The injuries are a huge deal but it's hard for fans to focus on them. Every team has at least a few injuries and what we see on the field are the guys who are playing so that is what we talk about. We still had to overcome injuries last season but we were a bit deeper. For example, Browner and Thurmond were replaced by Maxwell and Lane. Sidney Rice was replaced by Golden Tate and our defensive line rotation was better.
In my opinion, a major issue this season is that we have not yet seen much production out of our last two draft classes. Drafting well is why we were a deep team in the first place but we seem to have fallen off the last couple of years due to Harvin and drafting injury prone players who end up getting hurt.
2013 Draft Capital: Percy Harvin, Christine Michael, Jordan Hill, Chris Harper, Jesse Williams, Tharold Simon, Luke Willson, Spencer Ware, Ryan Seymour, Ty Powell, Jared Smith, Michael Bowie
2014 Draft Capital: Paul Richardson, Justin Britt, (Harvin), Cassius Marsh, Kevin Norwood, Kevin Pierre-Louis, Jimmy Staten, Garrett Scott, Eric Pinkins, Kiero Small
Harvin is the biggest impact here but Hill, Williams and Simon have had trouble staying healthy and Willson has struggled a lot this year. The jury is still out on Britt, Richardson and Norwood. KPL may be the bright spot.