RCowboyFan;2614097 said:
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.
Total number on IR is quite misleading.
When you look at guys like Stanback on IR it is basically a player who wouldn't be active anyways. Whereas Witten never hit IR but was seriously banged up and really just struggled to get through each game and he is the best player in the league at his position when healthy so having him out there at 70% is still a big loss.
IMHO Dallas got hit by the double whammy with injuries. You never want to lose a Pro Bowl QB to injuries and you never want to lose your backups after losing the starter.
Dallas was down to its 3rd SS and 3rd RB essentially. Those are huge because almost no team has a decent 3 deep.
Look at it this way. Dallas had 13 Pro Bowlers in 2007 and traded for another 2007 ProBowler in RW.
Flozell -- injured this year and struggled for a few weeks, especially against Arizona.
Gurode -- Not sure Gurode was banged up be he lost his "signal caller" when Kosier went out and that reduced the entire lines effectiveness.
Witten -- seriously injured for second half of the year and it showed, Had an All Pro first half of the season then fell off dramatically. Most reliable guy on the team came up empty in big spots late in the year.
Romo -- Has some wear and tear generally but never has been reported to have major injuries until this year.
Barber -- was a defense punishing machine in 2007 but in 2008 he was on pace for 1245 yards rushing and 10 TDs rushing when he got banged up and the final 5 weeks he was awful due to injury.
Ware -- was again outstanding but only 2007 Pro Bowler who elevated game in 2008 and was healthiest of them all.
Roy Hammer Williams -- was gifted a Pro Bowl after another mediocre year where he turned 2 down player. Still no one with an ounce of brains will argue that he was not missed versus the run, especially once we lost Patrick Watkins who was his coverage replacement and Keith Davis who was his run stopping replacement.
McBriar -- probably the league's best punter until he was crushed after Tashard Choice missed a block. We signed an off the street bad punter to replace him and lost about 5 yards per punt.
Terence Newman -- He had a strong 2007 and then in 2008 was at times dominant and at other times very ordinary. If he undisciplined and inconsistent or were the injuries limiting his effectiveness?
Pittsburgh's OL injuries were a factor in their season. As was their RB injuries. But that team won games based on defense. And their best defenders Polamalu and Harrison had strong years as did Lamarr Woodley.
Baltimore had a similar scenario. Did Kyle Boller on IR hurt them? Not a bit. They lost maybe 3 guys who played normally for them. None of them in their top 2 or 3 guys on either side of the ball. They didn't have Ray Lewis playing with broken ribs or their rookie QB throwing with a broken finger.
A quick guess by me at the Cowboys 10 best players would be...
Ware
Tony Romo
Jason Witten
Terrell Owens
Barber
Newman
Ratliff
Felix Jones
Flozell Adams
Roy E. Williams
Of those 10 players, seven suffered injuries that affected games.
Of the offensive guys who lead such a high powered attack, 7 of the top 10 Cowboys reside there by my best guess and 6 of those guys suffered noticeable game affecting injuries in 2008.
