The Porterhouse gained 545 yards at home to the Sentinels and lost 32-13 to a club that gained 258. It is the second week running that the yards have outrun the scoreboard: 920 gained over the fortnight, twenty points to show for them, and two losses by a combined 49.
Sundown Merritt threw for 380 of it, twenty-eight of thirty-nine, and ran three times for minus two; Jermaine Aiyuk caught 195 alone. Sixteen possessions came back as ten punts, three turnovers and one touchdown — which is how a quarterback's afternoon can pay seventeen points in the fantasy column while the club he runs scores thirteen on the board.
Merritt was asked where it broke down. “Five hundred and forty-five yards. Write it down,” he said.
The season keeps the same books: sixth in the league in yards, sixteenth in points.
He stood at the podium until the room ran out of questions, and for a moment after that. The Porterhouse are 6-7, and week fifteen is the Roughnecks, away.