Ravaged by injury? Maybe not

One of the great myths of the 2005 season might be that the Green Bay Packers’ roster was ripped apart by injuries.

If you look at our roster now vs. our roster on opening day, kicker Ryan Longwell said, it’s night and day.

But is it?

It may seem that way to those inside the locker room, but in reality, this season's turnover could be viewed as only marginally different from any of Mike Sherman's six seasons as Packers coach. In terms of sheer volume, the Packers roster today doesn't look that much different than it normally would heading into the final game of the regular season, considering the turnover in past seasons.


Of the 53 players who were on the roster for the Sept. 11 regular-season opener in Detroit, 43 of them — or 81.1 percent — remain. Though that’s the lowest number in Sherman’s tenure, it’s not significantly less than in most of his previous seasons.

A comparison of the Packers’ rosters in Week 1 and in the regular-season finale in each of Sherman’s previous seasons showed similar numbers. He was left with 47 of his original players in 2000, 44 in ’01, 46 in ’02, 47 in ’03 and 44 last season. In both 2002 and last year, Sherman began the year with 52 players on the roster. He finished each of his previous seasons with the following percentages of the original roster: 88.7 percent in 2000, 83 percent in ’01, 88.5 percent in ’02, 88.7 percent in ’03 and 84.6 percent in ’04.

Not all roster moves made were due to injuries. For example, the Packers cut cornerback Joey Thomas on Nov. 2 because of substandard play.

So far in the Packers’ 3-12 season, 70 players have spent at least one week on the 53-man roster. That’s more than in any season since 2000, but not by much. The Packers had 65 players on their roster for at least one game in 2000, 63 in ’01, 68 in ’02, 61 in ’03 and 66 last season.

“I couldn’t tell you what is (normal),” Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said. “I think we have like a dozen guys on injured reserve (actually 11). We’ve got another handful that we’ve done injury settlements with. We try not to talk too much about it, because it sounds like excuses, but certainly at a couple of spots, we’ve had our fair share.

“I think as an organization, we’ve done a pretty good job of not really dwelling on it. It’s just the way it is. Sometimes you get key people hurt. Sometimes you get other people hurt that aren’t maybe as integral to your performance.”

To be sure, the Packers were hit hard by losses at receiver and running back.
They lost Javon Walker to a season-ending knee injury in the opener against the Lions and three weeks later lost rookie Terrence Murphy to a neck injury. The Packers were counting heavily on Walker to be their top playmaker in the passing game, but there’s no way to know if he was going to have a repeat of the 2004 season, when he posted career highs with 89 catches, 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns. That’s the argument the Packers made for not giving Walker the contract extension he asked for in the offseason. Murphy was an unknown but probably would have been the No. 3 receiver.

At running back, starter Ahman Green and top backup Najeh Davenport were lost for the year before the halfway point of the season. However, neither Green nor Davenport helped the Packers to an effective running game before their injuries. The eventual replacement, Samkon Gado, who wasn’t added to the roster until the eighth game, turned out to be the best running back until he injured his knee against Baltimore on Dec. 19. Gado missed Sunday’s game against Chicago and might not play this week against Seattle.

At one point or another against the Bears, the Packers were without nine players who were either starters or may have been starters because of injuries to other players. All but Gado were on the opening-day roster.

However, the Packers’ offense, which ranks 18th out of 32 teams in the NFL, still has its quarterback, Brett Favre, and all of its offensive linemen, though center Mike Flanagan’s availability and effectiveness have been reduced because of a sports hernia.

Perhaps the problem was the original group of 53 was a second-rate collection of players.
“I think we’ve all said this, players, coaches and myself, I don’t think that we’ve played as well as maybe individually we should have played,” Thompson said. “I don’t think that should be lost. It’s not that we’re not trying. It’s just that we’re not quite playing up to the same level.”
source : http://www.packersnews.com/