I will admit that, like most of us, I’m not an expect on the subject and I base my comments on personal observation (of 60 years), what the coaches themselves have said about the players, and what I have read.
Assuming that we on HF generally agree that the injuries on defense have been pretty much isolated to the back end, let’s assess the talent:
Corners:
TH made it clear before the first game that because there hadn’t been much separation, many players were expected to see the field. In fact, early, he wouldn’t even name the starters until very late in the week. So let’s look at the players.
Green was getting torched early but I will concede that when he was injured, he was becoming a tackling force. But I’m not talking about his coverage skills. So was his loss devastating? I’m not sure. I’m fact, I tend to believe that our best two corners may be Cook and Jamison, the two current starters.
Safeties/Nickel - The best player back there has been Jones. Old reliable. And until late yesterday, Jones has played almost every snap.
Second best? I’d go with Foster who, while dinged, has been playing. He can be a force but his tackling has regressed.
Sterns is a great talent but the drop off from the first half of last season to this was substantial to these eyes. I’m not sure what happened, but something was different.
Chris Brown was playing well prior to his injury and his unavailability has been a factor. But we are not devoid of talent behind him. For example, Overshown seemed to step up yesterday and he will only get better. He’s long and fast.
My point is that while there have been plenty of injuries, given what the head coach himself said about the players prior to the season, i.e. not much separation, it’s hard for me to use those injuries as the basis to explain our terrible D performance. Now, admittedly, we are very thin. But the players we have been putting in the field are not without considerable talent.
So what’s the issue? To me it’s obvious.
