Sign of Good Coaching? Look Here...

One of the better indicators of head coaches who are able to deal with adversity during the season. Everyone knows that injuries can drastically impact a team's fortunes. But not all injuries are equal. Lose a Burrow for a month and it's a problem. OTOH, lose a Loudermilk for the season and no one will notice.

Adjusted Games Lost doesn’t just add up total injuries. It accounts for both absent players and those playing at less than 100%, and it specifically measures injuries to expected starters and important situational players rather than little-used backups. As such, AGL estimates the impact of injuries on teams and provides a comparable total that often succinctly explains why teams improved or declined from one year to the next.

Chart shows AGL vs win totals for 2025. Clearly the healthiest teams did better. But also note the outliers of very injured teams that posted good win totals; SF, LAC, HOU.

PIT defense was 16th highest AGL, offense was 31st highest (2nd least injured).

How about McCarthy? In 2024 DAL and PIT were 14th and 15th in total AGL, respectively. Dallas had 7 wins, PIT with 10 wins, so a bit of ho hum.