Rank each player by position group.
Like DE. Would be 1 Hutch, 2 Smith, 3 Davenport, 4 Paschal etc.
By the second half of the game.
They had the
5th DE
7th DT
5th CB
5th and 6th DB
All playing significant snaps.
I dont know a single team in the NFL that could over come that.
Basically having half the defensive that was playing would be in the UFL most seasons.
14 players that would have been on the roster if healthy were OUT on defense.
Say the lions typically keep 26 players on defense. Thats 54% of the defense dead.
As a result. Coverage was weak. As was the pass rush. Meaning the defense couldn’t get a stop.
And not just the quantity but the Quality.
A 1st team ALL pro DE
A 2nd team all pro/ Pro bowl DT in Mac
And a 2nd team Pro Bowl Corner
Take that away from any playoff team left and they will struggle.
It is heart breaking that this offense was other worldly this year but the defense was destroyed.
This game showed that you cant expect the offense to keep pulling up the defense. Like
Hey Goff and Gibbs i know you set NFL and franchise records this season. But we need you to play even better today.
Thats why they were so aggressive. They had to be.
Hopefully next year they dont set the NFL record for most defensive players on IR.
Clearly this had an impact in the game. Hutchinson still leads the Lions in sacks despite missing half the season. Kudos to Terry Bradshaw who mentioned this on the post game
I think that kinda sums the game up. Wash was playing with a “we got nothing to lose” attitude and the Lions felt the pressure of being the top seed.
Regular season results mean nothing once the playoffs start.
I think a big portion of the injury issues comes from Holmes decisions. Availability is a skill. Some players are better at staying healthy than others. And we have signed and drafted lots of injury prone players (Levi, Davis, Moseley, reader, Davenport, rakestraw, Patrick, etc.) the more you do this the more you are playing with fire. And brad Holmes basically has said he doesn’t take injury history into account in evaluations because he believes it has more to do with luck.
Shouting at the wind. Nobody wanted to win more than this TEAM.
Why make them feel shame? Things didn’t go our way, and, for me, it was watching how hard these guys fought for each other, game after game after game.
I’m proud of this team. They began writing us off after Hutch went down.
15-3. The best Detroit Lions team, ever!
Injuries got us. The truth isn’t an excuse!
A lot of it is luck. You mention Davis… surely you’re not suggesting his history of lower body injuries portended a broken jaw?
And what of Hutch, Alim, Rodrigo, Barnes? Those guys had been more or less iron men. Sometimes it really is just bad luck and there isn’t anyone to blame.
He does lean into injuries, yes, and I suspect he always will. But it’s not because he doesn’t believe guys are injury prone (though I agree with him that it’s mostly luck), it’s because injured guys CAN provide real value. And value, more than anything, is the name of the game with Brad. He’s actually been incredibly unlucky in that respect. The only value we’ve really gotten out of an injured guy is Anzalone, but I expect that to regress to the mean at some point.
I like this about him. It’s like Brad’s version of going for it on 4th down. If you are going to hunt for extra value you have to make some concessions. I’d rather opt for injury issues than character issues. I guess some would prefer just giving up on value hunting altogether. Personally I don’t agree.
Yep, and thankfully I don’t think he’ll change. I KNOW he won’t start going for character issue guys. It’s a tough league, you gotta try and find value somewhere.