Did injuries ruin our season?

[jrcowboys]

Guys:

Just thinking about the season, I remembered an article Goose did on the relative health of all the teams. The article was sorta dumb because it only counted the number of games missed by starters. If I remember correctly Dallas was about in the middle. I thought I would just rate each sector of the team in terms of health (good, average, or bad). This is the way I see it:

QB: bad-missed three games and played injured in several others
RB: bad
OL: bad-not too many games missed, but banged up the whole year
WR: bad-Austin, Hurd, RW
TE: bad-missed no games but banged up most of the year

Dl: good
LB: average-Spensor missed a lot of time and probably never 100%
CB: bad-TN, Jenkins, Packman
S: very bad
ST: very bad

I guess you could argue my assessments, but when you really look at the injuries you can see some reasons why we tailed off later in the season. If a guy is injuried and can't practice, how can he and the overall team improve. Also, conditioning is impacted and that could show up in the fourth quarter. Example: Hamlin missing tackles in the Baltimore game.

Note: Not saying that we don't have internal and coaching problems, but injuries did play a role in out failure.

Thoughts?

JR

 

[dbair1967]

Injuries obviously did hurt, losing Felix Jones especially hurt our offense. Nobody should underestimate Adams playing all yr with basically one arm either, and of course we all saw how bad LG was most of the yr.

That said, the biggest issues were still the the teams horrible work ethic and being so poor fundamentally.

 

[tomson75]

Of course they did, but they were by no means the only reason, and likely weren't the predominant reason....but they were certainly a factor.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

jrcowboys, get ready to be blasted by some folks around here who can't admit that injuries play a part in a season's outcome. Should the Cowboys use it as an excuse? No, but losing Felix and McBriar, and Romo not being 100% for 3/4 of the season, made a hell of a difference.

 

[Ren]

They didn't look all that sharp before the injury bug hit, maybe we win 1 more game without the injuries but it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference

 

[theogt]

Of course they did, but they were by no means the only reason, and likely weren't the predominant reason....but they were certainly a factor.

I would say injuries were the single most predominant reason we weren't in the playoffs. You take away one injury to one player (Romo) and we're almost certainly in the playoffs.

 

[The Panch]

Injury on offense had nothing to do with the sorry display of our defense against St. Louis, nor were they a factor against Baltimore or Philadelphia when all we had to do was win to get in.


The only thing injured about this team was their toughness.

 

[jterrell]

I don't think there is ever one end all be all reason but yes injuries hurt us mightily.

We were 1 win from the playoffs so it isn't like we went 5-11 and had no shot even if healthy of doing anything.

I'd say losing Romo 3 games altogether and then having him banged up another 6 costs you at least 2 games. Especially since this offense revolved around him. We were a pass first team like Arizona. If Warner misses any time you think the Cards look like a solid team while he is out?

People want to look at Arizona and say how different they are from Dallas but are they really any different? They are a passing team who went 9-7 and were healthier than we were. They weren't using JJ Arrington as the lead back for the final 4 weeks while Edge James and Hightower were so banged up they were useless. That stuff makes a big difference.

Its funny but we'd better off using Madden examples here than just "perception". In Madden a guy like Romo gets an 88 or so rating but after taking these injuries he's at 80 at best. Barber from 80's to 70's, Witten from high 90's to mid 80s. These guys were not at their best and weren't as good as they are when they are healthy. That hurts you a good deal.

The season was an utter disappointment and the team chose to implode in response to it with all this crap, fueled quite prominently my media members who are just trying to keep a job in a market where every media outfit seems to be cutting back mightily. Except the one are those media outlets aren't cutting back?? Cowboys coverage. Wanna be safe in your job then you better be coming up with Cowboys news/notes.

One of my biggest complaints against fans is just how irrational they can be. A guy like Tony Romo, Jason Witten or Terence Newman goes out and plays hurt but plays poorly and the guy all of a sudden just sucks and will always suck. It is hilarious. When these guys are playing at All Pro level there is a reason almost no one keeps that up long term. You can't perform that well when your not healthy.

The loss we took in Philly was the worst in a long, long time. But we were ripe for it. We had already failed to meet expectations, we already had guys bickering because they were all trying to cover their own butts after a failed season and we were facing a Philly team who had the game at home against their biggest rivals with the playoffs on the line and serious veteran leadership on both sides of the ball. That Philly crowd was the best I saw in the NFL this year. They were seriously amped. Much bigger than they would have been for a playoff game against anyone else but us. So we weren't winning that game and when we did have chances to even make it competitive we'd bumble that into another 7 points for them. It was disgusting but it was what it was.

Best bet is to use all that as fuel for the fire this off-season and next year.

Get healthy, address the weaknesses in depth we saw creep up and get ready to play big next year.

Crying and moaning gets us no where and it does feed the media who creates perception that permeates this team.

 

[Clove]

This is why you cannot preserve players. Make them practice hard, hit in practice etc. You can't avoid injuries even if you have soft practices.

 

[RCowboyFan]

If Injuries are an excuse, Blatimore and Pittsburgh should have bigger excuse than Cowboys.

I believe Baltimore had 2nd or 3rd most on IR in NFL, yet they went to AFC championship, with Rookie QB. Pittsburgh had significant Injuries too, especially on OL.

Now Detroit and Denver were devasted with Injuries and their season probably reflects that, except Denver had ligitimate QB, which enabled them to be at least .500 team, even with colapse.

But probably, Cowboys got most effected by Romo Injury the most. Pitt and Baltimore got ove their injuries because QB didn't lose too much time. Same with Denver, probably should have been 4-5 win team if Cutler missed 2-3 games.

 

[tomson75]

I would say injuries were the single most predominant reason we weren't in the playoffs. You take away one injury to one player (Romo) and we're almost certainly in the playoffs.

I agree with that, but it by no means would have assured us any measure of success once we got there. The team's play late this year certainly suggests that we wouldn't have been successful.

 

[jterrell]

Injury on offense had nothing to do with the sorry display of our defense against St. Louis, nor were they a factor against Baltimore or Philadelphia when all we had to do was win to get in.


The only thing injured about this team was their toughness.

Huh??

Injuries certainly hurt our defense against Baltimore and Philly. Having the 3rd/4th/5th string strong safety in makes it a bit harder to play the run. Compound that with a Free Safety who has been too banged up to practice for 4 weeks and well that's not a good situation. Hamlin had his worst year in a long time... think the injury he suffered may have had anything to do with that??

And our toughness seemed fine versus the Giants, Bucs and for the majority of the games against the Ravens and Steelers.

 

[Clove]

I don't think there is ever one end all be all reason but yes injuries hurt us mightily.

We were 1 win from the playoffs so it isn't like we went 5-11 and had no shot even if healthy of doing anything.

I'd say losing Romo 3 games altogether and then having him banged up another 6 costs you at least 2 games. Especially since this offense revolved around him. We were a pass first team like Arizona. If Warner misses any time you think the Cards look like a solid team while he is out?

People want to look at Arizona and say how different they are from Dallas but are they really any different? They are a passing team who went 9-7 and were healthier than we were. They weren't using JJ Arrington as the lead back for the final 4 weeks while Edge James and Hightower were so banged up they were useless. That stuff makes a big difference.

Its funny but we'd better off using Madden examples here than just "perception". In Madden a guy like Romo gets an 88 or so rating but after taking these injuries he's at 80 at best. Barber from 80's to 70's, Witten from high 90's to mid 80s. These guys were not at their best and weren't as good as they are when they are healthy. That hurts you a good deal.

The season was an utter disappointment and the team chose to implode in response to it with all this crap, fueled quite prominently my media members who are just trying to keep a job in a market where every media outfit seems to be cutting back mightily. Except the one are those media outlets aren't cutting back?? Cowboys coverage. Wanna be safe in your job then you better be coming up with Cowboys news/notes.

One of my biggest complaints against fans is just how irrational they can be. A guy like Tony Romo, Jason Witten or Terence Newman goes out and plays hurt but plays poorly and the guy all of a sudden just sucks and will always suck. It is hilarious. When these guys are playing at All Pro level there is a reason almost no one keeps that up long term. You can't perform that well when your not healthy.

The loss we took in Philly was the worst in a long, long time. But we were ripe for it. We had already failed to meet expectations, we already had guys bickering because they were all trying to cover their own butts after a failed season and we were facing a Philly team who had the game at home against their biggest rivals with the playoffs on the line and serious veteran leadership on both sides of the ball. That Philly crowd was the best I saw in the NFL this year. They were seriously amped. Much bigger than they would have been for a playoff game against anyone else but us. So we weren't winning that game and when we did have chances to even make it competitive we'd bumble that into another 7 points for them. It was disgusting but it was what it was.

Best bet is to use all that as fuel for the fire this off-season and next year.

Get healthy, address the weaknesses in depth we saw creep up and get ready to play big next year.

Crying and moaning gets us no where and it does feed the media who creates perception that permeates this team.

Bottom line, we choked the Philly game away. Champions don't choke.

 

[The Panch]

Huh??

Injuries certainly hurt our defense against Baltimore and Philly. Having the 3rd/4th/5th string strong safety in makes it a bit harder to play the run. Compound that with a Free Safety who has been too banged up to practice for 4 weeks and well that's not a good situation. Hamlin had his worst year in a long time... think the injury he suffered may have had anything to do with that??

And our toughness seemed fine versus the Giants, Bucs and for the majority of the games against the Ravens and Steelers.

Yeah, because we're the only team that faced significant injuries.





And dont use injuries as an excuse for that despicable display we put on in Philly.

 

[theogt]

I agree with that, but it by no means would have assured us any measure of success once we got there. The team's play late this year certainly suggests that we wouldn't have been successful.

True, but Arizona tanked toward the end of the season and the played like a totally different team during the post-season. It's a whole other season in the playoffs.

 

[Clove]

True, but Arizona tanked toward the end of the season and the played like a totally different team during the post-season. It's a whole other season in the playoffs.

Whatever happened to dominant teams, teams that win during the reg season, then turn it up during the playoffs?

Kinda sucks.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

No.


With the season on the lines for the last 5 or 6 games... a well disciplined team would have prevailed.


No.

 

[Kangaroo]

If Injuries are an excuse, Blatimore and Pittsburgh should have bigger excuse than Cowboys.

I believe Baltimore had 2nd or 3rd most on IR in NFL, yet they went to AFC championship, with Rookie QB. Pittsburgh had significant Injuries too, especially on OL.

Now Detroit and Denver were devasted with Injuries and their season probably reflects that, except Denver had ligitimate QB, which enabled them to be at least .500 team, even with colapse.

But probably, Cowboys got most effected by Romo Injury the most. Pitt and Baltimore got ove their injuries because QB didn't lose too much time. Same with Denver, probably should have been 4-5 win team if Cutler missed 2-3 games.

What about the Pats losing Brady and still went 11-5 and finished out winning like 6 games in a row

 

[The Panch]

True, but Arizona tanked toward the end of the season and the played like a totally different team during the post-season. It's a whole other season in the playoffs.

Arizona=Clinched a weak division

Us=Competing just to get into the playoffs





No similarities at all.

 

[tomson75]

True, but Arizona tanked toward the end of the season and the played like a totally different team during the post-season. It's a whole other season in the playoffs.

True...and I was surprised by that, and that is a primary reason why I think that the Cardinals have a better shot than most people are giving them credit for.

Alas, as many of our resident posters have been kind enough to remind us daily....we'll never know if the Cowboys would have. Partially thanks to injuries.