It's not an excuse and I'm won't make them for previous versions of this team. Having said that, at some point the next man up is just not going to be good enough and that holds true for every team not coached by Belichick. This team used 35 different offensive line combinations last year. 35! That is more than 2 per game! No team is successful like that and we are working on a second year of ridiculous numbers like that.
So what do they do about it in the off-season? Do they sign a new LG and bring in a couple rookies? No. They bring in the oft injured old, horrible LG we had on the team for years who proved inadequate, and draft a single rookie to help. Sounds like solid front office reasoning to me.
I have seen Alex play and I absolutely believe that with a healthy Crowder, Scherff, Williams and Guice, this team beats Houston on Sunday (and maybe Smith doesn't get injured). That puts us 2 games up right there. After looking at the results from this year I was probably being optimistic in saying 3 games. I thought I remembered another close loss but there isn't one.
I was on board for the Smith trade...until I saw him get worse and worse as the season wore on. At least with Cousins last year, he still put up numbers with that abysmal line combination number. Difference this year, our defense is actually pretty good, they sucked last year. The win difference isn't because a conservative Alex Smith, it's because our defense is balling.
As for your assertion about winning the game on Sunday with our starters on offense. Adrian Peterson had 2 TD's Sunday, Guice could have been better? I love how fans suggest a rookie we've never seen play a down in the NFL would be better than a solid old vet who is getting it done, regardless of his physical limitations. And the banged up OL just faced one of the best defensive lines in the game, and did a pretty solid job. Not sure how much more could have been done with Scherff and Trent, but OK...maybe Smith doesn't get sacked 3 times. Crowder? I think last year proved he is not the WR we all want him to be, without other WR's on the team to keep the double teams off him. Quinn proved he could do what Crowder did for most of last year.
I still maintain that this is NOT a bad team though. In fact, I think it's pretty good team. Not great, mind you, but good. This team isn't a threat to go to the Super Bowl. I know that. But it is a far cry better than some of the embarrassing squads we have had to deal with watching over the last 25 years.
I have not said the team is bad, it's mediocre, with a chance to win a poor division. And this is no better than RG3's rookie year, and the 2 playoff runs under Gibbs 2, or even Brad Johnson's single playoff run for us. More of the same, if you ask me...not bad, but definitely not good. Mediocre.
I know you are mad at Snyder and want to blame him for everything but if you step back from the anger (which I have plenty of as well) and look at the last few years you will see an owner trying hard to do the right things for the on field product. The fact that all those things haven't worked out doesn't change the effort.
Look, I am not angry. I defended Snyder for years because I knew (or at least thought) he was a fan, and wanted to win. I am not sold on the "wanting to win" anymore. I think his desire for status and money far outweigh his ability to completely step away from the decisions of the day to day operations to allow someone to build a perennial contender. Bruce Allen ain't that guy...and I'm not sold Doug Williams is, either.