Underhill article: “Saints moves are telling us what they felt the real problem with the team was last season”

SweetT said
Not that i disagree with them, but I do disagree with their terminology. A team is a team, not just your starting 22. What they were saying is, yeah “if” or “had” this didn’t happen, but what about those guys behind the starters, that every position coach is supposed to be getting those guys ready, in case of an injury to the guy in front of them? Next man up, has always been a thing. Have to be prepared for everything that a season can throw your way. 31 teams can use excuses, but in the end, only 1 team got it all correct, or the most correct. Plus, if your team is decimated with injuries, then you better get your strength and conditioning system right. You better get your diet and nutrition right. You better make sure that your guys are partaking in muscle recovery. All of those entities are part of the team as well.

You can be the best conditioned team in the league and injuries can and will happen that you have no control over like TH and Adebo's injuries. And you can go above and beyond to prevent soft tissue injuries but they still happen. That " Next Man Up" is really a motivational phrase. Anyone that thinks the backup will perform just as well as the starter is just off base.

As far as depth , no team is going to pay starter $ to a guy that could start on a good team thinking " We better do this because we know we're going to be decimated by injury" , The draft is where your depth comes from and eventually your starters.

My point is that I agree with CKM and the staff that without all the injuries we would have been a good team, not great. And health and better coaching ( which I think we have now ) we are not far from the playoffs. And contrary to what some believe playoffs is where you start