Injuries on defense (1 Viewer)

bclemms

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When we started training camp the following players were penciled in as starters.

Keenan Lewis
Delvin Breaux
Dannell Ellerbe
Sheldon Rankins
Kikaha, Hau'oli

That is nearly half the starting defense. Injuries happen in the NFL but we can't ever seem to catch a break on defense. I guess that happens when you have a CB that spent the majority of the last two seasons injured, a LB that has an injury list a mile long and a defensive linemen that has had more ACL replacements than seasons played but still.

This was just week 1.

Three of our top 4 corners when training camp started are gone for the majority of the season. Only one left standing is PJ Williams who played in his first NFL game yesterday.

This is why you can never have too many good corners. This is also why you don't carry 6 RB's on a roster.
 
We are snake bitten when it comes to defense.

It's just silly at this point.
 
The Colts are having similar injury problems in the secondary. They scored 35 points and loss yesterday as well.

Yeah. I guess that's one "bright" spot. We didn't give up the most points yesterday. We're only tied for second most. By those standards, that's an improvement, right? :hihi:
 
we can't build depth because of our money situation, and we can't work to correct the money decisions because no one takes the blame for the situation we're in. this team is stuck and will be stuck until there is some accountability for what's been done with our money, and consequences for all of those responsible.
 
we can't build depth because of our money situation, and we can't work to correct the money decisions because no one takes the blame for the situation we're in. this team is stuck and will be stuck until there is some accountability for what's been done with our money, and consequences for all of those responsible.

I don't buy it.

Read that list. How many teams can lose 5 defensive starters + multiple depth players and still be ok? Some can, but they are typically defensive juggernauts already.

I think we actually built very good defensive depth this season and injuries have stolen it from us.
 
Damian Swann was solid last year with a lot of potential, but had pre-season injury issues that obviously affected his play and ended up with him on IR for this season.

Kyle Wilson was a contributor in Nickle/Dime situations, on IR for this season.

So with their loss, we have Harris and Crawley in their place, rookie UDFAs.

The Saints Training Camp secondary went from...

Breaux - 2nd season, elite.
Swann - 2nd season, solid.
Wilson - 7th season, solid.
Williams - 1st real season, unknown.

To...
Williams - 1st real season, unknown.
Harris - UDFA rookie, unknown.
Crawley - UDFA rookie, unknown.

I don't count Keenan Lewis because we never knew if he'd recover and honestly I think the team wasn't surprised when he didn't either.
 
We knew there were issues and an injury would be catastrophic. That's why we went hard after Norman.
 
When we started training camp the following players were penciled in as starters.

Keenan Lewis
Delvin Breaux
Dannell Ellerbe
Sheldon Rankins
Kikaha, Hau'oli

That is nearly half the starting defense. Injuries happen in the NFL but we can't ever seem to catch a break on defense. I guess that happens when you have a CB that spent the majority of the last two seasons injured, a LB that has an injury list a mile long and a defensive linemen that has had more ACL replacements than seasons played but still.

This was just week 1.

Three of our top 4 corners when training camp started are gone for the majority of the season. Only one left standing is PJ Williams who played in his first NFL game yesterday.

This is why you can never have too many good corners. This is also why you don't carry 6 RB's on a roster.
It's why you also don't rely on injury prone players to be starters. Lewis, Ellerbe, Kikaha and so many more on our roster are injury prone. Why trade for Ellerbe when you're lucky if he makes the field 4 times in a season. Just isn't worth it.
 
Not being able to catch a break defensively as it pertains to injuries makes you wonder if the style of offense we play will ever be conducive to good defensive teams due to the amount of snaps they are likely to encounter in a game.

More snaps = More Chances for Injuries.


How do you balance that out? As Clemms said...keeping more RB's than CB's when you are a passing team doesn't make much sense. Seems more likely you'll be thinner at CB before RB because of the usage rate of each groups.

I think 2010 really had a profound effect on Payton. That was the year we lost damn near every RB If I'm not mistaken and it was the last time that SP has allowed us to experience that...possibly at the expense of other positions.
 

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