Well, you have to figure in that, we are a young team. Depth can be challenging that way. It does seem though at times we get hurt just making tackles. Not only do we miss them, but we get hurt doing them. I remember a couple weeks back we were talking about better tackling drills at practice.

(11-27-2018, 09:27 AM)WychesWarrior Wrote: He's got a ring. 

So does Marvin Lewis, but people always say it’s because he had HoF players. McCarthy had one of the greatest QB’s of all time. Anyway he’s about to get the boot in GB and I’m seeing Browns fans say they don’t want him. Should tell you something.

(11-27-2018, 10:01 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: So does Marvin Lewis, but people always say it’s because he had HoF players. McCarthy had one of the greatest QB’s of all time. Anyway he’s about to get the boot in GB and I’m seeing Browns fans say they don’t want him. Should tell you something.

Fair point, but Merv wasn't the head man. I'm not a big fan of his....wouldn't call him great either....but I would take him over Merv. Should tell YOU something...lol.

Besides WTF do Browns fans know?

Blaming injuries for this team's struggles is tantamount to complaining about not being able to afford a Maserati because you haven't won the lottery.

(11-27-2018, 09:35 AM)Goalpost Wrote: Well, you have to figure in that, we are a young team.  Depth can be challenging that way.  It does seem though at times we get hurt just making tackles. Not only do we miss them, but we get hurt doing them.  I remember a couple weeks back we were talking about better tackling drills at practice.

It's not even depth. On the offensive line for instance, there weren't many injuries.

Glenn has underperformed.
Hart has been really bad.
Redmond has been really bad.
Price has struggled. He was injured. Hopkins actually outplayed Price.
Boling has appeared to decline.

So to just chalk up this year to injuries, and not address issues is going to lead to next year being bad too.

(11-27-2018, 09:26 AM)Wyche Wrote: The reason the injuries derailed the season is because the depth wound up paper thin.....and the coaching OBVIOUSLY isn't good enough to overcome it.

And lest we forget, the schedule got way tougher.

(11-27-2018, 12:54 PM)McC Wrote: And lest we forget, the schedule got way tougher.

Yep. The one good team we did play early (Panthers) beat us by 10 points.

(11-26-2018, 06:30 PM)impactplaya Wrote: Im just trying to take into consideration
how many difference makers we have lost to injuries.....compared to 2018 PLAYOFF TEAMS.

Eifert 7 games ( 12 overall)
Bernard 4 games
Ross 3 games
Green  3 games
Mixon 2 games
Kroft 6 games??

Glasgow played in 1 game ( 15 missed)
Lawson played in 7 games (9 missed)

I think injuries and Lazors inability to be creative
have really handicapped this season.
once Eifert and Kroft went down that hampered the vertical game.
Glasgow injury is real huge blow to the rotation
and the ability to wreck the pocket up the middle.

look at the Steelers and Chiefs. they have been relatively healthy. the Browns have been healthy as of late.
The Chargers are healthy.

Im just looking at bare facts..once Eifert and Green went down..so did the scoring offense

It definitely was a factor for why the Bengals have had such a dropoff since September, but I don't think full health would have made the team a true contender to play in the AFC Championship game.

Could the Steelers, for example, play as well without Antonio Brown, TJ Watt, John Conner, Smith-Schuster, and Vance McDonald all out a good amount of the season and Roethlisberger for the remainder of the season? Probably not.

(11-27-2018, 01:34 PM)ochocincos Wrote: It definitely was a factor for why the Bengals have had such a dropoff since September, but I don't think full health would have made the team a true contender to play in the AFC Championship game.

Could the Steelers, for example, play as well without Antonio Brown, TJ Watt, John Conner, Smith-Schuster, and Vance McDonald all out a good amount of the season and Roethlisberger for the remainder of the season? Probably not.

I think the Eifert injury totally crushed the offense.

(11-27-2018, 02:03 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I think the Eifert injury totally crushed the offense.

It wouldn't be too outrageous to think building your offense around a guy who has never played a full season might not be the best idea.

(11-27-2018, 02:05 PM)McC Wrote: It wouldn't be too outrageous to think building your offense around a guy who has never played a full season might not be the best idea.

Exactly! I was disappointed when they resigned him for more than a couple million dollars.

I think it's possible that they sign him again next offseason.

(11-27-2018, 02:07 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Exactly! I was disappointed when they resigned him for more than a couple million dollars.

I think it's possible that they sign him again next offseason.

At least, if you're gonna do that, maybe have a really strong Plan B.

(11-27-2018, 02:23 PM)McC Wrote: At least, if you're gonna do that, maybe have a really strong Plan B.

They did.... he went on IR as well.....

It's the inept coaching that is too much to overcome every year.

(11-27-2018, 02:41 PM)Sled21 Wrote: They did.... he went on IR as well.....

You beat me to it.  Losing Eifert AND Kroft was a big blow to the way they had designed this offense with multiple TE formations.

(11-27-2018, 03:09 PM)Wyche Wrote: You beat me to it.  Losing Eifert AND Kroft was a big blow to the way they had designed this offense with multiple TE formations.

Has Kroft played a full season?   Maybe having the 3 TE look could have been a subset.

That's the overall theme of Marv's tenure.  If Plan A is working, we're clicking along.  It the Plan A fails, it all goes south and it takes way too long to figure it out.

(11-27-2018, 03:16 PM)McC Wrote: Has Kroft played a full season?   Maybe having the 3 TE look could have been a subset.

That's the overall theme of Marv's tenure.  If Plan A is working, we're clicking along.  It the Plan A fails, it all goes south and it takes way too long to figure it out.

I don't think he has.  What I'm basing that on was an article I read about Lazor wanting to run a bunch of 2/3 TE sets, and then we saw it.  I remember seeing CJ, Eifert, and Kroft on the field a bit together, and quite a bit of Kroft/Eifert.  Then came Atlanta.  When you think about it, it makes sense.  The oline is still a work in progress, and having those guys out there together gives you lots of options in protection and targets, as well as a H Back to lead block or stay in to protect and send the RB out on routes.

Yes, that seems to be a recurring nightmare.

Losing all the TEs basically ripped the heart out of the playbook - a playbook that had been working at that. Losing Gio for a while took out our best pass protection back and Price missing all that time hampered his development. Then when AJ went out our targets became Boyd and goobers.

We had 3 TEs go on IR, we had two Wrs miss multiple games, we had perhaps our only 3 down LB miss the past 6 games, and our best Edge Rusher has missed the last 4 games on IR( also played under 30% of the snaps prior against the Steelers and cheifs). To say injuries are not an issue is down playing it and it can not be ignored. However it should not mean where this bad especially on defense.

(11-26-2018, 09:36 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 2010 Packers won the Super Bowl with exactly 13 guys on I.R.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=5923437

Shake, this is not a fair comparison. The offensive starters all started 15-16 games that year for them. Bulaga was a rookie and started 12 games.

They lost Finley early in the season, but they had Donald Lee who was their starter in 2009,and he stepped in and played in 15 games.

Look at how many games our offensive starters have started. We Lost four TEs (corrected) to IR and all the remaining TEs have lost time, with the exception of Uzomah.

You can lose one or two starters, when the remaining 9, gives you an average of 15 starts.

Rodgers, Driver and Jennings started 15+ games that year. Again, although Finley got hurt, their starting TE from the year before played in 15 games. All this, behind an OL that four of five started 16 games, and a rookie first round pick started 12.

Not a fair comparison.