Injury Reports - As Of December 3rd

[E30M3]

So it's about that time of the year where injuries start piling up for all teams affecting some of their chances of getting to the playoffs. I know a lot of talk has been spent here addressing the injuries to the Dolphins line and how they are the "worst" in the NFL when it comes to the injury bug. I actually didn't know so I decided to do some digging around the other teams and see where the Dolphins stacked up against others.

A couple of notes first before people start flaming the results. These are simply a compilation. I didn't take into account date of player injury, skill position, string position, etc. There are many factors when it comes to injuries affecting a team, a center like the Dolphins going out early in the season would affect every game compared to a center of another team going out this week. Also, a backup QB like Falk makes the list although he certainly does not carry the same damage to the team as someone like Kilgore. I also dont know enough about the other teams to really determine who their skill players are and how much an injury would affect that time.

The results indicate that, and this may not surprise you, THEY ARE AVERAGE! Whattaya know, another stat to be average in! Of all the teams, the median (rounded up because you cant have half a player) is 10. The Dolphins currently have 10 on IR.

I also wanted to see the records of teams that were affected by 10 or more IR positions and the results shouldn't be surprising it is most of the middle of the pack teams. Anyways, take it for what its worth.

ATL: 6
BUF: 4
CAR: 12 6-6 CB, LB, WR, LB, RB, RB, T, T, S, TE, CB, S
CHI: 5
CIN: 14 5-7 DT, S, TE, TE, T, QB, DT, DT, LB, TE, DE, WR, TE, G
CLE: 7
IND: 13 6-6 WR, S, T, QB, TE, DT, WR, C, TE, CB, S, DE, WR
ARI: 12 3-9 LB, LB, S, G, K, LB, OL, OL, OL, WR, RB, OL
DAL: 11 7-5 DE, CB, WR, G, WR, WR, TE, DL, C, S, G
DEN: 12 6-6 LB, LB, G, TE, TE, LB, G, C, WR, CB, TE, S
DET: 4
GNB: 9
HOU: 6
JAX: 13 4-8 OL, DT, LB, OL, TE, WR, OL, LS, RB, TE, OL, OL, WR
KAN: 11 10-2 DB, OL, OL, RB, WR, LB, OL, WR, DB, TE, OL
MIA: 10 6-6 DE, G, TE, DT, WR, LB, QB, C, WR, CB
MIN: 8
NOR: 12 10-2 CB, RB, DB, WR, TE, G, DT, WR, DL, T, WR, WR
NWE: 10 9-3 OL, WR, RB, TE, WR, OL, LB, DB, LB, OL
NYG: 9
NYJ: 8
TEN: 6
PHI: 10 6-6 CB, S, DE, RB, CB, TE, WR, WR, LB, S
PIT: 10 7-4-1 T, LB, DE, DB, LB, TE, T, S, WR, T
OAK: 14 2-10 RB, LS, CB, S, K, RB, CB, DE, WR, DT, T, K, T, DT
LAR: 7
BAL: 11 7-5 RB, DT, P, LB, CB, RB, WR, CB, S, T, WR
LAC: 9
SEA: 9
SFO: 10 2-10 QB, DL, LB, OL, RB, DB, DB, CB, RB, LB
TAM: 12 5-7 DT, DB, LB, LB, TE, LB, RB, OL, S, DT, CB, WR
WAS: 16 6-6 QB, G, WR, G, S, LB, LB, QB, RB, T, WR, G, QB, RB, TE, WR

 

[Rowdy1972]

Ehh. Yeah its a compilation and that about all. Atlanta lost Both Starting safeties early for the year after 2/3 games. Dion Jones for like 10 games. (Not on IR). Grady Jarrett was out an extend amount of time. Both starting guards early. That team was ravaged by injuries early and the defense was gutted up the middle (Both safeties, Middle LB, and DT). They never recovered. This list shows them as on the good side of the injury bug which it wasnt at all.

I know you disclose that it wasn't an end all be all of schedules but then you proclaim our injuries were just average in comparison to the league based on this schedule. Any team that loses it starting QB for 5 games and plays hurt for the rest of the games is not average in regards to the injury bug.

 

[bane]

Def. not going to flame you. Good work actually!
Armando all ready showed this though. I appreciate your efforts. Though like you said, it matters if they are starters or not. For example I think Pittsburgh is listed with 10 injuries. None are starters. Most are players from camp that were scrub types or guys they wanted to keep without cutting them. Now did we have the worst injury situation? No, honestly the teams who have it the worst are the chargers, falcons and redskins. Everybody is saying how the falcons defense is terrible. Well it is because they lost almost all their linebackers and secondary. Two years ago everybody was saying what a fast swarming defense they had that got them to the super bowl. Redskins lost a few lineman a week ago and two quarterbacks. Now they are struggling. Chargers lost forest lamp and their tight end hunter in the offseason. Now their defense has a lot a few players. Especially at linebacker. But they have been able overcome the injury bug!

Now why do certain teams overcome the injury bug? Good questions Glad you asked. When you have elite qb play that can overcome injuries, bad defense, etc. 2010 the packers had 18 players on ir. They still won the super bowl.

It goes back to something Brian Billick said. The old coach of the Ravens. When you have an elite quarterbacking you team will not drop below 7 or 8 wins. Especially now with the passing rules. The elite qb itself will keep a horrible team that should win 3 games to maybe winning 7,8,9. We don't have to look any further then our own franchise. When Dan Marino played and the rules made it much harder to throw the football he himself kept a lot of horrible teams at 8 wins. Only one season did it fall to 6 wins. that was in 1988 I believe. Many times when he got a decent defense he lifted them to 9 10, 11 wins when really they were not that talented. The guy played with only two hall of famers. How talented could those teams be? Those teams were bad from 1986-1989. I know we like to say Shula was so great and he was great. But those 86,87,88,89 teams were dreadful. The defenses could not stop anyone. We had no running game. The oline was terrible at run blocking and great at pass blocking. But the Marino factor kept them at 8 wins usually.


Only thing I will say is that if a fan likes Gase then they are going to be more inclined to say the injuries affected the team. If the fan wants him gone they he or she will believe that all team have injuries and it is an excuse. Nobody is wrong. We all went them to win. But I don't think anyone can deny that the number of injuries are the key factor. It is the number of starters or impact players. The second thing is that elite qb play can mask those injuries. We do not have that.
When you have an average qb you almost have to be perfect in regards to defense, running game, and special teams and health. What are the odds that all happens? Not great. If we upgrade the qb then the injuries wouldn't be a big factor like it is with the current dolphins.

I am not flaming ,attacking anyone or taking a stand on one side or the other. But I would love to hear feedback.

 

[Danny]

Thanks for taking the time to making this list. What it shows is that every team has injuries tho some teams have more than others. At the end of the day nobody's gonna feel sorry for us just like we don't feel sorry for them. Next man up goes on for every team and that's why you need some depth.

 

[fininpsl]

This comparison only includes players on IR that are done for the year. It does not include players who missed large chunks of the year, but are still actively trying to play. It's not really a detailed enough examination of games missed by 1st and 2nd string players to make any summary judgement.

 

[E30M3]

This comparison only includes players on IR that are done for the year. It does not include players who missed large chunks of the year, but are still actively trying to play. It's not really a detailed enough examination of games missed by 1st and 2nd string players to make any summary judgement.

It isn't meant to jump to any conclusions regarding W-L, apart from what people may speculate. It is more to determine what position the Dolphins are in injury-wise compared to other rosters.

I may work on it a bit as the week goes on for some further analysis though for that. Didn't have a lot of time this morning other than the compilation of numbers.

 

[claytonduper]

Thank you for the work. It is very difficult to equate the impact of each injury, position and the value of each player for it's team. Watching the depleted Redskins yesterday reminded me of the Dolphins. The only difference is nobody outside of Miami really talks about our injuries. For me it is the defensive and offensive lines which killed us. On top of that we got rid of Suh, Pouncey, and Phillips making us much weaker depth wise.

 

[phintim]

Heres where the rubber has to hit the road. Billicheat changes up and adjusts the roster every year offseting both injuries that occur along with tendencies from the year prior that opposing teams focus in on. Above and beyond that he demands decipline from his players. Shula demanded this and won many games with inferior rosters. So to get our ship in order the easiest thing for Gase to do is first instill decipline stop all the penalties that are a constant since his arrival. Second make adjustments to the roster faster. He has made changes but not fast enough. Third he needs to fire his buddy as defensive coordinator and fourth Ross needs to fire Tbum and bring in the best GM money can by.

 

[DefensiveEnd76]

Leaving garbage like Ted Larsen in as a starter reflects horribly on Gase. Larsen is rated as the worst guard in the league but we leave him in as a starter??!!

 

[Daytona Fin]

A lot of playoff teams on that 10+ list.

 

[fininpsl]

It isn't meant to jump to any conclusions regarding W-L, apart from what people may speculate. It is more to determine what position the Dolphins are in injury-wise compared to other rosters.

I may work on it a bit as the week goes on for some further analysis though for that. Didn't have a lot of time this morning other than the compilation of numbers.

Even then, you need to compare games lost, and the number of players on IR isn't comprehensively representative of that. For instance, we didn't have Jake Brendel or Mike Hull for half the season but they aren't included in the ten players listed for the Fins.