-coffin punter, Marincic deserves a second chance elsewhere in the league, but I doubt he'll get it.

LB Brendan Tatum leaves us after 2 seasons. As an undrafted rookie, he played in 11 games in 2119, although seeing little action those games. Last season we kept him off the field all season long. With the arrival of 2nd round pick Cristian Beyer, there really was no roster spot anymore for a backup linebacker without special teams value.

LB Scottie Rice will leave us after 3 seasons of service. A 2118 undrafted rookie, Rice's run defense skills was interesting, but last season we didn't use him much. Lacking special teams skills, there was no roster space anymore for him.

QB Orlando Garrett returned to us after having spent 2118 inactive, 2119 as our kick holder and 2120 without a contract until we signed him during the playoffs after our last game. It was interesting to consider bringing him back as the kick holder, but he's just barely an improvement over QB Al Schneider.

LS Bobby Waters failed to unseat our veteran and as an undrafted rookie leaves us already. He's a top 16 long snapper in the league, so if half the league isn't asleep, he should get a new gig in time for the last 2 pre-season games elsewhere.

CB Cooper Baker didn't wow on the second look at mid-pre-season, but he's still an interesting prospect with excellent man-to-man potential. The kid deserves a chance, maybe a team like Miami, where management can get a lot out of these kind of players, will give him a chance.

And as a write this, I'm second guessing the release of Billodeaux. His hole recognition (50) held up admirably well, despite a huge drop in overall ability. But at the same time, this release frees up the cap space to sign QB Renaldo Wilson to a new 3-year deal without having to go with a backloaded structure. We made Wilson a generous offer, but if for whatever reasons he turns it down, we'll go the backloaded route and have some spare money to extend some of our potential free agents, we have 9 more unrestricted free agents next off-season.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: The 53 for 2121
Okay, I'm still not 100% sure these are the 53 men we're going to want to start the 2121 season with, but any further roster changes leading up to the opening day game at Oranje Haven against Paris are extremely unlikely.

Let's do a quick rundown of the entire list of 53 players and do as promised: mentioning why he's on our team and how long they've been on the team.



Quarterbacks

65/65 QB Renaldo Wilson, 34, 2nd year
starting QB

35/45 QB Al Schneider, 25, 2nd year
kick holder, backup QB, potential future starting QB

05/05 QB Tyrone D'Arms, 36, 2nd year
inactive mentor to Al Schneider



Backfield

55/55 RB Jackson Powell, 25, 4th year
main ball carrying RB, receiving RB, special teamer

50/50 FB Rich Hartman, 25, 4th year
starting FB, backup special teamer

35/50 RB Glyn Sloane, 23, rookie
inactive, potential future main ball carrying RB

35/35 RB Diego Kosters - 23, 2nd year
special teamer (steps in for RB Powell or FB Holse if injured)

20/25 RB Preston Tanner, 23, rookie
short yardage RB

10/10 FB Kenneth Holse, 33, 12th year
elite special teamer



Tight Ends

65/65 TE Francisco Andersen, 24, 3rd year
starting TE, rotational special teamer

40/40 TE Kyle Baker, 26, 4th year
second TE, red zone TE, rotational special teamer

35/35 TE Perry Bussey, 26, 1st year
third TE, third down TE, rotational special teamer

25/35 TE Sedrick Hill, 21, rookie
inactive backup TE, backup special teamer



Wide Receivers

60/60 WR Rufus Montgomery, 29, 7th year
downfield receiver, third down receiver

60/60 WR Rodolfo Lane, 32, 10th year
big-play receiver, punt returner, special teamer

50/50 WR Roman Randle, 26, 3rd year
big-play receiver, third-down receiver

30/40 WR Tyrone Dillon, 24, 2nd year
inactive, potential future WR3

20/20 WR Blake Begay, 28, 8th year
special teamer, mentor to Tyrone Dillon

10/10 WR Maurice Sweeney, 29, 8th year
kickoff returner



Offensive Linemen

75/75 LT Dan Clancy, 28, 8th year
elite pass blocker

75/75 G Greg Brizzolara, 26, 4th year
elite pass blocker

60/60 G James Tucker, 25, 3rd year
all-round G

45/45 C Tracy Stewart, 26, 3rd year
starting C

45/45 LT Roy Wilkerson, 37, 2nd year
run blocking RT

45/45 G Alfred Pearsall, 30, 8th year
run blocking G

30/55 C Chester Coffey, 23, 2nd year
backup C

30/35 C Clyde Van Lanen, 23, 3rd year
inactive 8th OL



Defensive Linemen

80/80 DT Floyd Dillon, 23, 2nd year
elite DT, will play on most downs

55/55 DT Rodney Gagliardi, 31, 2nd year
punishing pass rusher up the middle

50/55 DT Jeremiah Cortez, 24, 3rd year
punishing run defender, special teamer

50/50 DE Roger Graf, 22, 2nd year
punishing pass rusher

50/50 DE Phil Wakefield, 23, 3rd year
pass rusher

45/45 DT Neil Burton, 24, 3rd year
run defender

35/35 DE Glen Kafka, 29, 3rd year
punishing pass rusher, will play on runnning/neutral downs

30/30 DE B.J. Shellhaas, 27, 1st year*
special teamer, running downs end
* due to signing him in 2120 playoffs, will get a tiny cohesion boost



Linebackers

60/60 LB Sam Hastings, 26, 3rd year
all downs LB

30/60 LB Cristian Beyer, 23, rookie
potential best running downs LB

45/45 LB Jorge Mayes, 32, 9th year
neutral downs LB, second passing downs LB

45/45 LB Ezekiel O'Neal, 29, 6th year
running downs LB, special teamer

25/25 LB Xavier Hoover, 34, 13th year
special teamer, backup running downs LB

15/30 LB Luther Goffee, 23, 2nd year
future elite special teamer
* due to signing him in 2120 playoffs, will get a tiny cohesion boost



Secondary

75/75 CB Andre McAninch, 22, 2nd year
all-downs CB, CB2 on passing downs

60/60 CB Zachary Blair, 27, 6th year
shutdown corner

50/50 S Cesar Welch, 28, 6th year
neutral downs SS, running downs SS

45/45 CB Asher McElroy, 28, 7th year
ball-hawker on neutral downs

40/40 S Kim Fox, 26, 3rd year
special teamer, passing downs SS, running downs FS

35/35 S Peter Hinsley, 31, 8th year
passing downs FS

30/30 CB Marquis Wolf, 28, 6th year
short yardage CB, nickelback

20/35 S Max Junker, 23, 2nd year
special teamer (potential elite), future starter

25/25 CB Billy Cochrane, 23, 2nd year
special teamer, dime back



Special Teamers

50/60 P Devon Middleton, 22, rookie
corner-coffin punter

85/85 K Jeffery DeGroot, 27, 5th year
elite kicker, all-time great kickoff kicker

20/20 LS Roderick Kaeding, 28, 7th year
elite LS



I may have miscalculated the active/inactive slots,, if so, CB Asher McElroy will likely end up being the odd man out and falling to an inactive role. But, a football season is 21 weeks long, we will need several of the inactive guys sooner or later due to injuries.

The starting RG role is one I'm still mulling over. G James Tucker has more technical talent than G Alfred Pearsall, but Tucker's intelligence is a penalties risk. We may end up starting Pearsall at RT with LT Roy Wilkerson dropping to the backup role, Wilkerson isn't undisputed. But Wilkerson was the best run blocking right tackle on the market, combined with a small cohesion boost, he was the best option for 2121 for the RT spot.

The running back group could end up in some sort of rotation. RB Jackson Powell looms ready to play the role Renaldo Billodeaux played for a decade, while RB Preston Tanner might be the guy to play the Rusty Kemp power back role, which Powell was forced to play in recent seasons. Sloane is kind of a Billodeaux clone, but he needs a season or two in the wings to gel with the offensive line. Powell is demanding nearly $28.5M per season, which we're not going to give him. He'll hit the open market in 2122.

On the linebackers group, LB Cristian Beyer jumps into a small role, splitting time with veteran LB Jorge Mayes, cohesive LB Ezekiel O'Neal and all-downs LB Sam Hastings. LB Xavier Hoover is our LB5 for now, but unless we really need him due to injuries, LB Luther Goffee will likely jump into the active 46 at some point as one of our special teamers.

Lastly, the wide receiver group has gotten tricky due to WR Roman Randle's unexpected small decline. It's questionable he can still produce a 1,500-yard season like last season. I'm still a novice in flipping around this supposedly awesome trio of Randle, WR Rodolfo Lane and WR Rufus Montgomery to get the most out of them all and get all three close to 1,000 yards. With TE Francisco Andersen around, we have another proven 1,000-yard receiver. Montgomery is the one still unproven with a career high of 657 yards. I'll try to push TE Kyle Baker into the touchdown machine role that Arnie Huffman had, but free agent signing TE Perry Bussey was added to challenge Baker for that role. Last season all three tight ends had their share of production.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Pre-season favorites!?

Lo and behold, we're considered to be the DogBytes pre-season favorites to win it all the upcoming season. In the past, we've sat at the top many times before, but then it was fully based on our exceptional cohesion. This time around, we have the second best roster, apparently. I mean, I don't really buy it, but we do have a fine roster with the likes of QB Renaldo Wilson and the receivers group he can work with, a strong offensive line anchored by 2 elite players LT Dan Clancy and G Greg Brizzolara, and on the defense we can field young stars like DT Floyd Dillon and CB Andre McAninch surrounded by other awesomeness. Our true difference making part of the team should be the special teams unit again. I've really strived to make that unit the best in the league and, although I think we can improve on it a bit more, I do think it shows in our decision making at various positions.

Having locked up key players is something I'm happy about as well. We locked up QB Renaldo Wilson through 2123 and G Greg Brizzolara through 2125. Both ended up signing contracts that were neither what the demanded, nor the high bonus low current salary, nor the flat salaries contracts I'm used to handig out. I think I've found a middle ground that players seem to prefer over all the other options, but I'm not quite sure where the fine print is to minimize the cap cost and cap hell proneness.

I'm not yet convinced we're truly the best of the division, Gothenburg acquired their own veteran solid quarterback, which was bad news for the division and the entire conference. Besides, Paris has caught up last season, getting to the playoffs for the first time under current management and Bordeaux was a week 17 all or nothing loss away from winning the division and making the playoffs.

For now, we'll have to try to just focus on the next game. Week 1 will be at home against Paris. A team with the second most talented quarterback in the league. Their star wide receiver had 11 catches for 197 in Oranje Haven last season. We won that game, but it shows how strong that combo is. Prepare mentally for a shootout, a 30-27 kind of game, hopefully in our advantage.

[MIJB#19]

Editor's Note
We're still rolling along. If you've been following from a distance, you know where we're at after week 12 of the regular season. It's so far been a bizar season. Something well worth writing about. I'm sure I'll find a spare hour or so to do quick recap of the 11 games we've played so far, it's just been an irregular schedule for me to be able to get my head to writing about the team. An update will come, just not last weekend (obviously) and not today either.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: When winning a lot isn't enough...

The European Division is doing well. Last season all four teams finished the season with an 8-8 or better record. This season things are shaping up to be even even more cutthroat. Let's do something unusual and start with the division standings.

European Division
1. Paris 10-1
2. Bordeaux 8-3
3. Maassluis 7-4
4. Gothenburg 7-4

Week 1 vs Paris
We stormed to a 21-0 lead and never looked back. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 301 yards, threw touchdown passes to FB Rich Hartman and WR Roman Randle, who did that on a 124-yard performance. RB Jackson Powell ran for a touchdown.
24-15 win

Week 2 at Frederick
Throwing 5 interceptions is rarely a recipe to success, lead by CB Andre McAninch our secondary ran havoc. In return, QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 256 yards with touchdown passes to RB Jackson Powell (he also ran for one) and TE Francisco Andersen (on a 108-yard day), while Wilson also ran for a score. S Kim Fox accounted for an interception return touchdown.
38-24 win

Week 3 at Toronto
We played along in the first half, trailing 21-28 at the break, but in the second half the offense fell flat and it accumulated into a big loss. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 244 yards with touchdown passes to TE Kyle Baker (a pair) and WR Rodolfo Lane. In return, some Toronto wide receiver gained 222 yards receiving against us, a humiliating performance for our defense.
21-48 loss

Week 4 vs San Antonio
We rebounded with a much deserved victory in a very close game. A fumble return touchdown seemed to give our opponents the edge, but an all-time IHOF career record tying punt return touchdown by WR Rodolfo Lane was the momentum flipper. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 255 yards, threw for a touchdown pass to TE Kyle Baker and also ran for a score. WR Roman Randle had 107 yards receiving.
33-31 win

Week 5
bye

Week 6 vs Atlanta
This game was frustrating to watch as the offense somehow accumulated a grand total of 19 incomplete passes, our wide receiver trio and star tight end combined for just 10 catches on 26 targets. Penalties seriously held us back as well, yet somehow we remained in the game throughout, only to lose on a last second field goal. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 280 yards with a 78-yard dart to WR Rufus Montgomery. RB Jackson Powell ran for the other touchdown.
20-23 loss

Week 7 at Fort Wayne
We rebounded against the worst team in the league, actually letting penalties get us again and miss out on a true steamroller of a result. The defense deserved credit for keeping them low, as their only touchdown came on a punt return, while most of their yardage game in their last two drives in garbage time. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 332 yards with touchdown passes to WR Rodolfo Lane and WR Rufus Montgomery. Rookie RB Preston Tanner scored his first touchdown.
27-10 win

Week 8 at Paris
In a game that felt like that both teams tried hard to lose, the Musketeers committed more penalties, but also had a crucial 4-2 advantage in turnovers in what deserved to be more of a shootout than a blunderfest. Nevertheless, scoring was all over the place, in particular Paris did well in the red zone, while we settled for short field goals 3 times. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 280 yards and a touchdown pass to TE Francisco Andersen. RB Jackson Powell ran for a score.
22-30 loss

Week 9 at Houston
Despite an early 14-0 deficit, we managed to take full advantage of the silliness from the opponents. A 74-yard interception return by S Kim Fox shortly before half time turned out to be the difference maker. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 245 yards, with a touchdown pass to TE Francisco Andersen.
20-14 win

Week 10 at Bordeaux
And then we pissed away a home game that may end up costing us second place in the division when all is said and done. It was bad enough that we allowed an 85-yard fumble return, but they shortly after followed it up with a rare offensive fumble return touchdown to flip our solid lead into a small deficit. Another display of lack of discipline may have helped them as well. End result being: the better team lost in a very crucial game. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 337 yards and ran for a touchdown. RB Jackson Powell ran for 116 yards and 2 touchdowns.
27-35 loss

Week 11 vs Gothenburg
We bounced back again with a solid, yet too close to feel comfortable win against the Giants. Today, we made the difference with touchdowns where Gothenburg settled for field goals. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 273 yards with touchdowns to TE Francisco Andersen (twice), TE Kyle Baker and WR Roman Randle, while WR Rufus Montgomery had a 118-yard performance. RB Jackson Powell ran for 105 yards.
31-25 win

Week 12 vs Brooklyn
We tried hard to piss away another home game, as a pair of Wilson interceptions set the Bums - "Fightin' Bums!" - up for a quick 17-3 lead. We played a pretty good game from there on and a missed extra point from K Jeffery DeGroot that felt like it would end up costing us the game, it ended up being the difference maker late in the game where we ended up trailing by 4 points, forced to go for it and making it happen to take the lead with 27 seconds remaining. Brooklyn actually got their shot at forcing overtime, but the 49-yard field goal attempt was unsuccesful. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 257 yards with touchdown passes to TE Francisco Andersen, TE Kyle Baker and WR Rufus Montgomery. RB Jackson Powell ran for a score.
33-30 win


So, that's where we stand at the moment: 3rd in an ultra tight division and also stuck in a conference with another division with 3 teams at 7-4 or better. The four European Division teams have floated inside the top10 of the various power ratings and rankings throughout. Truth be told, three of the four European teams also have a quarterback considered to be top7 talent in the league, with Bordeaux' quarterback the one that's just above average for a starting quarterback. Paris and Bordeaux have gone into the dark side, playing pass only game plans: their quarterbacks already have 50+ pass attempts per game. To be fair, Paris' quarterback Zachery McDonald is on fire, the 10-win streak they're on can't be lucky, he's been playing extremely well.

For us, Renaldo Wilson has been a blessing, despite his tantrums at times resulting in 15-yard penalties. Wilson has ran for a league best 7.0 yards per carry and has ran for more yards than half the league's leading rushers. The latter could also be a side-effect of having 7 teams with under 20 rushing attempts per game.

We've been a solid team in most games, with just the extreme silliness against Atlanta in terms of incomplete passes. Yet turnovers and penalties have held us back quite a bit and the random bad luck against Bordeaux has so far pushed us back from virtual 5th seeds to virtual 7th seeds. Our remaining schedule won't be easy. For starters, we'll be visiting the 10-1 Tucker Tigers, a team on a mission, still lacking an IHOF Bowl despite having 6 straight 14-2 regular season campaigns. Their quarterback Renaldo Brady is flirting with being the all-time greatest, but without any rings, it's going to feel like it's all for nothing. We're going to require an upset win here or there in the last 5 games to remain in the playoffs race, so we'll be going into Tucker trying once again. Let's do it, Merchantmen!

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2121, one of those memorable seasons?

The regular season has finished and it had quite the nail biting ending for the European Division, including for us. So, let's recap the last bunch of games.


Week 13 vs Tucker
We played along with the Tigers for about two and a half quarters, but in part due to our lack of success in the red zone, eventually we fell apart and let the best quarterback in the league throw for 455 yards against us. It got so bad, we even threw our backup quarterback out there. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 351 yards with a touchdown pass to WR Rodolfo Lane, WR Rufus Montgomery gained 111 yards receiving. K Jeffery DeGroot converted a 53-yard field goal shortly before half time.
19-41 loss

Week 14 at Chesapeake
We bounced back with a solid and much deserved victory. The defense played admirably well, keeping a talented quarterback to under 200 yards passing. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 274 yards with a touchdown pass to WR Rufus Montgomery, while also running for a touchdown. RB Jackson Powell also ran for a score.
27-16 win

Week 15 at Gothenburg
A crucial game in the race for second place in the division, as likely only the winner would stay in it. Paris was looking out of reach, securing the division this week with a solid win over Bordeaux. We started well, intercepting the Giants quarterback on their first possession, but the 10-0 lead was short lived as we gave up touchdowns on their second through fourth drives. Interceptions on back to back drives in the third quarter helped snowball the Giants into a big lead and our spirit looked broken. The Giants had two 100-yard rushers, an unacceptable pathetic showing by our defense. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 284 yards with 2 touchdown passes to TE Kyle Baker. RB Jackson Powell ran for a touchdown.
24-37 loss

Week 16 vs Williamsburg
After some incredibly silly losses earlier this season, in this game we got one of the most luckiest unsportsmanlike conduct penalties by an opponent. In a game where we were the better team, we struggled to put the ball in the endzone and saw K Jeffery DeGroot convert 5 field goals. In return their kicker kept them in it with a trio of 40+ kicks.
With the game on the line, trailing 26-22, we had to go for it on 4th and 2 from their 31-yard line. The pass fell incomplete, but one of the Colonials defensive linemen misbehaved and helped our drive to stay alive. A couple of plays later, QB Renaldo Wilson found WR Roman Randle on a short pass into the end zone to take a 29-26 lead. The defense held ground and a freak victory was ours. Wilson threw for 216 yards with touchdown passes to TE Francisco Andersen and WR Roman Randle. RB Jackson Powell ran for 102 yards.
29-26 win

Going into the final regular season week, with a 9-6 record, we were barely still in the race. Ranked fourth inside the division, we were going to head to Bordeaux (also 9-6) and needed help from Paris to beat Gothenburg as well as help from Snapfinger to win at Orlando. The latter would be a huge upset and Paris beating Gothenburg would also be unlikely as Paris was already set in stone as the #2 seed. And elsewhere in the AOC, Augusta knew they would have to win at guaranteed #1 seed Tucker to maintain their wild card spot. But they decided to go all out and it resulted in a spectacular ending.

Week 17 at Bordeaux
Despite our supremacy in gaining yards, a fumble and a bad punted helped Bordeaux get a short field and take a 17-7 after the first quarter and a bit. A pair of missed field goals and an interception threw more wrenches in our engine, but a series of three and outs by the defense kept the score as is. Momentum shifted in the second half as we scored on our first drive, got a defensive interception on the next play from scrimmage and followed that up with a field goal to tie it up 17-17. Our domination continued and early in the fourth quarter we took a 24-17 lead. The Bordeaux offense finally woke up and replied with their best drive of the game, resulting in a score tying touchdown. On our next possession, we kept going and going and albeit forced to settle for a short field goal and a 27-24 lead, Bordeaux had only 24 seconds remaining. They very first play from scrimmage became the anticlimax for the home crowd as the ball was picked off and victory formation was next for us. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 361 yards with touchdown passes to TE Francisco Andersen, TE Kyle Baker and WR Roman Randle. WR Rufus Montgomery had 106 yards receiving.
27-24 win

Elsewhere in the league, we received the news that Orlando had fallen 26-24 at home to Snapfiger, whilst the Gothenburg vs Paris clash was heading into overtime. We witnessed a missed field goal on Paris side and not much later, Gothenburg did convert the game winner that also sent them into the playoffs.

European Division
1. Paris 12-4
2. Gothenburg 11-5
3. Maassluis 10-6
4. Bordeaux 9-7

Indeed, everybody had a winning record. The two divisions that we collectively crushed each had a 9-7 winner. Houston (9-7), Brooklyn (9-7) and Frederick (8-8) made the playoffs while combining for an 1-11 record against the European Division teams. The 10-6 record made us the 7th seeds in the AOC, also ending up behind 13-3 Tucker, 11-5 Toronto and 11-5 Augusta. Aforementioned Frederick was the 6th seed in the NAC.

Our season ends with 6 losses to teams with a winning record, of those Bordeaux and Atlanta (9-7) missed the playoffs, while Tucker, Toronto, Paris and Gothenburg did make it. In return we won 5 games against playoffs making teams, on top of Houston, Brooklyn and Frederick we also beat Paris and Gothenburg. At the same time, we got outscored by our opponents by 7 points. Which makes the weird season we had even weirder. Having played the toughest schedule in the league doesn't quite make it feel any better, we're still not amongst the 12 teams still in the race for the bowl.


QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 4,546 yards, with 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. It's the 4th highest passing yards figure in Merchantmen history and it was insufficient to make the playoffs. Wilson also ran for 865 yards and 4 touchdowns with a league leading 7.03 yards per carry.

RB Jackson Powell ran for 1,199 yards with 9 touchdowns, he also had 1 receiving touchdown. TE Francisco Andersen had 98 catches for 1,043 yards and 8 touchdowns. WR Roman Randle had 86 catches for 1,249 yards and 4 touchdowns. WR Rufus Montgomery had 57 cathces for 941 yards and 4 touchdowns. TE Kyle Baker had 55 catches for 543 yards and 8 touchdowns. WR Rodolfo Lane had 37 catches for 586 yards and 3 touchdowns, not counting his all-time career IHOF record tying 11th punt return touchdown. RB Preston Tanner had 1 rushing touchdown, FB Rich Hartman 1 receiving touchdown.

We ranked 9th in rushing yards (138 per game, 4.64 per carry) and 9th in passing yards (285 per game, 6.95 per pass attempt). Our defense was mixed, 12 in rushing yards allowed (103 per game) but also 31st in yards per carry (5.22 per carry), 26th in passing yards allowed (285 per game) and 17th in yards per pass attempt (6.38 per attempt). We tied for 7th in most defensive turnovers (28) but also tied for 20th in giveaways (also 28). We were not the best special teams unit, we were by far outdone by Williamsburg. We also 'shined' in terms of penalties, finish with the 2nd most penalty yards.

One more "sigh" and we move on. Our focus goes to 2122, cliché of clichés.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Welcome to the 2122 season

We've collectively turned the page over from 2121 to 2122, a new season with new chances for the 31 teams not named the Tucker Tigers to unseat the reigning champions. The historical multiple IHOF Bowl winning franchise ended a long streak of seasons without winning a bowl, which in itself isn't noteworthy at all, as all 31 other franchises have had such long stretches without a bowl win, but their regular season campaigns with their current quarterback had made them by far the best team over a 6-season stretch to not win a Bowl game. Streak ended, on to 2122!

The 2122 season starts for our team with 4 players no longer on the team due to retirement.

FB Kenneth Holse retired after 12 seasons of service with us. An undrafted rookie free agent in 2110, he jumped onto the team as a run blocker and last resort receiver, initially, and evolved into being the best special teamer in the IHOF. He played in 179 regular season games and 9 playoffs games for the Merchantmen.

Last season LB Xavier Hoover joined the exclusive 200 games club. A 5th round pick for the Merchantmen in 2109, he never missed a game, playing a role as one of the running downs linebackers as well as being on the special teams unit as often as possible. His final tally: 208 regular season games and 9 playoffs games.

QB Tyrone D'Arms was the shocking winner of the Solecismic Legend of the Game award. During his 14 season tenure, he was active in as little as 25 games, yet was on an IHOF roster for all those seasons, spread out over 7 different franchises. He guided the Hanalei Dragons into the playoffs in his third year in the league, his only one as a fulltime starter. He joined the Merchantmen in 2120 to mentor QB Al Schneider.

LT Roy Wilkerson called it a game after 15 seasons in the IHOF. After 9 seasons with the Chicago Norsemen, followed by 4 seasons with the Gothenburg Giants, he joined the Merchantmen in 2120 as the short term replacement for then injured former first round pick RT Perry Georgopulos. Wilkerson played 2 seasons in Maassluis, playing in 29 regular season games and 2 playoffs games. His career highlight and disappointment in one was the lost IHOF Bowl 2118.

RT Perry Georgopulos retired at the age of 24. Our 20th overall pick in 2119 was supposed to be our new run blocking right tackle for years to come, but a grueling knee injury cut his career short to just 9 games. He spent the 2120 season recovering and at the start of the 2121 off-season we had to let go of him as it was clear he would never be able to play football at the level he was supposed to be destined to reach.

WR Jessie Vertelney retired as a Bordeaux Vineyards player, but the collective memory obviously puts him in a Merchantmen uniform, as he spent the first 10 of 13 seasons in he IHOF in Maassluis. With 8 1,000-yards seasons (6 of those in Maassluis) he joined the ranks of the 10K receivers in IHOF history, already having achieved that, although just barely, in the 10 seasons (150 regular season games) in Maassluis. He also played in 5 playoffs games for the Merchantmen and was known as a hard hitting special teamer.

RB Renaldo Billodeaux officially retired after 10 seasons with the Merchantmen and last season on the couch at home, not getting a second chance elsewhere. A late 7th round pick in 2111, Billodeaux evolved into the 4th all-time rusher in Merchantmen history, gaining 8,880 yards rushing with a 4.71 yards per carry average. In the process, Billodeaux scored 68 touchdowns (66 rushing, third highest in franchise history). After 155 regular season and 7 playoffs games played, he failed to make the 2121 regular season roster.

DT Francisco Blades retired after an up and down career with the Merchantmen. A 6th round pick in 2111, he made the team in a special teams role, then spent 2 seasons mostly inactive and then in 2114 finally joined the defensive line rotation in a running and neutral formations role. In the 2111 off-season he was a post training camp casualty and didn't find a new team after 10 seasons in Maassluis, in which he played in 123 regular season and 6 playoffs games for the Merchantmen.

DT Bryan Lomax retired after 7 seasons as a professional football player. The power rusher joined the Merchantmen as an undrafted rookie in 2115 and joined the rotation on the defensive line in 2116. After 5 seasons in Maassluis (74 games played), Lomax signed as a free agent with the Chicago Norsemen in 2120, but never reached the level of play he had in Maassluis, was cut after that first season there and found no new home in 2121, choosing retirement as the way out now.

There were others that walked away from football, no longer willing to wait for a phone call unlikely to come, but that'll be for another time, if I find the time to do all the research on which other former Merchantmen players retired this off-season.


We go into the off-season with our staff unchanged.

We're roughly $6.5M over the $654M salary cap, with 43 players signed. I consider that a very healthy situation. Our projected cap cost is pretty high at $35.7M, a result of having the 1.13 pick from the Kansas Creationists - they had a bit of a down season - and the 1.20 pick, the reward for being the very best team not making the playoffs.


2 players are unrestricted free agents: RB Jackson Powell and S Cesar Welch.

Powell is seeking a $100M contract, wanting a mix between $30M and $40M cap figures over 3 years, which is something we're not quite willing to put on the table for a running back, even one that comes off a season with 1,199 yards and 9 touchdowns rushing. We have RB Glyn Sloane and RB Diego Kosters waiting in the wings, as well as restricted free agent RB Preston Tanner. the later is a player that didn't wow at all, but I'm considering keeping him, if we can find a middle ground between his demands that really don't fit with a player that ran for only 2.12 yards per carry (in 16 games Tanner was held to under 10 yards 12 times).

Welch is a different story, despite his lack of ability to force turnovers, his run stopping and zone defending skills make him a player to want to keep.

C Tracy Stewart is a restricted free agent worth considering to keep. His numbers are okay-ish and his intelligence make him less of a penalty magnet than some others on the team.

RT Clyde Van Lanen isn't going to make the team anymore. We actually flipped him from center to right tackle to maintain a legal roster last season, but fact is that he was never going to make it as a center either.

LB Luther Goffee is potentially the new special teams ace that we saw retire with FB Kenneth Holse. He's going to get a contract offer as soon as we're under the salary cap.

Last and not quite not worth mentioning: I've been trying to move up in the draft to slot 1.6 over the last couple of days. By the time all the move-up-worthy wide receivers were all picked in the top3 (some might say the entire top5 was worth it), it still took me a good night of sleep to come to understanding that I was trying to acquire the 1.6 from a team that wasn't actually holding that pick. How about that...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Draft 2122, no draft without trades!

The 2122 draft has finishes while the off-season continues. RB Jackson Powell is still without a new team, despite that his exorbitant salary demands have decreased to $50M over 3 years. I'm not surprised no other team has made him an offer yet, his agent is a moron. So is WR Ramon Randle's agent. They have turned down no less than 4 contract offers from us, but they declined and now Randle's decision is to hold out. Awesome.

Not accounting for rookies, we added up to 50 players signed, with new contracts for restricted free agents RB Preston Tanner, C Tracy Stewart and LB Luther Goffee, and a new 3-year deal for unrestricted free agent S Cesar Welch. We also filled some gaps on the team with veteran free agents. FB Marc King will step in as our new elite special teamer from the backfield. He's actually a better blocker than FB Rich Hartman as well, which is both a bonus and a luxury problem. RT Randy Fulcher is a smart underdeveloped run blocker, we signed him mostly to mentor our first round pick (more on that later). S Jimmie Coxwell is another special teams guy, but his run stopping and zone defense are good enough to be on the active roster. King signed a cheap 3-year deal, the other two a 2-year veteran minimum deal.

Our six draft picks have arrived at Oranje Haven to be further evaluated. We stood fast at the 1.13 spot, picking the top player going into the draft LT Barry Finley, although early signs are that Snapfinger's 1.9 pick defensive end Cade is a once every decade kind of player. We also remained at slot 1.20 taking LB Travis Cantu. Then at spot 3.7 we picked LB Bryson Wilmer, but we soon after traded him to Toronto for pick 3.29 and their 2123 3rd as I felt that it would be one linebacker too many. At slot 3.20 we picked RB Rickey Jorg, he will battle with second-year RB Glyn Sloane for playing time and he also hopes to become our new kickoff returner. But so does S Devan Gagliardi, our 3.29 pick, we will likely switch him to cornerback for his man-to-man and bump and run skills. We traded picks 4.20, 5.20 and 6.20 to Harlem for their 3rd in 2123 and the 7.3 pick. We used pick 7.3 on G Parker Prior, a pass blocker that was already on our board for pick 4.20 had we kept it. And at slot 7.20 we took WR Teddy Whitfield, a big-play route runner, a kid worth trying to develop in the wings for a future WR3 role.

With 56 players signed and almost $30M in cap space, we're not quite done yet. As mentioned already, WR Roman Randle is holding out and we'll have to invest at minimum $5M of that to re-sign him. I suspect we're going to need most of the remaining cap space to extend contracts of other young starters as Randle isn't the only one from our strong class of 2119 is in the last year of contract. S Kim Fox could be on the bubble as already is G James Tucker. LB Sam Hastings is trickier as is TE Francisco Andersen. The last three have quite the too much for what they have been worth demands. DT Neil Burton has turned into a bit of a first round bust, but at least his contract demands are more in line with his ability and performance. We also have to make a choice on long-timers LB Jorge Mayes and G Alfred Pearson, veteran DE Glen Kafka, rotation players LB Ezekiel O'Neal and CB Marquis Wolf, backups TE Kyle Baker and TE Perry Bussey. And last but not least, there's this best in business guy that is also in the final year on an already expensive contract, K Jeffery DeGroot wants to be the best paid kicker in IHOF history.

So yeah, that $30M in cap space will be gone pretty soon. Hence, G James Tucker is on the trade block, he's not going to get paid by us, most likely, but if he stays without a new contract, he still will be a starter this season. Something similar applies to TE Francisco Andersen and LB Sam Hastings, although I do hope to find a middle ground in contract talks. But we won't start talking until we've reached mid-pre-season, which obviously also applies to all the other aforementioned soon to be free agents.

We're currently in the process of adding our roster up to 60-something players with undrafted rookie free agents. The list of players we made an offer too was quite small. We might als still want to acquire a mentor quarterback for QB Al Schneider, while we could als use some mentoring help in the linebackers group. More on that - and other stuff - later once we know which undrafted rookies have signed with us...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2122 Training Camp roster set?

WR Roman Randle signed a new 4-year deal. No holdout situation, we've got our leading receiver ready to play for us for another bunch of seasons. Same cannot be said about our leading rusher, RB Jackson Powell continues to be a free agent and his dumbass agent fails to understand how this works: yanking back up their demands from $50M to $82M. He's not going to get paid in this league. A shame, he was the #8 rusher last season and now their greediness is going to end his career after 5 seasons. Or maybe he caves in pre-season and eventually gets a 1-year $10M kind of deal somewhere?

Instead, we signed 5 of the 6 targeted undrafted rookies. QB Seth Ramsey is a green kid with a high Solecismic score and sense rush being his strength, combined with an extremely unlikeliness he'll survive pre-season cuts. TE Alejandro Mercado lacks route running skills (seriously, he's IHOF unworthy in that aspect), but the kid can run and block and play special teams, a curious player. DE Bruce Montgomery was 26th on our draft board and brings an interesting combination in potential of pass rush technique, play diagnosis and endurance. DT Raul Oswald is somewhat similar. DT Brock Everett is close, with less endurance, but special teams skills in exchange.

On to training camp, with 61 players signed. Or 62 if the one player we sent an offer to decides to join us...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Your 53 Merchantmen for 2122?

Still on the fence about our G James Tucker, he's on the trade block, yet at te same time, we just offered him a 5-year deal to keep him from becoming a free agent next off-season.

We've trimmed down to 53 players already and bar some late minute trades, we're basically set for the season.

QB Curtis Ginwright signed with us just in time for training camp and for better or worse survived cuts, being a mentor to and better kick holder than QB Al Schneider. Which is another spoiler about who made the team.

Who didn't make the team? Undrafted rookies QB Seth Ramsey and TE Alejandro Mercado were our post training camp cuts. The cutdown between our pre-season games was quite a bit harder as all seven players had something going for them to make it. Undrafted rookies DE Bruce Montgomery and DT Brock Everett were the easiest decisions, lacking the experience and potential to take the spot of one of the veteran pass rushers. Fellow rookies WR Teddy Whitefield and CB Devan Gagliardi showed too little upside to make the team this season. Gagliardi was a 3rd round pick, Whitfield a 7th round pick. The latter already found a new home in Orlando, while in the process turning down a lowball contract offers from all 3 of our division rivals, which I obviously found hilarious. C Chester Coffey and DE B.J. Shellhaas were backups on our team for the past 2 and 1 seasons respectively, while RB Diego Kosters had yet to play for us despite 2 full seasons on our roster. He's already found a new team as Gothenburg picked him up. Kosters surely will come back to bite us in week 1 already. I considered switching Shellhaas to linebacker to actually make his special teams ability useful as defensive linemen just rarely play on special teams, even when they do are excellent in that area. Imagine that: a 6'3" 276 pounds linebacker... Gagliardi just bombed, it wasn't the switch from safety to cornerback that did him in.

So, who did make it?

Quarterbacks
65/65 QB Renaldo Wilson
40/45 QB Al Scheider
05/05 QB Curtis Ginwright (fa signing)
Wilson is the undisputed starter, Schneider the backup. Ginwright is the better kick holder, but I choose to go with Schneider for now and leave Ginwright inactive.

Backfield
45/55 RB Rickey Jorg (rookie)
50/50 FB Rich Hartman
50/50 FB Marc King (fa signing)
35/50 RB Glyn Sloane
25/25 RB Preston Tanner
Jorg has been a pleasant surprise this pre-season, he's going to be our main ball carrier, with Tanner continuing the short yardage and third down role. Sloane has Renaldo Billodeaux clone written all over, but for the time being he'll have to settle with a backup role and an inactive one due to his lack of special teams skills. In contrast, we'll go with 2 fullbacks again, even using both Hartman and King in some formations based on whether we'll pass a lot or not.
Last season's 1,199-yard back RB Jackson Powell is still without a team, he thought he deserved a 1-year $27M contract during pre-season, but now that the regular season is around the corner, he's finally come to his senses and is asking for a 1-year $7.7M deal.

Tight Ends
65/65 TE Francisco Andersen
40/40 TE Kyle Baker
30/40 TE Sedrick Hill
25/25 TE Perry Bussey
Only one change will happen here as Hill will be our new third active tight end, with Bussey dropping to the inactive backup role. Andersen will still be our starter, despite that he's going to be out of contract next off-season and demanding big bucks. We're going to give him a 5-year contract offer, but I don't see us giving him something else if he turns it down.

Wide Receivers
60/60 WR Rufus Montgomery
55/55 WR Roman Randle
50/50 WR Rodolfo Lane
40/40 WR Tyrone Dillon
10/10 WR Blake Begay
05/05 WR Maurice Sweeney
Lane is declining and will have to worry about Dillon this season for playing time/targets. Dillon has improved to being the player with the highest route running ability on the team, so it's very much worth putting him out there on downs where we don't need a lot of speed or agility, just getting open and not dropping the ball for a short gain. Sweeney is still our better kickoff returner, but it looks like RB Rickey Jorg has the potential to take over.

Offensive Linemen
75/75 G Greg Brizzolara
75/75 LT Dan Clancy
55/80 LT Barry Finley
60/60 G James Tucker
45/45 C Tracy Stewart
40/40 G Alfred Pearsall
30/45 G Parker Prior (rookie)
30/40 RT Ryan Fulcher (fa signing)
Our 5 starters are nearly undisputed, yet Pearsall is the cohesion bomb on the group and as such still threatens Tucker and Stewart. Prior is a project, Fulcher the mentor for Finley.

Defensive Linemen
75/75 DT Floyd Dillon
55/55 DT Jeremiah Cortez
50/50 DT Rodney Gagliardi
50/50 DE Phil Wakefield
45/45 DT Neil Burton
45/45 DE Roger Graf
30/50 DT Raul Oswald (undrafted rookie)
35/35 DE Glen Kafka
Our former running downs end B.J. Shellhaas fell apart in pre-season, becoming nothing but a special teamer, which as I pointed out already is worthless on this position group. Oswald will jump into our pass rushers rotation, which makes it easier to move Burton to the running downs group. Dillon has the endurance to carry this unit, the rest are sidekicks. Graf took a big hit in ability, but is still our pass rush technique end.

Linebackers
55/55 LB Sam Hastings
50/60 LB Cristian Beyer
40/55 LB Travis Cantu (rookie)
40/40 LB Jorge Mayes
35/35 LB Ezekiel O'Neal
20/30 LB Luther Goffee
O'Neal dropped hard in pre-season, which will cost him playing time to Beyer and Cantu. Mayes is on the decline and will play very little this season, unless we find out we need his cohesion value, in which case we'll play him ahead of Cantu on running downs. Hastings and Cantu are the passing downs duo, solid zone defenders. Goffee is ready to jump into the special teams role, together with O'Neal. Beyer will continue to grow, hopefully. A nice trio with Hastings, Beyer and Cantu, but all of look like the perfect LB2 next to a true stalwart. Hastings today signed a heavy 5-year deal, which keeps us tied to him for at least this and the next 2 seasons.

Secondary
70/70 CB Andre McAninch
50/50 CB Zachary Blair
45/45 CB Asher McElroy
40/40 S Kim Fox
40/40 S Cesar Welch
35/35 S Peter Hinsley
35/35 S Jimmie Coxwell (fa signing)
30/35 S Max Junker
30/30 CB Marquis Wolf
25/25 CB Billy Cochrane
Nearly the same group as last season. Coxwell is our new special teamer and will play some running formations and could play dime back if needed. Cochrane will be the casualty and start the season inactive.

Special Teams Aces
85/85 K Jeffery DeGroot
55/55 P Devon Middleton
20/20 LS Roderick Kaeding
A solid group, nothing to dispute. Okay, Middleton lacks a bit of power, but if we play the way we've done in recent seasons, we need his corner coffin skills a lot more.

So, all in all, a good group. But, we're stuck in a very strong division and we'll be placing the other division in the league that had 3 teams with a winning record.

Oh yeah, we smooth sailed through pre-season, although losing at Oakland 31-28, we did win at Fairbanks 24-20 and at home beat Chicago 33-17 and Kansas 48-20. In particular RB Rickey Jorg excelled, as did QB Renaldo Wilson. Those 133 points scored were head and shoulders above the rest of the league (second best is 107 points scored). But, you know, it's just pre-season. Besides, we did give up 17+ points each game, making us the 12th worst in pre-season.

Our season will start at Gothenburg, usually the toughest game of the season. Their quarterback took a big step back in his ability, but that doesn't make me much more confident we can beat them in their home. We'll get our chances and we'll have to take advantage of those. Starting the season with a win would be huge, but a hard fought loss would be acceptable.

[MIJB#19]

Editor's Note
Our loyal fans probably already figured out that 2122 is turning into something different from the optimistic encouraging stuff in pre-season. Overall I've lacked the required type of energy to report on my team recently, but I'm sure I'll find the energy at some point to do a season recap once the regular season is over.

[MIJB#19]

Editor's Note
I haven't felt like writing an update at all, yet. The 2122 season has finished, it was a curious one for us on several levels. And at the moment we're setting up our war room for the 2123 draft. And working the phones with all our players' mathematically disabled player agents to get us under the cap. I'll likely write up a 2122 season review at some point...

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2122, Season to quickly forget?

Let's start with the most absurd combination of numbers: we were the only team in our division to outscore our 16 opponents. Yet, we finished the regular season with the worst record in the division as well. Mindboggling stuff, I know, but that's what really happened. Let's quickly recap the games how we got there.


Week 1 at Gothenburg
My comments: The Giants overcame the interceptions with excellent third down offense. That combined with this being one giant false start by our offensive line. Including some penalties committed by that pair of non-signing you-know-whats.
The Giants' quarterback threw 3 interceptions, but also guided his team to going 8 for 13 on third downs. Rookie RB Rickey Jorg scored our only touchdown, we settled for 4 field goals. A weird game to lose with a +3 in turnover margin, still a field position disadvantage of 3 yards per drive, getting outgained in total yards, but also being more than a yard better in the yards per play category.
Result: 19-20 loss

Week 2 at Hanalei
My comments: It was quite the mistake to not let our defense on the plane and dress up random bystanders instead, we may have played a bit better with our real players on the field. But we overcame it and pulled off a hard earned victory on the road.
QB Renaldo Wilson threw 4 touchdown passes to TE Francisco Andersen, TE Kyle Baker and a pair to WR Roman Randle.
Result: 28-21 win

Week 3 at North Plainfield
My comments: We somehow trailed only 7-0 after the fumbelicious first quarter, then our defense continued to downright suck and in the end we didn't deserve to get in position to comeback from behind after being outplayed for most of the game.
We lost the turnover battle 3-0 with all of them fumbles. RB Rickey Jorg scored a pari of rushing touchdowns, while QB Renaldo Wilson threw one to WR Rufus Montgomery.
Result: 24-30 loss

Week 4 bye

Week 5 vs Tucker
My comments: Goodness, we had some sort a legitimate chance to beat the Tigers (aside from a 60-yard pass on 3rd and 25, the D actually played quite okay), but our inability to complete passes or when caught make a third down conversion, it made it all moot. Wilson was 13 for 34 when he got hurt.
CB Andre McAninch scored our only touchdown. It was a weird game, as we got outscored heavily, seriously struggled to get anything going. But the biggest bummer of the game was losing Wilson for a handful due to injury.
Result: 23-27 loss

Week 6 at Augusta
My comments: So much to grumble about, but in the end we can only blame our own silly turnovers and first quarter penalties for this missed opportunity to win on the road. A Kotter running over Merchantmen will surely make the headlines in the fake news papers with sketchy sense of humour.
QB Al Schneider threw a pair of touchdowns with on the receiving end TE Francisco Andersen and WR Roman Randle. We lost the turnover battle 2-0, got outgained, but in part because of a late pick in what could have been the go ahead drive.
Result: 23-27 loss

Week 7 at Paris
My comments: It felt like we were the better team through the third quarter, but the interceptions kept us from taking a lead. Then McDonald woke up in the 4th quarter and a failed fake punt gifted us the game tying touchdown. Then in overtime, we were simply not good enough to keep on pressuring McDonald.
Yet another game where we had the beteer offense, but the turnovers swung things the other way. Penalties didn't help either. QB Al Schneider threw touchdown passes to WR Roman Randle and TE Francisco Andersen.
Result: 17-23 loss

General comment: Unsurprisingly we start the season 1-5 after 5 road games and somewhere in the middle a home game vs Tucker.

Week 8 vs Snapfinger
My comments: First time all season we had no answer to the opponent. yes, we tied it up at some point and the turnovers didn't help either, but it was pretty clear early on and late in the game as well.
A depressing game where QB Al Schneider seriously struggled. RB Rickey Jorg and FB Marc King provided our touchdowns with runs. King isn't even supposed to get carries, but for whatever reasons our OC gave him the ball 4 times. Another 2-0 disadvantage in turnovers, better yards per play, 12 penalties and a field position battle lost.
Result: 23-33 loss

General comment: At this pace the season is going to be a lost season before we even played our 4th home game.

Week 9 vs Bordeaux
My comments: Those two pick sixes turned out to be the cushion we needed doen the road to not make Wilson's interception cost us the win. Rickey Jorg an Tyrone Dillon made their share of big plays too. Giving nearly 550 total yards is never acceptable though, it's not something I'd expect from this defense.
It's crazy that our first touchdowns came on pick sixes by our duo CB Zachary Blair and CB Adre McAninch. QB Renaldo Wilson returned with a touchdown pass to TE Francisco Andersen and RB Rickey Jorg scored on another long run. And the defense gave up almost 550 total yards. It's somewhat of a miracle we still scored more.
Result: 37-30 win

Week 10 at Orlando
My comments: I thought we had it bad with penalties, but that's much worse than the lack of discipline my team showed today. All things combined, we've sunk to the level of not being able to win when the opposing quarterback throws 3 interceptions and the opposing kicker misses an extra point and a short field goal.
We gave up 474 total yards, 7.9 yards per play. That's atrocious defense. Even winning the turnover battle 3-1 will hardly help them. RB Rickey Jorg ran for a touchdown, QB Renaldo Wilson connected with WR Rodolfo Lane and TE Francisco Andersen for scores.
Result: 20-30 loss

General comment: Is it really a bright side of things that the rest of the division is also playing worse than they all did in the last 2 seasons? Somehow we have allowed the least amount of points of all 4 inside the division, we're 26th, the rest is 29th, 31st and 32nd. The division also is 32, 31, 30 and 27th in total yards allowed. And we're all sucking in the turnovers section, our -3 is still the best inside the division. As a division we've already lost the same amount of games as we did combined over the entire last season.

Week 11 vs Gothenburg
My comments: We're just doing it to ourselves now. Pathetic 3rd down defense, turnovers on offense, silly carries to our fullback while we have 3 RB active. Still, Gothenburg played solid enough to brush away their own QB's 3 interceptions and maneuver into field goal position on their final drive, witnessing our lack of calling time outs and eventually time ran out after their last second field goal. We're 2 frickin' 8. This team looks to me too talented to sit at the bottom of the conference, yet here we are.
Scoring last was crucial in this game and, well, our staff completely blanked here, failing to call time out to give us time at the end of a game that we deserved to win by a field goal. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for touchdowns to WR Rufus Montgomery and TE Kyle Baker.
Result: 20-23 loss

Week 12 vs Oakland
My comments: Both teams struggled with penalties again, as did my defense on 3rd downs, but our guys did a bit more just enough right offensively to overcome it.
With 459 total yards a productive day for the offense. QB Renaldo Wilson ran for a score and threw for one to WR Rodolfo Lane. RB Rickey Jorg ran for a score as well. We were clearly the better team today, of not for the pair of interceptions thrown that kept the Black Panthers in it.
Result: 27-23 win

Week 13 vs San Antonio
My comments: Woulda, coulda, shoulda, but we didntda. We played well for most of the game, but not on those 4 big plays by Lucas Schneider. Nor did we have an answer yet to our own penalties problem. And for whatever stupid reasons, we spent our time outs late in the game, yet shortly after didn't go for it on 4th down with too little time left to get the ball back. What an embarrassment.
We gave up almost 500 total yards, 268 yards from scrimmage to their running back, hence, we deserved to end up on the losing end of it. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for a score to WR Rufus Montgomery. RB Glyn Sloane ran for a pair of touchdowns.
Result: 24-27 loss

General comments: We're eliminated with 4 games still to go. But we also have 4 games left where we can play spoiler.

I see a realistic curious goal for my team: 4th place with the best points scored to points allowed difference.

Week 14 at Fairbanks
My comments: It wasn't pretty, unless you like turnovers, but we got the job done somehow. Let the spoiling continue.
A quartet of interceptions from the Fairbanks quarterback were the story of the game. It makes it quite the head shaker that we still won by only 6 points, until you notice that we gained only 238 total yards. Our running backs were neutralized, while QB Renaldo Wilson was held under 200 yards passing. Our touchdowns came on a Wilson pass to TE Kyle Baker and a freak blocked punt recovery in the end zone by CB Asher McElroy.
Result: 26-20 win

Week 15 at Bordeaux
My comments: Yeah, that injury certainly helped us to turn this into a lopsided victory. Happy to play spoiler, but this ain't the right way.
Bordeaux' quarterback got hurt on their first play from scrimmage and their backup came in with 3 turnovers and we still let him throw for 315 yards and run for 47 yards. But with 7.0 yards per play we deserved to win this one. Running touchdowns came from RB Rickey Jorg, RB Glyn Sloane (a pair!) and QB Renaldo Wilson, who also threw for scores to TE Francisco Andersen and WR Tyrone Dillon.
Result: 48-28 win

Week 16 vs Colorado
My comments: A turnover fest combined with a tremendous Colorado punter set up for a game that although we kept leading, we struggled to wrap it up before the final drive.
We completed the sweep of the NAC West, despite almost letting a big lead slip through our hands. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for scores to TE Francisco Andersen, TE Kyle Baker and WR Roman Randle, while RB Rickey Jorg ran for a score. We seriously outgained the Cutthroats 434 vs 313 total yards and 7.6 vs 4.4 yards per play, lost the turnover battle only 3-4, but also looked Merchantmen unworthy in the field position battle due to those giveaways.
Result: 34-31 win

Week 17 vs Paris
My comments: What a weird game, Paris was steamrolling in the first half. Then midway the 3rd quarter the 90-yard pick six happened and all of a sudden the game took a near 180 degree turn in our advantage.
A nasty come back from behind win, with scores by QB Renaldo Wilson (a run and passes to WR Roman Randle and WR Rodolfo Lane) and CB Zachary Blair.
Result: 33-23 win


European Division 2123
1. Gothenburg 10-6
2. Paris 9-7
3. Maassluis 7-9
4. Bordeaux 7-9

Paris would have made the playoffs with at least a tie in week 17, they lost out on tie-breakers to Orlando. Despite beating them head-to-head, the conference record tie-breaker came into play due to it actually being a 3-way tie with San Antonio, which in turn pissed away their division title at Fort Wayne. Had San Antonio won, Paris would have gone into the playoffs on another head-to-head win over Houston, which snuck into the playoffs due to San Antonio's loss. I think Paris' and Fort Wayne's owners are brothers. go figure...

Gothenburg got into the playoffs, beat Orlando 17-16 in the wild card round, but then got crushed 40-20 at Toronto, who in turn got crushed 45-17 at Tucker, the eventual repeat IHOF Champions after a 34-24 win in IHOF Bowl CIX against Arizona.

General comment: And what a weird season, we're the only team in the division that outscored the opponents, yet we have the (tied) worst record as well (so technically we failed to make it a true last place with the best scoring outcome). Gothenburg eventually didn't need our help (nor did we actually want to help them regain the sole lead in the most European division titles race) as they had their own crazy comeback from behind game.

It was a frustrating season. We pissed away games that we could have won, but at the same time were on paper 55-45 losses. And then it was all over before our late season easier stretch began.

We gave up 20 points (or more) in every single game. I was about to proclaim it was unprecedented, but in reality we also played this dreadful in 2077. Curiously, that season we also went 7-9, also tied for the worst record in the division and also had the best points for vs against balance inside the division. Go figure.


So, on to 2123 we go. With no retired players (spoiler!) and a several players out of contract, ready to walk away for free (TE Francisco Andersen, G James Tucker, G Alfred Pearsall, S Kim Fox, DE Glen Kafka, LB Ezekiel O'Neal and mid-season signing DE Sebastian Preston - he came in when DE Phil Wakefield got placed on injured reserve in week 7 due to a hamstring injury.)

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2123 Off-season recap

Boy oh boy, did our off-season not bring much to desire for.

Free Agency
We saw TE Francisco Andersen leave for Chesapeake, maybe he can mimic his third down yards too short tradition there. G James Tucker signed with Snapfinger, I hope they are prepared for his trademark offside penalty on the first drive of the game. DE Glen Kafka has left for Outer Banks and S Kim Fox moved on to Moontown. The other unrestricted free agents (G Alfred Pearsall, LB Ezekiel O'Neal and DE Sebastian Preston) did re-sign with us. Additionally, we signed C Abel Brandon and S Donnell Brennan. Brandon was supposed to become our new backup center, but he fell apart in pre-season and we cut him at mid-pre-season. Brennan did make the team as our new kickoff return specialist.

The Brennan signing was the initiating move to release long-time veteran WR Maurice Sweeney. He was our kickoff returner for 8 seasons, but lost the active roster spot already, as RB Rickey Jorg took over and now Jorg steps back to the KR2 role, with Sweeney no longer good enough to even be a backup.

The draft saw us grab a pick G Marcos Perez (at 1.12), TE Brayden Flylum (at 1.24), DE Chase Joseph (at 3.5), LB Adrian Lofton (at 3.10), S Tristan McCormick (at 3.29) and CB Eric Sanders (at 4.16). We traded our 5yth, 6th and 7th round picks for a 2125 5th round pick from Hanalei. Lofton, McCormick and Sanders failed to make the regular season roster. Lofton and Sanders were major disappointments after the re-evaluation at mid-pre-season. McCormick didn't even make the pre-season roster as I decided he wasn't going to be enough of an upgrade over what we already have on the team. Did any undrafted rookies survive the cut waves? Yes, exactly one did: RB Courtney Jackson.

Not making the team were undrafted rookies QB Julio Brecht, FB Myles Beers, TE Nathaniel Wiggins, P Ezekiel McElroy (this kid was the biggest drop in pre-season on the team), DE Riley Herring, DE Archie Carter, DE Eric Freeman, DE Alfredo Livingston, LB Brant Kiefer, special teams LB Curtis Mooberry and CB Javier Hartman.

Which actually brings us to our 53-men roster for 2123, as I've already made up my mind on them. And some of these players are sort of a disappointment, because pre-season re-evaluation was one of the worst for my team I have seen in decades. I mean, sometimes an old team sees a bunch of veterans drop hard, but this season a lot of promising players took hard to comprehend hits after several previous pre-seasons without any signals of being misses. Our QB2 Al Schneider took a hit, as did our RB2 Glyn Sloane, WR Rufus Montgomery, backup RT Ryan Fulcher, special teams ace LB Luther Goffee, CB Asher McElroy and both S Cesar Welch and S Peter Hinsley. But these all still made the team.

Where are we at now? Here are our 53 players.

Quarterbacks
60/60 QB Renaldo Wilson
35/35 QB Al Schneider
05/05 QB Curtis Ginwright

Backfield
55/55 RB Rickey Jorg
45/45 FB Richie Hartman
40/40 FB Marc King
30/40 RB Courtney Jackson (rookie)
30/35 RB Glyn Sloane
25/25 RB Preston Tanner

Tight Ends
45/60 TE Brayden Flylum (rookie)
40/40 TE Kyle Baker
30/40 TE Sedrick Hill
30/30 TE Perry Bussey

Wide Receivers
55/55 WR Roman Randle
50/50 WR Rufus Montgomery
45/45 WR Rodolfo Lane
40/40 WR Tyrone Dillon
10/10 WR Blake Begay

Offensive Linemen
75/75 G Greg Brizzolara
75/75 LT Barry Finley
75/75 LT Dan Clancy
50/70 G Marcos Perez (rookie)
45/45 C Tracy Stewart
35/45 G Parker Prior
40/40 G Alfred Pearsall
25/35 RT Ryan Fulcher

Defensive Linemen
80/80 DT Tyrone Dillon
55/55 DT Jeremiah Cortez
50/50 DT Rodney Gagliardi
50/50 DE Phil Wakefield
45/45 DT Neil Burton
35/50 DE Chase Joseph (rookie)
40/40 DE Roger Graf
40/40 DE Sebastian Preston

Linebackers
60/60 LB Sam Hastings
60/60 LB Cristian Beyer
55/60 LB Travis Cantu
40/40 LB Jorge Mayes
35/35 LB Ezekiel O'Neal
20/20 LB Luther Goffee

Secondary
70/70 CB Andre McAninch
50/50 CB Zachary Blair
35/35 S Max Junker
35/35 CB Asher McElroy
35/35 S Cesar Welch
30/30 S Jimmie Coxwell
25/25 CB Marquis Wolf
25/25 S Peter Hinsley
25/25 CB Billy Cochrane
25/25 S Donnell Brenner (fa signing)

Special Teamers
85/85 K Jeffery DeGroot
60/60 P Devon Middleton
20/20 LS Roderick Kaeding

Not too much additional fluff insight for the moment, maybe later, or maybe not at all. Pre-season was tough, as it made us drop some promising rookies that completely fell apart and saw our future starting quarterback take a big step back to career backup material. But, we're probably set for a better season that we had last season. I think TE Flylum is an upgrade over TE Andersen, as is G Perez over G Tucker. We'll manage in the secondary, flipping around a bit to make the loss of S Fox doable and bring in S Brennan, who isn't just a kickoff returner, but also an interceptions mojo improvement for the unit. DE Joseph turned out to be first round pick material, so that's a nice find too to bring to our rotation into the role of DE Kafka.

[MIJB#19]

Editor's Note

In what might be one of the most fun regular seasons in decades, I find myself lacking the energy to write about the team. I'll try to write a summary once it's finished, but I'll give you that spoiler here and now that the 2123 Merchantmen have jumped into my personal top 5 - top 10 at worst - amongst all the teams. With 3 regular season games to go, this offense already has scored the 8th most points of all Merchantmen teams in history. And we still haven't clinched a trip to the playoffs, so this can still end up being one of those Merchantmen teams that bulldozes over half the opponents and loses 6 games by a combined 15 points and somehow misses the playoffs on an obscure tie-breaker.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2123, so close, yet so far away

The 2123 IHOF season finished with IHOF Bowl CXX. A clash between the reigning North American Conference champions and a franchise that hadn't won the Atlantic Ocean Conference in the previous 56 seasons. But that AOC representative had impressed in the playoffs and had gone through the regular season with the best points differential. Not to mention that both teams met before in the regular season in an instant classic.

But lets recap the Maassluis Merchantmen 2123 regular season first, because, after all, they are the protagonists in this story.

Week 1 at Bordeaux
In a high scoring back and forth, both teams felt like they had their chances. The first half saw both teams' quarterbacks throw 2 interceptions and it lead to a 21-14 half time score in Bordeaux advantage. A 68-yard run by rookie RB Courtney Jackson tied all up again on the second play from scrimmage in the second half. Another turnover helped Bordeaux into a 35-21 lead, but the Merchantmen kept fighting back and a pair of field goals and a two-point conversion after touchdown in between got things all tied up 35-35 going into the final 3 minutes. Bordeaux attempted a 52-yard field goal with 34 seconds remaining, but it failed. The Merchantmen responded with rookie TE Brandon Flylum turning a a short throw from QB Renaldo Wilson into a 32-yard gain and as th clock stared blank, K Jeffery DeGroot converted the 38-yard field goal for the victory.
QB Wilson threw for 308 yards, with 3 interceptions, but also 3 touchdowns (2 to TE Flylum and 1 to TE Kyle Baker). RB Jackson scored a rushing touchdown and WR Rufus Montgomery gained 113 yards receiving.
Result 38-35 win

Week 2 vs Kansas
Long story short, the Merchantmen blew away the opponents and cruised to a solid victory. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 249 yards with 2 touchdown passes, one each to TE Brayden Flylum and WR Tyrone Dillon. RB Courtney Jackson ran for a touchdown. LB Travis Cantu contributed with an interception return touchdown.
Result 37-10 win

Week 3 at Snapfinger
An entertaining high scoring affair arose as both teams showed a lot of guts on offense and it felt like the defenses were both kind of missing in action. Late in the game, the merchantmen thought they won the game when K Jeffery DeGroot converted a field goal with 1:13 on the clock, but Snapfinger produced a solid last minute drive to kick it into overtime. A blocked punt at the end of Snapfinger's first possession in overtime made the difference, as it eventually set up the short field goal for the Merchantmen victory.
QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 337 yards and 3 touchdowns, one each to his WR trio of WR Roman Randle (he gained 125 receiving yards), WR Rufus Montgomery and WR Rodolfo Lane, while RB Courtney Jackson ran for a score in his 103 yards rushing performance.
Result 37-34 win in overtime

Week 4 bye

Week 5 vs North Plainfield
Despite giving up 520 total yards on defense, visiting North Plainfield struggled to get into the red zone. In turn, the Merchantmen (425 total yards) dominated the field position battle and were efficient in their red zone visits. It resulted in a blowout scoreline. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 259 yards with touchdown passes to TE Bryden Flylum (also 112 yards receiving), WR Rufus Montgomery and TE kyle Baker, while RB Courtney Jackson ran for a touchdown.
Result 34-13 win

Week 6 at Rochester
Despite storming to a quick 20-0 lead, helped by a pair of defensive interceptions and a 75-yard fumble return touchdown, home playing Rochester kept playing their heart out. Albeit struggling to get points, settling for field goals quite a lot, Rochester scored on a fumbled punt return to get back into the game. On a long (12-play) drive, eventually they scored a 45-yard field goal to send the game to overtime. Once there, Rochester dominated with a fast three and out on defense and quickly moving into Maassluis territory to set up their game winning field goal, ending the unbeaten streak for the Merchantmen.
QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 294 yards with 2 touchdowns, both into the hands of WR Rufus Montgomery on his 110-yard receiving performance. RB Rickey Jorg ran for a touchdown. DE Graf scored a fumble return touchdown.
Result 33-36 loss in overtime

Week 7 vs Toronto
In a game where the Merchantmen struggled to get into the end zone, we still got close enough plenty enough to see K Jeffery DeGroot score 4 field goals to keep the back and forth going. A late tow-point conversion got the Merchantmen up 33-26, but it was responded with a quick 52-yard catch and run. With 42 seconds and 3 time outs remaining, the Merchantmen drove downfield to attempt 51-yard field goal, but it fell short. Overtime came and saw neither team get much of success offensively, although the Merchantmen kept the field position advantage. Until a penalty pushed them back and a short punt got Toronto closer. Two crucial third down conversions got Toronto close enough and with 22 seconds to go, their kicker attempted and converted their game winning field goal.
QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 261 yards with touchdown passes to TE Brayden Flylum and WR Roman Randle, who also had a 103-yard performance in the process. Off-season acquisition S Donnell Brenner scored an 88-yard kickoff return touchdown.
Result 33-36 loss in overtime

Week 8 at Paris
The streak of scoring at least 33 points in every game came to an end for the Merchantmen, but it was just barely as they battled past Paris. Despite an overwhelming field position advantage, the Merchantmen kept settling for field goals and eventually needed all those field goals to pull off the victory. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 281 yards with touchdown passes to TE Bryden Flylum and TE Kyle Baker.
Result 31-25 win

Week 9 at Harlem
Despite gaining 476 total yards on offense and giving up 317 on defense, losing the turnover battle 3-0 ended up being the crucial part in the first loss for the Merchantmen in regulation. Tied 20-20, Harlem drove for a 23-20 lead by field goal, but the Merchantmen fucked up by not calling time out there. The final 14 seconds were too little to both get into field goal position as with 4 seconds to go QB Renaldo Wilson reached WR Rufus Montgomery on a hail mary pass at the Harlem 27-yard line, but time expired before the third time out could be called to kick it to overtime. Wilson threw for 343 yards with touchdown passes to WR Roman Randle and TE Bryden Flylum (on a 121-yard receiving performance).
Result 20-23 loss

Week 10 vs Bordeaux
The frustration of the previous game was played away as the Merchantmen steamrolled the seemingly hopeless opponents. The advantage of 471 to 191 total yards translated into the scoreboard. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 236 yards and 3 touchdowns, while QB Al Schneider added 1 touchdown pass in garbage time. Receiving touchdowns were for WR Roman Randle (twice), WR Rufus Montgomery and FB Marc King, while RB Courtney Jackson ran for a touchdown.
Result 47-7 win

Week 11 vs Gothenburg
The steamrolling continued with a demolishing demonstration against the struggling Gothenburg team. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 300 yards and a touchdown pass to TE Bryden Flylum. Wilson, RB Rickey Jorg and RB Courtney Jackson all ran for a touchdown. WR Roman Randle gained 124 yard receiving. CB Billy Cochrane scored on a 86-yard fumble return.
Result 44-16 win

Week 12 at Chicago
For the first time all season, the Merchantmen found themselves getting outplayed. Even seeing the opposing quarterback getting hurt, didn't shift things. Although it looked like a competitive back and forth where the lead kept flipflopping throughout the high scoring first half (Chicago lead 24-23 at half time). In the second half the Chicago defense stood up. The Merchantmen thought victory was theirs after a 30-yard field goal with 34 second to go put them 29-27 up, Chicago replied with a freak short pass turning into a 30-yard gain to have 3 seconds remaining for the game winning 48-yard field goal attempt, which succeeded. A freak loss, but one that was deserved.
QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 265 yards with touchdown passes to TE Bryden Flylum (twice) and WR Roman Randle.
Result 29-30 loss

Week 13 vs Fort Wayne
The Merchantmen bounced back with yet another blow out victory as the visiting team needed an interception return touchdown to double their touchdon tally. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 359 yards with 3 passing and 1 rushing touchdowns. RB Courtney Jackson also ran for a touchdown. WR Roman Randle had 2 receiving touchdowns, TE Bryden Flylum had 1 touchdown amidst his impressive 173 yards receiving.
Result 41-17 win

Week 14 at Arizona
In the game of the week and what looked like it could be a potential IHOF Bowl matchup, the 8-4 Merchantmen were visiting 9-3 Arizona. The two top scoring teams in each conference delivered with a nailbiter of a back and forth game. The score went from 0-3 down, to 7-3 up, to 10-7 down, 16-7 down, 16-14, 23-14 to 23-21 at half time. The third quarter ended on a 53-yard field goal for Arizona to make it 26-21 for them. With a touchdown and two-point conversion the Merchantmen flipped it to 29-26 and an impressive goal line stand forced Arizona to settle for the game tying field goal late in the fourth quarter. The Merchantmen responded with an impressive clock draining drive, where a field goal may have done the trick, but they had just enough left in the tank to toss it into the end zone to the 36-29 lead. The Arizona quarterback got sacked on their hail mary attempt on the next and final play of the game.
QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 332 yards and 5 touchdowns, spreading them around over TE Bryden Flylum, WR Rufus Montgomery, TE Kyle Baker, WR Tyrone Dillon and TE Sedrick Hill, while WR Roman Randle had 111 yards receiving.
Result 36-29 win

Week 15 vs Paris
The Merchantmen looked a bit pale at times, struggling to show the fire power on offense that their fans were used to. But a sold out Oranje Have got what they came for: partying over a new European Division title. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 213 yards with touchdown passes to TE Bryden Flylum and WR Rufus Montgomery. RB Rickey Jorg and RB Courtney Jackson both ran for a touchdown.
Result 27-19 win

Week 16 vs Iowa
With a bye week still a possibility, the Merchantmen decided not to flip to giving backups playing time. A kind of silly thing to say to begin with as on defense pretty much 20 different players see a lot of playing time and on offense the playing time somewhat spread over 10 different skill position players. Due to injuries on the offensive line all 6 potential starters got their share and all that could be really done is benching the quarterback. The way the game played out, QB Renaldo Wilson was benched late in the game as the Merchantmen put down their most dominant showing of the season so far, holding wild card hopeful Iowa to 169 total yards on offense and a humiliating shutout deficit. QB Wilson threw for 260 yards with 2 touchdowns, both to WR Roman Randle. RB Rickey Jorg ran for a touchdown. K Jeffery DeGroot scored 4 field goals of 40+ yards.
Result 33-0 win

Week 17 at Gothenburg
With the home playing Gothenburg team still having a if-this-and-that scenario to get into the playoffs, it was apparent that the hopes for a bye week were not going to be easy for the Merchantmen. As things played out elsewhere, the bye became impossible either way as it turned it to be that Gothenburg wound up missing the playoffs due to results elsewhere. The home playing Giants did put down one of their best showings of the season, while the Merchantmen had by far the biggest turd of a performance in not only this season, but quite possibly in a bunch of seasons. Despite having 0 turnovers, the 222 total yards on offense should say plenty enough. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 142 yards with touchdown passes to TE Bryden Flylum and WR Rufus Montgomery.
Result 17-29 loss

European Division
1. Maassluis 11-5
2. Gothenburg 9-7
3. Paris 6-10
4. Bordeaux 4-12

Tucker went into the playoffs as the AOC #1 seed at 13-3, Toronto #2 with a 12-4 record, Atlanta #3 at 11-5 and Maassluis just #4. #5 Orlando was also 11-5 and #6 North Plainfield 9-7, getting in on the head-to-head tie-breaker over Gothenburg. Arizona (12-4) topped the NAC far ahead of four 10-6 teams (Moontown, Frederick, Oakland and Williamsburg) and a 9-7 wild card (Chesapeake).

With 537 points scored, the Merchantmen ended up just behind Arizona (547) and Tucker (543), but ahead of Toronto (507) and Orlando (499). Only once in IHOF history have 5 teams scored 500+ points, so this season was clearly one for the ages in that area.
With a +178 differential the Merchantmen lead the league, tied with Tucker and ahead of Orlando (+160), Arizona (+150) and Toronto (+107).

Week 18 vs Orlando
Expecting a high scoring affair, the neutral football fans were somewhat disappointed. In particular the Merchantmen defense impressed with forcing Orlando to settle for a field goal in all 4 of their red zone visits and seeing Orlando score 3 times on them. In return, the Merchantmen saw rookie TE Bryden Flylum turn a short pass from QB Renaldo Wilson turn into a 50-yard touchdown and it became the play of the game. Shortly after a short pick six scored by CB Zachary Blair put a lock on the game. QB Wilson threw for 193 yards with the other touchdown pass to RB Courtney Jackson.
Result 24-9 win

Week 19 at Toronto
Helped by North Plainfield's upset win at Atlanta, Maassluis was playing in Toronto at the #2 seed and not at #1 seed Tucker. The Merchantmen wanted revenge for their unnecessary loss against Toronto in the regular season, which eventually flipped the two teams in the seeding order. What was shaping up to be a barnburner (Maassluis led 20-17 at half time), in the fourth quarter the game shifted into a lopsided affair as the Merchantmen kept forcing fumbles and piling on to their lead. At the end of the game, the average field position was quite telling: Maassluis started their drives on average at the 50-yard line, which wasn't entirely based on Toronto's last three drives all turning over on downs.
QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 273 yards with touchdown passes to TE Bryden Flylum and WR Rufus Montgomery. Both RB Courtney Jackson and RB Rickey Jorg ran for a touchdown. K Jeffery DeGroot scored 5 field goals, including 4 from 40+ yards.
Result 43-23 win

For the first time since the 2091 season, the Merchantmen were going to the AOC Championship game! And the usual opponent in such games was awaiting: the Tucker Tigers.

Week 19 at Tucker
Surely the season was to end in Tucker as the Merchantmen played so well in the regular season, but so did the hosting Tigers. What was supposed to be a high scoring close game, it quickly turned into a blowout win, but shockingly for the visiting underdog Merchantmen. With 596 total yards on offense, it became a performance for the ages. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 407 yards with touchdown passes to WR Rodolfo Lane, WR Roman Randle and WR Rufus Montgomery (he also gained 157 yards receiving), while RB Courtney Jackson and RB Rickey Jorg (twice) accounted for rushing touchdowns. LB Travis Cantu piled on with a garbage time 75-yard interception return touchdown.
Result 54-19 win

So, after 56 seasons, the Merchantmen are back into the IHOF Bowl. And 1-point favorites going in.

Week 20 vs Arizona
And then the wheels came off. It wasn't that the offense was completely missing in action, but 3 turnovers from QB Renaldo Wilson got unanswered by the defense and as a result the Arizona Miners got it easy. They also saw their kicker score on two impressive long field goals, yet also miss one. It all was to no avail. The earlier regular season win at Arizona gave confidence that never translated into a result in this bowl game. The game was basically over before the fourth quarter had started. It certainly felt like the Merchantmen of 2123 did not show up for IHOF Bowl CXX. For the first time this season, the Merchantmen didn't score a touchdown. QB Renaldo Wilson threw for 283 yards, WR Roman Randle caught for 128 yards.
Result 6-26 loss

And just like that, after a strong regular season and one of the most impressive conference playoffs runs, a flat fallen team goes back home without the championships rings. Nevertheless, the 2123 Merchantmen go into memory as one of the top5 awesome Merchantmen teams.


The 2124 off-season is around the corner and keeping the team together will be a challenge. We'll head into free agency and the draft at $173M over the $663M salary cap. Trading away our draft picks will get us only so far, as will capping out the contracts of everybody on a long term deal. But we'll get close and see what happens to us having 47 players still under contract. RB Courtney Jackson had a great season, he'll be a restricted free agent. Unrestricted free agents will be Backup OT Ryan Fulcher (he demands a trade), DT Jeremiah Cortez, LB Jorge Mayes and S Jimmie Coxwell. Special teams ace WR Blake Begay has decided to retire.

So yeah, there's very little time available to sob about the loss, the main focus for the general manager is in the off-season, which will start about now.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2124 off-season

The 2124 off-season is in full swing, we're ready for training camp. No less than 15 new names joined the team for training camp. Not so much a result of our draft, as we traded away all our picks in the first through sixth rounds and spent as few as 2 seventh round picks on WR Chad Garrett and DT C.J. Tapley. THey were joined by undrafted rookies RB Lawrence Bridges, WR Emmett Huntley, DE Jared Badalyan, LB Sebastian Garcia, LB Andres Spencer, LB Wesley Lenhart, CB Carter Banks and S Dwayne Hancock.

Free agency saw us lose DT Jeremiah Cortez. A tough loss, as I hoped to bring him back as soon as we found cap relief. Sadly, the player agent of LB Sam Hastings kept being a mathematically incompetent one and eventually we capped out Hastings' contract, but too late to make cap space available to re-sign Cortez. LB Jorge Mayes and S Jimmie Coxwell eventually did sign a new deal with us. We also signed some veteran free agents in FB Myles Beers (he spent camp with us in his rookie season 2123), pass blocker OT Elliot McKenzie, pass rusher LB Dillon Harding and zone defenders S Kris Backer and J.C. Manning. Those last two became a must need when we found out veteran S Peter Hinsley was suspended and subsequently we decided to release him. He was on the last year of contract and the suspension might it pretty likely for him to retire next off-season anyway. Last but not last, RB Courtney Jackson re-signed as a restricted free agent.

We're currently $13.15M under the $663.8M salary cap and aforementioned RB Jackson will be amongst the players that will become a free agent in the 2125 off-season. WR Rufus Montgomery is by far the most important player on that list. It also includes QB Al Schneider, both our fullbacks, TE Kyle Baker, WR Tyrone Dillon, C Tracy Stewart, G Alfred Pearsall (he's unwilling to sign a new deal), DT Rodney Gagliardi, LB Cristian Beyer, kickoff returning S Donnell Brenner. and a bunch of our role players in the secondary.

[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2124 roster set
Our final cut downs from 63 players to 53 have been finished. We trimmed down to 60 for pre-season with the release of undrafted rookies LB Sebastian Garcia, LB Wesley Lenhart and CB Carter Banks. At the middle of the pre-season action we released undrafted rookie LB Andres Spencer, free agent signing S Kris Backer, LB Luther Goffee and veteran DE Sebastian Preston. FB Marc King was traded to Harlem. King, Goffee and Preston all showed regression in pre-season, with Preston's agent being a total moron and basically axing his own player by demanding a raise in salary despite the decline. Goffee was one of our aces on special teams, but he became just on par with other linebackers on team and as such expendable. King lost the starting role last season and we decided to not keep him either. Lastly, after the final pre-season games, we released RB Glyn Sloane and undrafted rookie S Dwayne Hancock. Sloane regressed in 2123 and dropped a spot in the depth chart to rookie RB Lawrence Bridges, while not having any special teams value either. Hancock lost out in the numbers game amongst many other zone defense specialists, with his complete lack of special teams skills clinching it. So, what's our roster now?

Quarterbacks
55/55 QB Renaldo Wilson
35/35 QB Al Schneider
00/00 QB Curtis Ginwright
Wilson starts another season, albeit seeing his biggest drop so far since arriving in Maassluis. Schneider will be the understudy for another season. Ginwright is a mentor and kick holder, we'll likely extend his contract into 2125 in case we draft a new quarterback then.

Backfield
55/55 RB Rickey Jorg
35/40 RB Courtney Jackson
40/40 FB Rich Hartman
30/35 RB Lawrence Bridges - rookie
25/30 FB Myles Beers - free agent signing
Jorg and Jackson will be the rotation again, although Bridges impressed in pre-season. Beers will join Hartman on the backfield special teams group, not being ready yet in 2124, but now he does look ready.

Tight Ends
60/60 TE Brayden Flylum
40/40 TE Kyle Baker
35/40 TE Sedrick Hill
30/30 TE Perry Bussey
Same group as last season, Flylum returns as one of our three 1,000-yard receivers, whilst also scoring 14 touchdowns. Baker has developed into a solid route runner.

Wide Receivers
55/55 WR Roman Randle
45/45 WR Rufus Montgomery
45/45 WR Rodolfo Lane
45/45 WR Tyron Dillon
30/35 WR Emmett Huntley - rookie
15/35 WR Chad Garrett - rookie
Yes, they are declining, but these four guys played so well last season. Dillon has turned into the best route runner on the team, we'll get him more involved than last season. Garrett is a third down route runner with special teams skills. Huntley might turn into our new punt returner sooner or later, stepping in as soon as Lane is no longer able to play. Randle and Montgomery both were 1,000-yard receivers last season, Montgomery with a solid 10.5 yards per target and Randle with 10 touchdowns.

Offensive Line
80/80 LT Barry Finley
75/75 G Greg Brizzolara
75/75 LT Dan Clancy
70/70 G Marcos Perez
45/45 C Tracy Stewart
40/40 G Parker Prior
35/35 G Alfred Pearsall
30/30 RT Elliot McKenzie - free agent signing
We didn't find a more suitable center to improve over Stewart, so he's getting another season, although quite possibly his last if his demands don't go down next off-season. Around him is a phenomenal foursome, it's quite profound they still let their quarterback get sacked as often as they did though.

Defensive Line
80/80 DT Floyd Dillon
50/50 DE Phil Wakefield
45/50 DE Chase Joseph
45/45 DT Neil Burton
45/45 DT Rodney Gagliardi
45/45 DE Roger Graf
30/40 DE Jared Badalyan - rookie
30/35 DT C.J. Tapley - rookie
We lost DT Jeremiah Cortez, which might be a bigger hit than we may wish for. It means Burton will be involved again, as does it mean we'll let some linebackers play defensive end on some formations. Tapley and Badalyan are not yet ready to step into the rotation, Tapley may never be.

Linebackers
60/60 LB Travis Cantu
55/55 LB Sam Hastings
55/55 LB Cristian Beyer
35/35 LB Jorge Mayes
25/25 LB Ezekiel O'Neal
25/25 LB Dillon Harding - free agent signing
Harding jumps in as our new special teamer, together with longtimer O'Neal. Cantu, Hastings and Beyer all played a lot last season and against all odds it looks like Mayes will again see some action on the running downs and neutral formations, especially with O'Neal showing more regression.

Secondary
75/75 CB Andre McAninch
40/40 CB Zachary Blair
35/35 S Max Junker
35/35 S J.C. Manning - free agent signing
30/30 S Cesar Welch
25/25 CB Asher McElroy
25/25 CB Marquis Wolf
25/25 CB Billy Cochrane
25/25 S Jimmie Coxwell
20/20 S Donnell Brenner
Manning is the new guy, stepping into the spot of suspended and released Peter Hinsley. Cochrane, Brenner and Coxwell still made the team based on their special teams value. Most of them we'll rely on their cohesive factor.

Specialists
85/85 K Jeffery DeGroot
55/55 P Devon Middleton
20/20 LS Roderick Kaeding
A solid trio, seriously.

Overall, we didn't really improve this off-season, regressing was there and the only true improvement was the progress of G Perez and TE Flylum reaching (near) their full potential. With 9 new players, it's not a total return of the previous 53 players, but those 9 guys are all in a backup role, except for S Manning and LB Harding, while FB Beers and WR Garrett will step into the special teams unit.

We'll be facing the weakest divisions from each conference, based on 2124 performance, but as division champions we also get Tucker and Toronto as our replacement for not facing ourselves. Gothenburg won't get it easy either, facing both wild cards Orlando and North Plainfield. Paris and Bordeaux perhaps get some of the easiest schedules with Maassluis and Gothenburg arguably the toughest opponents. Atlanta in the Deep South was 11-5 and +120 in points, so certainly a team to watch out for, whilst Moontown in the Atlantic Coast Division is quickly rising team after recent ownership change.

We'll have to start and maintain strong, as the hardest part of the schedule could be the back end with @ Tucker, vs Texas, @ Gothenburg, @Moontown and vs Bordeaux as the last 5 regular season games. We start with trips to Paris and Outer Banks, followed by hosting Toronto and San Antonio, so it's not quite unthinkable that we'll be happy to be 2-2 when we reach they unavoidable early bye week.

But that's way too much premature blah blah, let's stick with what worked for us last season, taking it one game at a time. 2123 was a fun season, let's hope these guys have a fun 2124 in them as well.

[QuikSand]

Trying not to spoil drama for those following here but not at the league site...

Spoiler

If things work out today, we could have a Massluis-Chesapeake showdown in the title game. Best of luck!

[MIJB#19]

How sad is that, it's been 2 weeks since QuikSand's post and I didn't even notice it until now. 2124 saw perhaps the best Merchantmen team ever, it was the best team in the league during the regular season. Yet I didn't have the energy nor desire to write about it. Sorry for anybody that's been following along in this 3rd installment until the recent couple of seasons with less updates.