Quote:
Originally Posted by Da_Chief
Not really. Pretty much all the projected D starters are healthy outside of Mace, not a big drop off to Turner or Smith though.
The receivers, we lost SCC but he's not clearly ahead of Parker/Durant etc anyways.
Lost Cornish but that's only been one game with the OL injuries the running game has been non-existent.
The big hit was taken at OL with Harrison, Federkeil, Craighead, Lavoi, Williams all injured and Jones and Bryant no longer with the team. If couple of those guys from last years team are still here we're in good shape.
Lions - Fairly healthy
Esks - Starting QB (Reilly), starting RB (White), starting national rec (Chambers), OL (Groulx, Wojt, Rottier)
Riders - Starting and backup QBs (Durant and Glenn), MLB (Emry), DB (Brown), MacDougall
Bombers - DL guys Bryant and Peach
Als - First 3 QBs (Crompton, Marsh, LaFevour), Starting safety (Edem), Top D player (Woods),
Argos - Starting QB (Ray), Durie, Underwood, Waters, Gabriel
Cats - Lots of guys, well advertised
Blacks - Noting significant
Our injuries are no different then anyone elses. QB is the most important position. The emergence of young QBs has closed the gap. Cato doing well in Montreal, Harris in Toronto, Collaros in Ham, all from the East has made it a competitive league. East is not a pushover anymore.
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Let's break this down:
Federkeil, Harrison, Craighead, Lavoie all on the 6-game list with Harrison gone for the year. Not to mention Lavertu has been playing banged up. These O-line injuries have hampered the Stamps' offensive attack and has made life difficult not only for the replacement Olinemen but for the entire offense. Mitchell hasn't been getting as much time to throw the ball as other QBs around the league have been. Having your Oline beat up like this is almost like having an injury to your QB too since his effectiveness becomes limited.
We can squabble over hypotheticals of certain players from last year that aren't on this year's team (ie: Jones, Bryant), but the fact is that they didn't stay so it's not relevant to play the what-if game. Fact of the matter is that they haven't been available and aren't available.
Yes Simon CC is our top Canadian receiver. Durant is talented but inexperienced; Parker has a chronic case of the dropsies.
Cornish is the best player on this team, period. Losing him for six games is a huge blow. If you want to play the "the run game was non-existent anyway" card, you have to admit that it magnifies the importance of the Oline injuries. It should also be noted that the few times the Oline HAS held up you saw Cornish tear off big runs, just look at the Winnipeg game as an example.
You shrugged off the D-line injuries but they are nothing to shrug off. Micah Johnson is our best DT and he's been missing through the first 6 games. Mace is an excellent DT and also a Canadian, so losing him meant putting strain on the team's ratio situation. Ben D'Aguilar is a good Canadian DE that can play special teams as well as on defense and he's also been out for 6 games.
Others on the 6 game list include Tim St Pierre and Max Caron.
So yeah, I'd say there's a strong case to be made that the Stamps have been decimated by injuries.