[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Fee Fi Fo, Four in a Row
No, not losses, four victories.

Growing pains? Earnest Ashley had to endure two losses in the first two games, but our rookie quarterback as taking the IHOF by storm now. Today was a 37-23 victory at the Fort Wayne Fury, an not to be underestimated opponent starring the infamous quarterback Blaine "Broomcorn" Hawkins. Sure, Ashley struggled for a bit, but for him that's 243 passing yards and a running touchdown to open the score. From behind him, our duo Francisco Patter (106 yards, 2 scores) and Trey Beyer (98 yards, he's firmly ahead of Reggie Thong' now) shined. Although, for Patter the lion share came on a 85-yard run early in the fourth quarter, he was floating at 2 yards per carry the rest of the game. Thong' might return soon, but ahead of Patter...

The previous 37-21 victory at home was probably the league wide revelation as Ashley as he threw for 432 yards and 3 touchdowns and he got seriously snubbed for player of the week. No less than 4 missed kicks kept this from being a true blowout.

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

Indeed, Bordeaux - it's still early, mind you - is at the top with a very promising 5-1 record. We're currently projected to miss the playoffs even, as above Gothenburg there's the Orlando Talons and their 6-1 record that is only second to the Tucker Tigers' 6-0-1.

Still, we're in week 7, most teams have played just 6 games. I said it before, it's way too early to draw conclusions about where we are and can be. Let's make a screenshot that shows us at gaining over 400 yards on offense and giving up less than 300 yards, on a per game average. We had 4 seasons before of over 400 yards and 4 seasons below 300 yards allowed, none of those combined in the same season (we did gain 424 per game in 2059 and allowed 289 in 2060, but that doesn't count as a single season). So really, we might not see such a performance ever again, it might all be over after the next game already. Have I said sample size yet? No? There, you have it.

Next game? At home against the Paris Musketeers. Tight end Clay Gaynor is still out with a concussion, as still is our young punter Doug James, but otherwise we're very healthy. Which actually creates a dilemma on the offensive line, as rookie left tackle Johnnie Houston has sat out two of the last three games and veteran guard Andre Watson looked good while playing. Granted, with Watson back, all the other guys player their normal position, which may have helped, but Houston was on the line (no pun intended) in the second 500-yard game (yeah, we had back to back 500-yard games on offense, I'm not sure we done that before, actually). First world problems, no?

First world though? We're still only third in the division, on pace for being the seventh seeds (which means missing the playoffs). Paris has been struggling lately, but they're not a team we can beat easily. After all, we've lost in their place in week one. But I should feel confidence in that we can win this game, we're in good shape. Ashley is doing better than I could have hoped for. Yeah, sure, the jinx is on now, but he's doing basically all we can ask for from a rookie quarterback.