Were the injuries too much to overcome this year?

[THE PISTONS]

(11-26-2018, 09:52 PM)McC Wrote: If everything went right, this was a team competing for a Wild Card.  Every time a piece got knocked off, there was a decline.   For a while, they gutted it out, pulled out a couple wins against mediocre teams but you could see the overall decline.

The injuries took their toll, for sure.  But the rapid decline of the defense was mortifying.  It was worse that last year right from the start and then went on to get worse.  The effort wasn't there, the football IQ just vaporized.  Can a DC really coach everybody down?  Where the hell did it go?  Last year's defense would not have lost to Cleveland or the Ratbirds, no matter who the LB's were.

Bad schemes, bad execution, no ***** heart at all for way too much of the year.  Mind boggling.

And then the offense couldn't get it done when they lost AJ because they didn't believe they could, except maybe Mixon and Boyd, who are completely outplaying the vast majority of their teammates.  And then it seemed to all get to be too much for the QB, and probably rightly so.  And this is where we are.

And to top it all off, Marvin's answer to every question is, we have to be better.  Well, no shit, Sherlock.  But just how the hell do you plan on doing that?

The defense played a much better second half yesterday.  Was that a sign or Cleveland easing up on the gas?

I'm not calling Driskel a savior or anything close.  But he did provide  spark.  Maybe he won't be the total bum, Donald Hollis, AJM, etc., that he's already been proclaimed to be.  It would make Sundays a little more worthwhile if he could play well.  I don't see the future, so I don't know what he can do until he does it and I'm willing to see what happens.

Obviously, the season is hanging by a thread and it's hard to see it getting any better.   But what the hell, never say never.  But there's got to be some serious stepping up and we probably just plain don't have the ability.

Honestly, the AFC is 3-4 strong teams then really weak. IF healthy, a bunch of teams could be Wild Card contenders.