Quote Originally Posted by mmmdk View Post
Defense has gotten better as reserves have excelled; I've stated this numerous times! So you miss Barnett & Bernett? Jones? What has he ever done? Chillar is missed though. Defense has been fantastic and offense has sputtered as Finley & Grant went to IR...the 2 none pro bowlers. Remove some big names and we can talk. BTW, McCarthy truely isn't a dick about injuries, many coaches throw the injury card...just like the spineless thrown post you presented.
Barnett wasn't a big loss. Who knows with Burnett--since we don't know how good he would have gotten. Jones was a loss because I think he's better than Zombo, but something you can overcome. Chillar was a loss. Losing Matthews for the time we lost him hurt. Losing Jenkins has hurt a lot. Losing Pickett for a few games hurt a lot. I think Mike Neal was a big loss. I think without the injuries, the defense could have been better than just good. They could have been dominant. You put the pass defense with a healthy DL that dominated against the run last year (while adding Neal), and you could have had something special.

Losing Finley and Grant were big losses. We've lost all 6 games by 4 points or less, and I think you could argue that if we were mostly healthy in those games, we would have won. Bears game was just our ineptitude. No injuries to blame. We were hurt a great deal in the Miami and Washington losses with the loss of Finley and Matthews. We were hurt a great deal in the Detroit and New England losses with the loss of Rodgers. I think Grant and Finley would have been a big help in the Atlanta loss. Oh well! It is what it is. Let's finish this season on a high note and then hope for better health next year.