Good luck with injuries per this metric doesn't necessarily correlate with winning it all, but it can help put you in position to compete. It is odd that 2 of the last 3 SB winners were in the bottom half, while 24 of the 36 teams to make the playoffs were in the top half of the metric.
In 2012, BAL was #13. SF was #1. 8 out of 12 of the playoff teams were in the top half. SF #1, MIN 2 and SEA 4.
In 2011, NYG was #26 and NE was #30. 9 out of 12 of the playoff teams were in the top half. BAL #1, NO #3, and DET 4.
In 2010, GB was #30 and PIT # 14. 7 out of 12 of the playoff teams were in the top half. KC, CHI and ATL were #s 1, 2 and 3.
I think this really points to overall depth of rosters, the quality of GMs filling those rosters, and, most importantly, who is getting hurt. I would argue GB, NYG and BAL have some exceptional personnel staffs. They've gotten players that can offset the Adjusted Games Lost to Injury metric with deeply talented rosters. That said, I do believe Ted has failed quite a bit over the last 2 or 3 years in terms of adding top talent, but that is not an easy thing to do picking towards the end of every draft, while completely ignoring FA. To me, this should be plain to see that this strict draft and develop mantra is not working. Ted Thompson needs to take a good look in the mirror after this season. This is the 3rd year in a row I'm thinking, "all we need is DL, LB and S help."
Sadly, I believe our high end in terms of talent was that 2010 season, and we have steadily declined from there, especially on D. Being dead last in 2012, with a roster not as deep as 2010 really hurt us, and that looks to have carried over to this season. After all is said and done in this 2013 season, I would venture our injury totals 2 out of these last 4 seasons will have been worse than 2010, with lesser talents on our rosters to fill those gaps. Both of those years we may find ourselves to be dead last in Adjusted Games Lost. I'm just speculating here, but dead LAST, 2 years in a row…??? Too many injuries, and key players unavailable when we really need them.
Maybe it is "luck." Sometimes you have to make your luck. Personally, I think we can do better. SF was #1 last year, and SEA # 4. I would imagine both are faring pretty well this season. We'll see. Maybe we should be looking to improve our strength and conditioning staff. What do we have to lose?
Originally Posted by: play2win