Two new articles suggest:
VERY INJURED.
FO has released their starters games lost. These are still tentative My understanding is that this is not the AGL numbers, but just starts lost. The Colts lead the NFL, with six more lost games than the Packers.
Secondly, this brilliant piece of work shows how many games Indy lost to starters and compares it to previous seasons.
What all of these numbers mean, when you get right down to it, is that the Colts had 52% more injuries to starters and backups this year compared to a “very bad” year in 2009, and 104% more than in 2008 (71% more if you consider Pitcock and Johnson). While the Colts tend to be injured more than the league average every year, the Colts have endured two consecutive years of exceptional attrition due to injuries. Just to show how remarkable this amount of injuries is, the Chicago Bears who are playing in the NFCCG this next week had a total of 11 games lost by starters this season. This is tied for the least amount in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs. The average this year was 47.5 games lost by starters across the league according to Football Outsiders.
Here’s the thing: This was not a normal ‘every team has a lot of injuries type of thing. This was a “no one else in the NFL had anything like this” kind of thing. Yes, the Packers had a lot of injuries too, and they are still playing, but considering that Indy lost by a point, you have to wonder if the one extra injury would have kept them in it. What if Powers is on Edwards on that final pass, for example?
The truth is that the Colts were just too beat to have a legitimate Super Bowl run this season.
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