Yeah I mean having another Suh would be great, but we just need better than what we've got without thinking we need another Suh. I forgot to mention Crick, but his is an odd story. He did well in 2010 and then 2011 was a rough year that involved an injury. But, having another Crick would help immensely too. What became obvious after 2011 though is that our front seven talent just slowly got worse and worse. Many of the players surrounding Crick were ones that played in 2012, and the 2012 line wasn't very good at all. This says to me Crick was probably doing a lot on his own without getting much help around him.
I think the injuries in 2012 really hurt us by depleting the little depth that we had on the DL. I don't think the talent was bad, it was just average and didn't have a playmaker like Crick or David to make a play when they needed it. Then the injuries just made it worse.
Well, the talent was pretty lacking AND injuries hurt. Not a good combination.
Having guys with great individual talent can make up for injuries and other areas of deficiencies (see Lavonte David). It seems like all the older guys last year were "good" but didn't have elite talent. I think the one exception was Baker Steinkuhler, who was dominant at times.
The defense played consistently, but not outstanding. When they faced great skill players like UCLA, Ohio State, and Georgia had, the defense was in trouble. The Wisconsin game combined pretty good skill players, along with great o-line play, and complete busts by the defense.
