c_hawkbob wrote:Sherm is every bit as critical a cog as any other member of the Legion. Earl and Kam have both been hurt and we've suffered as a defense but not crumbled, in part because Sherm has always been there. Now without Sherm we'll suffer again, and probably on a similar scale as without any of the other two, but we won't crumble. We may get burned over the top a bit more now that we can't eliminate half the field from the other team's offensive game plan, but most teams have to live with that reality anyway.
I think our defense will certainly look different, but I won't go so far as to say the season's over. We still have a decent front and a spectacular pair of LBs in Bobby and KJ and as long as we have Russ under center I trust our offense to find a way to do enough, at least often enough, to win enough games to stay in the hunt.
You're way more optimistic than I am.
This defense works against the pass because of Earl and Sherm. Sherm allows Earl to support the middle and opposite side of the field. With Sherm out Earl will have to heavily support all sides of the field, meaning teams can set up formations and attacks to draw Earl away and set up very favorable matchups that will lead to us getting hammered. Even more important was how good Sherm was in the red zone. Sherm's length and intelligence made him one of the best red zone corners in the league. Throwing a TD on Sherm in the red zone was extremely difficult with this length and ability to maintain position. I think Sherm was worth at least 4 points a game.
Our front will not make up for the loss of Sherm. If anything Sherm and Earl made our front look better because they made it so QBs had to hold the ball longer giving our front more time to bring pressure.
Then absent a run game, our defense is going to get worn out and dismantled. Unless Bevell can somehow turn the short passing game into an efficient way to maintain time of possession, I see us getting strung out and beat.
The only positive I can say is the season isn't over and we have a QB that can do some amazing things if Bevell can learn to run the entire offense through Russell. I don't see us competing for a Super Bowl this year, especially if some of the other guys that went down on Thursday remain out, specifically Duane Brown or any of our other D-line guys.
I hope I don't hear all the bitching. We're the walking wounded. We have no run game. Our secondary is down to Earl, a much lesser version of Kam, and a bunch of unknowns. Wins now are going to be because a bunch of the remaining players stepped up big time and our QB and receivers carried the offense to give us a chance. I hope this locker room looks in the mirror and days, "Screw it. We have nothing to lose. Let's throw the ball and light this up."