[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2011, the second six-week series

After our 2-3 start to the season, the middle 6 games of the regular season have been played. A series that included clashes with all 3 our division rivals, the second half of the intraconference series against the AOC Southeast division and an interconference home game against an NAC West opponent.

Week 7 at Paris
In terms of overall wins and losses, Paris is putting up a fight with us this season. Sending a strong message that we're still ahead was desirable and the team did, yet also learned that Paris wasn't going to let themselves pummeled anymore. Despite a 461 total yards performance, the offense struggled in the red zone as we settled for 3 short field goals. In return, the defense kept Paris in check after their first drive resulted in touchdown, as they didn't come any closer than a missed field goal. QB Harrison Singleton threw for 318 yards and a touchdown to WR Jessie Vertelney, who lead the team with 133 yards receiving. DE Frank Bernard had 2.0 sacks.
Result: 16-7 victory

Week 8 vs Snapfinger
And then we bounced back to earth again. In what felt like a trap game, that premonition delivered. Snapfinger's rookie QB Frank Leach had one of his best games so far, while our own offense struggled against the talented Snapfinger defense. We actually still lead by 6 points late in the fourth quarter, when Leach lead his team to their longest drive on the game, converting on a short touchdown run himself. We had a chance to turn it around, as on the final play of the game TE Ted Gordon broke free for a big gain, but as he failed to go out of bounds, time ran out when QB Harrison Singelton tried to spike the ball to stop the clock and give us a 45-yard field goal attempt. Singleton threw for just 172 yards, with 1 touchdown pass to WR Calvin Maxwell, who lead the team with 105 yards receiving. DE Frank Bernard and DT Efrain Hutchins had 1.5 sacks each.
Result: 16-17 loss

Week 9 vs Bordeaux
The team bounced back big time in the home game against Bordeaux. Our struggling division rivals picked off QB Harrison Singleton twice in the first quarter, but as they came away with 2 field goals from it, it became clear it wasn't going to be their day. Singleton threw for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns, all three to our current receiving phenomenon WR Jessie Vertelney. RB Bennett Holmes contributed with a rushing touchdown. DE Frank Bernard ran havoc on the opposing line once again, making 2.5 sacks.
Result: 37-12 victory

Week 10 at Orlando
And then we tripped another time over clock management. Despite the tough matchup, we found ourselves leading 16-10 going into the fourth quarter and still up 16-13 when we drained Orlando's time outs in the final minutes. But after their QB Conor Shea found his tight end wide open for a 37-yard gain, S John Aponte let our team down with unsportsmanship, resulting in a stopped clock and 15 more yards for Orlando. It gave them just enough time and distance to not just kick to send the game to overtime, but actually score a touchdown with 17 seconds remaining. Our Hail Mary attempt from our own 25-yard line failed and the game ended in a wasted opportunity to beat a wild card rival. QB Harrison Singelton was held to 175 yards passing. RB Bennett Holmes ran for our only touchdown of the game. DT Gabriel Morris forced 2 fumbles.
Result: 16-20 loss

Week 11 vs Gothenburg
And then the game of the season was here. In a sense that this would basically be our last chance to keep the visiting Giants from cakewalking to the division title. It turned out to be a fantastic game of football, with things going back and forth. We took an early 14-0 lead, struggled with turnovers, saw Gothenburg get by, while we did just enough to kick a field goal as the clock ran out for a 17-17 half time score.
Gothenburg dominated the third quarter, taking a 10-point lead, but in the fourth quarter the whole team stepped it up. First the defense forced three-and-out, followed by a punt returned to midfield. QB Harrison Singelton discovered TE Ted Gordon today, finding him twice to end the drive on a 16-yard touchdown. The defense then kept the Gothenburg quarterback in check for 3 straight incomplete passes and they panicked by punting from our 35-yard line, not feeling confident to attempt a 52-yard field goal.
In the final 7 minutes QB Harrison Singleton showed all of his skills. He ran for 11 yards, found a wide open TE Ted Gordon for a 22-yard gain and when already in field goal range, found WR Jessie Vertelney for the full 4 yards to extend the drive. A 9-yard scramble on 3rd and 7 gave us another fresh set of downs and despite all the penalties the offense was committing, eventually RB Bennett Holmes ran it in for a 4-point lead and just 1 minute remaining. The Giants came close, reaching our 34-yard line, but in particular DE Frank Bernard stepped up and his pass rush pressure was too much to overcome for the visitors. Despite needing a touchdown, Gothenburg decided not to attempt a Hail Mary and even a screen pass proved too much to ask of Burt Kiluk at this crucial moment.
QB Harrison Singleton threw for 284 yards with 2 touchdown passes, 1 to WR Calvin Maxwell (a 50-yarder, the old man can still do it) and 1 to TE Ted Gordon, who had a breakout performance with 124 yards receiving. RB Cary Delgado and RB Bennett Holmes both ran for a touchdown.
Result: 31-27 victory

Week 12 vs Oakland
In a game touted by stats driven media as the clash of two sack machines, the two league leaders were both kept in check by their opposing offensive linemen. Neither our DE Frank Bernard nor Oakland's DE Terry Hopper was able to add to their 13.5 sacks after 11 games played. It was also the clash of All-IHOF quarterbacks from last season, between their QB Roberto Fredrickson and his 5 interceptions versus our QB Harrison Singleton and his 6 interceptions. In this game, both were picked off, for each the 9th of the season already.
After a back and forth in the first half, that saw Oakland leading 17-14 by half time, turnovers eventually piled on too much for Oakland to stay in pace. A couple of fumbled punt returns, both forced by WR Calvin Maxwell, kept the Oakland offense off the field, while an earlier 97-yard interception return touchdown by S Dan Peterson already flipped the score into Maassluis advantage. Oakland finished strong with a 69-yard touchdown drive to get within 5 points and after we settled for a field goal, Oakland saw their completed Hail Mary pass get stopped at our 28-yard line to end the game.
QB Harrison Singleton threw for just 157 yards and a touchdown to WR Calvin Maxwell, while Singleton ran for a touchdown as well. RB Cary Delgado scored the other offensive touchdown. S Dan Peterson scored the aforementioned interception return touchdown.
Result: 31-23 victory


So, after a strong 4-2 series with both losses missed opportunities to secure the win, while 1 win was a nailbiter and 1 win was a shouldn't have gotten close anymore, we're bouncing back into the longshot wild card race and 21 wins behind the division leading Gothenburg Giants, with tie-breakers somewhat favorable, but most definitively not determined at all.

European Division
1. Gothenburg 8-3
2. Maassluis 6-5
3. Paris 5-6
4. Bordeaux 1-10

Our final stretch of the regular season will not be easy either. We start with three road games at Rochester (7-4), Fairbanks (3-8) and Bordeaux. Rochester is currently sitting at the #6 seed spot, which means a win there would be huge for the wild card race. Fairbanks has been struggling, but did win 3 of their last 5. Bordeaux is too good to be 1-10 (yet there they are), so we can't write it down as an easy win. We split the series with them in several recent seasons. Our season then will continue with home games against Colorado (8-3) and Paris. Colorado is one of four NAC leading 8-win teams that all lost in week 12. And Paris is no longer an instawin.

We're a little bit limping, with change of pace RB Marcus Jorg out for the rest of the regular season with a broken ankle and punt returner CB Will Warrick out with a concussion. Both will be replaced with RB Darnell Greenham, which comes to show how some decisions end up being a good one after all, as we nearly axed Greenham on the cutdown to 53 men. WR Preston Gray will return to the team after missing a couple of games, which prompted to the return of veteran WR Rick Emerson to the active roster.

But that's part of football and we * knock on wood * are not limping as much as a lot of other teams are. Orlando misses their quarterback in the final stretch, which feels like it ends their push for a wild card. Gothenburg missed their running back against us with a broken jaw and Bordeaux has place their star tight end on injured reserve. But at the same time, those are probably the worst of it all. Aside maybe our former LB Abraham Desimone. Williamburg has placed him on injured reserve after he needed MCL knee surgery. You never know in advance how players recover from such personal physical drama.

Anyway, we'll sail on and hope to find ourselves back truly back into the playoffs race after a win in Rochester. Which could be a must win to keep our hopes strong...