All I can say is, everyone says "you know, everyone has injuries this time of year, all the teams have to deal with it. it is no excuse." to an extent that viewpoint is sustainable. I was looking at a stat yesterday that I believe someone brought up here. Seattle has been the second most injured team in the league this year. Out of the top five injured teams Seattle is the only one that is going to be in the playoffs, let alone still has a possible shot at maybe the number 3 or maybe even 2 seed still depending on how games go next week. One team was ahead of them by one. they had, I think 234 injuries going into yesterday's game. Two starting offensive linemen out, top two running backs left, out.
I know there are other concerns with coaching, etc but at some point do you just lose enough players that depth just doesn't hold out? I mean, to this point, this team has shown to have great depth and to mostly handle players going down and find ways mostly to win. That depth has still been pretty good, despite what played out last night. I mean, 234 player injuries that have resulted in players missing games BEFORE last night..there is only so much depth can do. I also believe there is only so much coaches can do when so many players are unavailable to them. Could they have rallied better, probably, but there is a reason that the players in the positions missing are and have been the starters.
Clowney--really great run defender
Diggs--really helped the back end get more comfortable and has been a really forceful presence there
Shaquill Griffin--most consistent cornerback on the team this year and most of the year been playing at a high level.
Duane Brown-- Best O-lineman on the team and the one who would have been on Chandler in many situations last night.
then you have in Game
Chris Carson-4th leading rusher in the league and was really moving the ball before he went out.
C.J. Procise- already was a bad proposition due to his injury history when Carson went down.
Aside from the injuries, and i'll just add them here as another indicator of players not available.
Al Woods--Not a world beater but has been pretty solid this year and if I am not mistaken has been pretty decent in run support. I think having him AND Clowney(beast on his own) together would have made a huge difference in just that respect.
Josh Gordon-Team knew the risk when they got him, but for the production he had it was working. All his catches had been clutch catches that kept them in games, despite the low targets. Really unfortunate
I understand that a lot of heat is on the coaches for various reasons, but at the same time. They are also the ones who know what they have and don't have, and sometimes they may not know what they have in back ups at certain positions. Pete has been under fire for questionable decisions pretty often, so I doubt he will get any kind of break for things despite this really crappy luck with the injury bug this year. I am not saying I think it is not warranted, but due to past instances I think maybe no one wants to actually acknowledge, really acknowledge, what they had to work with last night and just lay it all on Pete. I agree with everyone about Norton. With Schotty, I don't really. He has done a pretty good job all year, but when you have players in that, while they are supposed to know the system, just aren't getting snaps all year long..it's hard to expect them to execute. Even for being the 4th string running back, as an example, Homer had a few nice runs but I doubt they really have a great idea of how to use them because he hasn't been able to show much of what he can do since he doesn't get the reps the other rb's would.
Honestly, I think a lot of the fanbase is spoiled. If someone had told me the seahawks would have about close to 240 injuries knocking players from being able to play in games this year and they would still technically have a shot at the 2 seed and a very real shot at the 3, and then the 5 or 6(I think that is right) seed.....
How many years in the past, "man, so many injuries...maybe next year" but not this team...this team has gotten here despite that.
Backups have to step up, yes, but there is a reason that 3rd and 4th stringers and even plenty of 2nd string are not starters on this and other teams.
