semiahmoo":2937zv42 said:
Lose one of the above though, and we become the same hot n cold version of the last few seasons.
I'll say it again, if I told you at the beginning of the season:
1. Wilson would suffer a high ankle sprain in the first game of the year, and an MCL tear in the third game
AND
2. Michael Bennett would injure his knee and be out for 5 games
AND
3. Earl Thomas would break his leg in the 11th game, ending his season
That despite these injuries, we'd still win the division and were in command of the race for the 2nd seed in the conference heading into week 16. I think we'd have taken that to the bank. Nobody can convince me that we don't win those final two games if Earl doesn't go down. Losing him cost us the #2 seed. And with the investment at S in this draft, I think the team tips it's hand that they concede this.
Simply put, the three most impactful players on this team all were injured for extended time. No team survives that. Most teams completely collapse and end up drafting in the top 10.
We didn't just lose ONE of the above. We lost ALL of the above. And still managed to get to the divisional round. I don't get the sense that we as fans really appreciated just how rare of a performance last season was given the circumstances.
Injuries are pretty flukey. And although our core is another year older. They are still in their prime and still shouldn't be reasonably expected to break down year to year. It is possible that we lose one of the above. But I don't think just losing one of the above dooms this club at all.
We should feel confident that we won't see a repeat of the injury woes of last year. We'll still get injuries. That's part of the game. But we shouldn't lose our three most important players again. I'm also bullish on our second year guys. Not because they lit up the league last year. But we kept 9 rookies on the active roster. We might keep 9 more this year. The investment in youth last year should begin to be strongly felt this season.