I would think so, given the overall lack of quality OL across the league, and by the fact that even the casual fan could see the difference, especially in the run game. PS. Your last sentence is of critical importance; both starters and depth pieces are needed. Unfortunately, as we have seen, Grier does not place a lot of value on the OL.
I really don’t know how you can say that. We were on our 3rd Center. And most of the line was 2nd and sometimes 3rd stringers and they won 11 games. That’s a miracle in todays NFL.
Not to mention we were as healthy as we’ve been against KC and only mustered 7 points. And it doesn’t explain the a** whooping Buf gave us in week 4 when we got exposed for being a pretender.
I've seen some stats when Williams was out of games. Going from 32+ ppg to 22+. Sacks from 8 to mid 20s. Record with of 7-2 vs without 4-5. The downgrade from Williams to Eichenberg was appreciably noticeable
We weren't healthy though? X and Holland, the entire DE group, Baker, Elliot was limited. Offensively, guys played, but were clearly not even remotely close to being healthy. Multiple OL positions, Mostert, Waddle. Tyreek looked better but he was still dealing with problems as well. All that in horrendous cold which just amplifies all that. We never had a chance, people were just being delusional. Warm weather and dome teams DO NOT go into that type of weather and perform. Home field is very important in that regard and we absolutely blew it when it comes to that. Our gameplan was also weird. Needed a lot more runs. Passing twice on 3rd and 4th and 2 was no bueno.
This is always going to be an issue when our GM overlooks injury history and emphasizes small players that are quick that can’t hold up to a full NFL season playing against physical teams.
No of the o line guys are small players. Ramsey, AVG and even X never had a history of foot problems. The only one with chronic injuries is Armstead. Everyone else it seemed had injuries you just couldn’t predict.
Tua, Armstead and Chubb all have extensive injury histories. It would be hard to count on any of them for a full season and they’re all at critical positions. Waddle and Hill are both small, so it shouldn’t be a surprise they get banged up.
Tua wasn’t hurt all season. I already said Armstead. And Chubb doesn’t play on the O line. There are very few NFL players that don’t have injury histories. It’s a violent sport. Hill got hurt on a hip drop tackle that tweeked his ankle. You think somehow him being a little bigger would have stopped that? Hill had a couple hamstring injuries in KC which has nothing to do with size. Waddle had a concussion which players of all sizes get. He had no injury history with Alabama except a sprained ankle. Chubb did have a previous knee injury but to say that these injuries are all related to previous injury histories just isn’t the case.
How many times has Tua been injured in college and NFL? If you’re only talking about OL, what do AVG and X have to do with that position?
You should re-read the post you responded to, see if I said anything about they “only” bring in players with injury histories or are small, and then circle back.
He had 2 high ankle sprains, the hip and a sprained thumb in college. The hip being the one most serious. He had fractured ribs and 2 concussions in the NFL. So where is the correlation to his injury history in college to the NFL?
So you’re saying he’s had more seasons with injury than staying healthy. Thanks for proving my point!
“our GM overlooks injury history and emphasizes small players that are quick that can’t hold up to a full NFL season playing against physical teams.” I paraphrased it but it looked like the intent of your position was still the same as the injury history of those players don’t point to them being overly susceptible to the previous injuries they had.
Tua has only stayed healthy two seasons since becoming a starter in college. Armstead has never played a full NFL season. Chubb had season ending/missing multiple games in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023. Phillips medically retired in college because of injury history.
He missed one game in 2019. One game in 2020. 3 games for the ribs. And then the 8 games for the concussions. So in roughly 70 games he’s missed I think 13 games. In 4 years he’s missed about 19% of the games. QBs have an injury rate of 33%. He’s bellow that rate.
I don't think Tua has gotten injured more than any other starting QB in this league. He's just gotten injured at the wrong/worst times which seems to amplify the issue. Injuries are definitely a part of the game and you can't predict them. Sure, certain players are injury prone and I think that is what keeps players from truly achieving greatness in whatever sport they're in. Still, injuries are impossible to predict. I think you do your best to protect players from getting hurt. In other words, you don't put Tua behind a swiss cheese offensive line and expect him to not only perform at an elite level, but also never sustain an injury. Personally, I'm not going to argue over which players are and aren't injury-prone. Obviously, the best players are the ones that are available. I guess a person could try and research that aspect when it comes to adding players to a team, but it's not a 100% guarantee that they're never going to get hurt. We were nowhere near full health on either side of the ball when we faced the Chiefs in the playoffs. Not even close and anyone suggesting that we were has a personal agenda and is still salty over the loss. The fact that people on here dislike Tua only amplifies that because he played so badly. Personally, I think that if you have a great quarterback on your roster you can overcome injuries to key positions. The reason being is that great quarterbacks/leaders are able to elevate the play of those around them. Imagine the *** chewing an O-lineman got whenever Marino or Tom Brady took a sack. Tua is not that type of quarterback, we are currently living in the "feelings" era and it's also a discussion for another topic.
When you’re small compared to the competition, your body is going to have a hard time staying healthy. He’s had 11 different injuries in 6 seasons. Back to my original point, Grier overlooks players with injury histories and players that are small for their position. It shouldn’t be a surprise that we continue to be plagued by injuries and don’t go anywhere in the playoffs.
