It's a big loss that reduces our chances of winning the Superbowl this year. It doesn't reduce them to zero. I also don't buy the closing window argument
at all and so even if our chances were zero this year that still wouldn't be the end of the world.
Defenses tend to only be as good as their weakest link, so having Shead, Lane, Maxwell, McDougald, Thorpe, or Tyson on Sherm's side will mostly mean that QBs don't pick on Griffin quite as much. We'll give up more in the passing game overall but our pass rush and run defense should still put us in a good situation to play the pass.
HawkRiderFan":1g2xbqti said:
Will we see more blitzing? I know it is risky putting the replacements in more man coverage but would it help them to have to hold up for less time on the back end.
I doubt it. I think our run defense may suffer the biggest hit not only because Sherm was great vs. the run but he allowed the team to regularly play against the run on first down. We'll need Wagner to continue playing at a superstar level.