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[QUOTE="billsin01, post: 51587, member: 837"]
Yes and no. I agree that you can't consistently make excuses. I get that. But Chandler and Shamarko are two pretty big injuries and P. Thomas was dealing with injuries in the preseason. I think you could argue that those are three of the four best players on this defense.

But, I agree, everyone has injuries. I just think it's the combo of those injuries, plus the loss of six really good players from last year (thought Lewis was underrated, Merkerson came on extremely strong, and Smith/Hogue/Holmes were the core of the unit). And experience is an issue they've had to deal with as well. I get your point, but consider that Vaughan really hadn't played much, Diabate is a juco and still has to learn the defense (even if he's more developed physically than the typical newcomer), we had basically zero experience at DT (Goggins redshirted), and our sophs in the secondary are true sophs, not redshirt sophs. That's still pretty early in the developmental curve, IMO.

Anyway, I don't entirely disagree and often think people overstate the importance of experience. But Shafer is a proven commodity and had, IMO, some legit hurdles to climb this year and, despite that, has managed to put together a decent defense that has kept us in ball games and could be very dangerous in 2012. I'm not sure we could have asked for much more than he has delivered.
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