Injuries are never an excuse

[Chawks1]

Good teams find ways to win, they don't make excuses....here's our list this year:


Heath Farwell LB Injured Reserve groin
A.J. Jefferson CB Injured Reserve ankle
Derrick Coleman RB Injured Reserve foot
Brandon Mebane DT Injured Reserve hamstring
Stephen Schilling T Injured Reserve knee
Zach Miller TE Injured Reserve ankle
Kevin Pierre-Louis LB Injured Reserve shoulder
C.J. Davis G Injured Reserve undisclosed
Taylor Price WR Injured Reserve undisclosed
Anthony McCoy TE Injured Reserve Achilles
Greg Scruggs DE Injured Reserve knee
Cassius Marsh DE Injured Reserve foot
D’Anthony Smith DT Injured Reserve
Lemuel Jeanpierre G Injured Reserve neck
Eric Pinkins CB Out foot is on the non-football injury list
Cooper Helfet TE Questionable ribs is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Demarcus Dobbs DE Questionable ankle is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Chris Matthews WR Questionable hamstring is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Tharold Simon CB Questionable shoulder is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Jermaine Kearse WR Questionable hamstring is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Max Unger C Questionable ankle/knee is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Tony Moeaki TE Probable shoulder is probable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Russell Okung T Probable chest/lung is probable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Marshawn Lynch RB Probable back is probable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/t ... a/2014.htm

 

[Seahwkgal]

Jeanpierre is not on IR right now(he was but came back after release). He's on the 53.

 

[suppaball]

Wow just wow!

 

[The Outfield]

Look at that list of injured reserves. Hopefully they all can stay healthy next year. I'm looking forward to seeing McCoy again if we re-sign him.

 

[Popeyejones]

Disagree with the premise that injuries are never an excuse. On that IR list (which you're filling out with people who are simply questionable and probable for a single game) beyond Mebane and maybe Miller eveyone is pretty marginally involved in the Seahawks' success.

Put another way, replace that entire list and just put Lynch or Wilson on I.R. for the year and we're having an ENTIRELY different conversation about if injuries matter or not.

TBF though I also don't think the list is that crazy though, given that 34% of the 9ers opening day roster is now on I.R. and they're down to three defensive starters overall, and they're down to 5th string, 6th string and off the street FAs at a lot of positions too.

 

[SomersetHawk]

^This

Out of that huge IR list I see two significant contributors in Bane and Miller and two decent contributors in Marsh and Pierre-Louis. Farwell was a bummer too but we knew the score with him back in August. Niggling injuries have hampered us on the O-line but that's nothing new.

Losing Bobby for a stretch was pretty significant too, and I actually think it's fair to say injuries have been an excuse e.g. in the St. Louis and KC games - I don't see Jamaal Charles running on us to the same extent with Bobby and Bane, I also don't see Tre Mason having the same success with Bobby in there.

On the whole I don't think we've had it as bad as many do. It's not been great, but it's hardly the Cardinals' situation. I've certainly been impressed with some of the contributions we've had when players have been out though. Jordan Hill has really stepped up, Simon filled in for Byron admirably and Lewis/Lem and Bailey have been solid in relief of Unger, Carp and Okung.

 

[bigDhawk]

Good teams find ways to win, they don't make excuses....here's our list this year:


Heath Farwell LB Injured Reserve groin
A.J. Jefferson CB Injured Reserve ankle
Derrick Coleman RB Injured Reserve foot
Brandon Mebane DT Injured Reserve hamstring
Stephen Schilling T Injured Reserve knee
Zach Miller TE Injured Reserve ankle
Kevin Pierre-Louis LB Injured Reserve shoulder
C.J. Davis G Injured Reserve undisclosed
Taylor Price WR Injured Reserve undisclosed
Anthony McCoy TE Injured Reserve Achilles
Greg Scruggs DE Injured Reserve knee
Cassius Marsh DE Injured Reserve foot
D’Anthony Smith DT Injured Reserve
Lemuel Jeanpierre G Injured Reserve neck
Eric Pinkins CB Out foot is on the non-football injury list
Cooper Helfet TE Questionable ribs is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Demarcus Dobbs DE Questionable ankle is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Chris Matthews WR Questionable hamstring is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Tharold Simon CB Questionable shoulder is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Jermaine Kearse WR Questionable hamstring is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Max Unger C Questionable ankle/knee is questionable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Tony Moeaki TE Probable shoulder is probable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Russell Okung T Probable chest/lung is probable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis
Marshawn Lynch RB Probable back is probable for Sunday’s game against St. Louis

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/t ... a/2014.htm

Of the IR players on that list only Mebane and Miller are core players. The rest are fringe at best. I appreciate the point you are trying to make but losing a starting NT and TE is not comparable losing two QBs the way Arizona has. Agreed, there are no excuses in sports, but suffering the kinds of losses Arizona has this season is certainly an explanation for not reaching your potential, which makes Arizona's accomplishments this season even more impressive, honestly. Would we have won 11 games with TJack the way Arizona has with Stanton or NE did with Cassel a few years ago? If we didn't, having TJack as our starting QB would certainly be an explanation. I'm thankful that our franchise QB, RB and secondary are all currently healthy and approaching the top of the performance bell curve at exactly the right time....and that we are not teams Arizona and Denver who peaked earlier and now the wheels are falling off.

 

[mikeak]

Arizona Cardinals disagree...

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Disagree with the premise that injuries are never an excuse. On that IR list (which you're filling out with people who are simply questionable and probable for a single game) beyond Mebane and maybe Miller eveyone is pretty marginally involved in the Seahawks' success.

Put another way, replace that entire list and just put Lynch or Wilson on I.R. for the year and we're having an ENTIRELY different conversation about if injuries matter or not.

TBF though I also don't think the list is that crazy though, given that 34% of the 9ers opening day roster is now on I.R. and they're down to three defensive starters overall, and they're down to 5th string, 6th string and off the street FAs at a lot of positions too.

Agreed. About the only team I see that has been in a similar position are the San Diego Chargers with their Center situation and possibly RB's. Fact is despite the injuries the 49ers are/were good enough to still win 10-11 games but didn't because of the disaster that happened by forcing Kaepernick to be something he isn't.

 

[Popeyejones]

Fact is despite the injuries the 49ers are/were good enough to still win 10-11 games but didn't because of the disaster that happened by forcing Kaepernick to be something he isn't.

Yeah, so many things were such a cluster_____ for the 9ers this year it's hard for me to parse out what to attribute where. I think the injuries and Aldon's suspension are probably worth a few games (the biggest factor), all the extra-curricular distractions (Harbaugh, McDonald) might be worth a game or two, trying to respond to the injuries by changing the offense (what you're talking about) might be worth a game or two, and just pure old ugly chance might be worth a game or two (e.g. fumbling on the one inch line to end the Rams game as a loss rather than a win, last week the 14 point swing on a holding or Bruce Miller fumbling on the 3 yard line, etc.).

At the most that adds up to 9 games though and they only have 8 losses ( :lol: ) and even in an almost perfect year they (or anyone else) isn't going better than 13-3 anyway. Point being it's some combination of all this stuff, and these things also accumulate (e.g. they don't try to change the offense without the defensive injuries, Miller likely doesn't get his number called there if Hyde isn't on I.R., etc., that 14 point swing might not happen happen if they're not down to starting a 3rd string RG at center who misses a block up the middle and the turnstile J. Martin isn't on the bench where he belongs).

The only weird part about it is that from an actual skills perspective Kap has improved this year. He has played like crap for the last few weeks but he's actually a better player than he has been in the past and has improved in some trouble areas more than I was expecting him to. It hasn't shown up for all these other reasons and one way (maybe a Hawks way) to read this is that if this is improvement he's even worse than you thought ( ), but he has improved despite the common perception that he has regressed.

 

[AVL]

What total crap of a statement, specifically with the word "never". Let's swap the word excuse with reason.

Try "Injuries are never a reason." Oops, injuries are often the reason.

How is pointing out reasons for failure different from success, other than being a lot less fun.

 

[RunTheBall]

Disagree with never, most of the time they aren't an excuse. But if a major injury happens to one of our top 5 players (Russ, Lynch, Sherman, Earl...etc) then it's different.

 

[Chawks1]

For those that like to dismiss the quality of the players on the list.....how about if we add tha we are also missing key co tributes from last years Super Bowl game.

Add:
Red Bryant
Chris Clemens
Clinton McDonald
Golden Tate
Sidney Rice
Percy Harvin

See you can't lean on excuses Niners fans. We came through the other side. And a big reason for that is our front office, coaching staff and ownership have created an environment where depth and teamwork overcome a lot of the obstacles that get in the way.

 

[RunTheBall]

For those that like to dismiss the quality of the players on the list.....how about if we add tha we are also missing key co tributes from last years Super Bowl game.

Add:
Red Bryant
Chris Clemens
Clinton McDonald
Golden Tate
Sidney Rice
Percy Harvin

See you can't lean on excuses Niners fans. We came through the other side. And a big reason for that is our front office, coaching staff and ownership have created an environment where depth and teamwork overcome a lot of the obstacles that get in the way.

The Niners don't have any excuses but the Cards have some, the Cards would be far more competitive down the stretch with Carson Palmer at QB compared to Lindley or Logan Thomas.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

I wrote about this before the Cardinals game:

http://seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=103400&p=1508210#p1508210

Injuries are never an excuse but doesn't mean a bunch of them can't derail a season especially when you lose 13 or so key members in free agency/trades, only add 4 players in off-season free agency that made the team, have 10 of your contributing players go to I.R. as well and then having another 17+ players miss at least 1 game as well as several other players playing with lingering injuries like Okung and Chanchellor have all-season.

It all adds up, and the Seahawks felt it at the beginning of the season more so when their depth was a little green behind the ears and they were still kind of figuring out what these guys could and could not do and trying to put them in a position of success.

And most of the key injuries have been centralized around the O-Line/TEs personell and Middle Defensive players + CB depth.

The fact that the Seahawks now sit at 11-4 after starting 3-3 and all the attrition, injuries, the Harvin trade, and all the supposed drama. Plus, a harder schedule than 2013 and seemingly biased reffing, not that we shouldn't be called, refs are just completely ignoring the other team.

These injuries isn't an excuse as to why we aren't defeated they are more a testament to the team Carroll built that if one part suffers the other two parts can hold the fort... and every player is important and they should always be prepared to step-up.

 

[drdiags]

I am not sure you can use players the team decided to move on from as a way to justify anything. If those players were so critical, re-sign them or don't make them a cap casualty. Not understanding that point.

Injuries suck and I look at them as unnecessary evils that random luck of the draw inflicts on teams. I am not sure I would have wanted to make this a point of conversation until after the season was over. But that is just my thought on the subject.

This aspect of the game is one of the biggest downers aboiut this sport. When they have 100% robots out there, there will be some other game changer that messes things up.

 

[YYZHawksFan]

Injuries are an explanation. I'd love to see teams play their best rosters at 100%.

 

[SeaTown81]

Injuries are not an excuse in that every NFL teams gets it's fair share of injuries. Fans are so myopic in this regard (we all pay 1,000 times the attention to that of our own teams than any others) that they will always think their team got it worst. So in that respect, I will grant the "injuries are not an excuse" premise.

That said, there is a tipping point where a team suffers so many injuries that it cripples their depth, that it's too much to overcome. And as Popeye pointed out, if you suffer injuries at one or two of the most important positions, it definitely makes a difference. If Russ went out for the year and TJack led this team to an 8-8 or 9-7 record, fans would most definitely point to not having Russell. And for good reason. It's highly ignorant to say a team can lose any player on it's roster and expect the backup to fill in just as good.

The Hawks have been fortunate in not having the single crippling injury this season. Same thing happened last year. This year they flirted with the "so many injuries at important positions that it hurts your overall level of play and kills your depth" season killer. When Mebane, Miller, Unger, Wagner, Chancellor all got hurt within weeks, that seriously threatened this team's chances to reach it full potential. And just so coincided with the team's one serious crisis point of the season. Fortunately though, Wagner and Chancellor both were able to bounce back. And hopefully Unger (and now Okung) get back into playing form. But had Wags or Kam not been able to bounce back, we might be talking a VERY different story.

Injuries are not an excuse. But they aren't something to scoff at either.

 

[SeaTown81]

When they have 100% robots out there, there will be some other game changer that messes things up.

When that happens, we will be bemoaning our robots breaking down and needing repairs. We will be calling for the GM and owner to spend more money on a newer, better models. As well as blaming the robot repairman for not keeping the robots in optimal playing condition.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

Disagree with the premise that injuries are never an excuse. On that IR list (which you're filling out with people who are simply questionable and probable for a single game) beyond Mebane and maybe Miller eveyone is pretty marginally involved in the Seahawks' success.

Put another way, replace that entire list and just put Lynch or Wilson on I.R. for the year and we're having an ENTIRELY different conversation about if injuries matter or not.

TBF though I also don't think the list is that crazy though, given that 34% of the 9ers opening day roster is now on I.R. and they're down to three defensive starters overall, and they're down to 5th string, 6th string and off the street FAs at a lot of positions too.

I agree. Injuries are never an 'excuse' for the backup player who must step in. They are never an 'excuse' for the coach who must make due with those backups either. Can a person look a game and point to injuries as a major REASON a team lost? Most certainly. We as fans are not paid to parrot the 'not an excuse' phrase, and we certainly don't expect our team's coaches or players to pull out a fist full of excuses after a loss. Their job is to find a way to win.

To say a team lost because of injuries to key players is a objective view point...especially if the other team is relatively healthy. Saying injuries are never an 'excuse' is just a mentality, but a good one nonetheless.