[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Way to jinx it..
You invest so much and then this happens...

"1-10-PAR31 (4Q: 00:08) Dylan McMullen attempted a 48 yard field goal and missed wide to the left. A bad snap from center appeared to cause the miscue."

It was a little bit of a shootout, this game against the Paris Musketeers, at home, in our own Oranje Haven. But at the same time, it wasn't. We took the lead on the Ashley to Schulz special (similar to the Blazewicz special), went down 10-7, saw Rickey Lyle immediately turn the tide with a kickoff return touchdown and long before the first quarter was over, we had a firm 21-10 lead. By half time it was 31-19. Indeed, half time.

Early in the fourth we improved to a 38-26 lead, this game was in the pocket, right? Not quite, a short pick six (rookie mistakes, Earnest Ashley?) brought Paris back in striking distance, but it wasn't until Paris ran out of time outs, forcing us to punt with a minute to go. The special night wasn't over yet, Marshall Aleman returned it for Paris the full 84 yards into our end zone, the extra point made it 39-38 for Paris. A phenomenal third and 15 pass from Ashley to Theodore Bondy kept the chains moving, while Ashley himself ran for 16 yards on the next play to get within field goal range. We declined a holding penalty on that same play and with 8 seconds left, our expensive kicker, with top notch long snapper and holder just had to convert it. Aforementioned happened: wide left and the 39-38 score held up in Paris favor.

Quite the bummer, as you can imagine. Sure, Paris was in ball control in time and won the turnover battle, but we nearly over came those with efficient run and pass offenses. Ashley completed 17 of 34 passes for 274 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, ran 3 times for 52 yards and fumbled once. This kid doesn't like to scramble, but when he does, he makes things happen.

But, how much can we really expect here? Yes, I want, demand, our team to win 10 games, at minimum, every season. But the other day I glanced over our roster and then to the draft class we had. It's a good group of rookies, and almost everyone of them is on the field quite often. QB Earnest Ashley goes without saying by now, but the offense also features our duo LT Johnnie Houston and LT Isaac Delgado playing quite a bit at left tackle and left guard respectively. DT Harold Gough sees quite the action on our pass defense unit in a end rusher role, while CB Zachary Weisz and CB Bryson Swafford kind off split time. Kickoff returner CB Keegan Cosby hasn't played yet. Undrafted rookies FB Owen Johnston and LB Andrew Cochrane have joined the core of our special teams unit.

Division
1. Bordeaux 6-1
2. Gothenburg 5-2
3. Maassluis 4-3
4. Paris 3-4

Yes, it's still tight. If, big if, we regroup and start a 9-game winning spree, we'll be division champions anyway. Point being, we still play Bordeaux and Gothenburg twice each. It's really still all in our own hands and feet.

One week at a time, that's today's reminder. Next up is a visit to Houston, a place where we've played quite a lot in recent seasons. Our last win there in 2091 snapped a 7-game losing streak in their place, with the previous last win before that in 2076.

Clay Gaynor will be back in action, that will give a boost to our passing game, reuniting our fabulous five of Theodore Bondy, Clay Gaynor, Clarence Gore, Ed Schulz and George Stuckey. Okay, let's not get overexcited here, it's a nice group, but "fabulous" is kind of a stretch for now. But giving all of them 5+ targets every game, that's part of the plan now: keep them guessing, not just whether we'll run or pass, but also where the ball will been thrown. There are no guarantees in football, but if we try and work hard, we can accomplish things. We lost two close games, then posted four strong victories, so bouncing back after today's unneeded loss will show how resilient we really are.