Teams who won it all even after their star went down?

[HuskyHawk]

It's hard to think about Brady as a replacement.

Jalen Hurts was also a star on that bama team where tua replaced him, Even though it was what Saban preferred anyway.
I always felt bad for hurts and remember saying to myself "I hope one day he gets to shine over tua. Just as cosmic payback" safe to say that did in fact happen.... in a huge way. Tua who?

OK, but go back in time. Brady had been a 6th round draft pick in 2000 and was 4th string. They kept 4 QBs. Pre-season 2001, they signed Damon Huard to be the #2 and released Bishop, making Brady #3.
Terry Glenn was suspended. Bledsoe was far and away the best player on that roster when he got hurt.

ESPN.com: NFL - Patriots: Roster overhauled by spring cleaning

 

[lateralous]

2001 Colorado Avalanche without Peter Forsberg

 

[Scoe]

96 Packers -losing Robert Brooks

04 Pats- Ty Law out for the season, Richard Seymour out till the Super Bowl

05 White Sox- Frank Thomas lost for the season

 

[Scoe]

Carson Wentz was having an MVP type season until he went out. Foles ended up having a better overall career but at that moment, it was despair in Philly

Prince Harry hasn't been the same ever since.

 

[Jaydumo20]

OK, but go back in time. Brady had been a 6th round draft pick in 2000 and was 4th string. They kept 4 QBs. Pre-season 2001, they signed Damon Huard to be the #2 and released Bishop, making Brady #3.
Terry Glenn was suspended. Bledsoe was far and away the best player on that roster when he got hurt.

ESPN.com: NFL - Patriots: Roster overhauled by spring cleaning

I agree with you 100% I didn't express that well enough.
I meant that even though it's a correct answer, it's hard for people to look at the situation, in hindsight, as if Bledsoe were the better option. When he clearly was, at that time

 

[blkknight1]

Not the team star but 99 rams Trent green went down pre-season rams had to turn to some no name arena leaguer.

88 dodgers gibson was nl mvp that year but only made on plate appearance in the ws.

Ohio St loses jt Barrett to injury vs Michigan, cardale Jones lead them to big ten title the next week, then beats Alabama in The cfp
Semis and Oregon in the title game.

 

[thekollieman]

2011 Dallas Mavericks without Caron Butler

Came in here to write this. Good on ya!

 

[cwh20]

Braves losing Acuna. A big loss but I don’t follow them enough to know if he was easily considered their biggest star or just a major piece

 

[Jaydumo20]

Braves losing Acuna. A big loss but I don’t follow them enough to know if he was easily considered their biggest star or just a major piece

Yes. Easily their biggest star. This is a great one

 

[Husky25]

Sox lost Nomar Garciaparra, first to injury and later traded, in 2004. Nomar was easily the 'Sox best all around player and a face of the franchise from 1998 (if not earlier) up to that point.

 

[IndyLives]

People still talking about Porzingis like he's something he's not. Guy is headed to his fifth team before he turns 30. He is not that guy.

He's this generations Bill Walton.

 

[Lafayette]

Sox lost Nomar Garciaparra, first to injury and later traded, in 2004. Nomar was easily the 'Sox best all around player and a face of the franchise from 1998 (if not earlier) up to that point.

Those glove adjustments - BoSox had their own "human rain delay" in Nomar.

 

[IndyLives]

Last year, Dodgers lost Kershaw before the playoffs and somehow managed to beat the Yankees in the World Series.

 

[Inyatkin]

He's this generations Bill Walton.

He's really not

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Not the team star but 99 rams Trent green went down pre-season rams had to turn to some no name arena leaguer.

88 dodgers gibson was nl mvp that year but only made on plate appearance in the ws.

Ohio St loses jt Barrett to injury vs Michigan, cardale Jones lead them to big ten title the next week, then beats Alabama in The cfp
Semis and Oregon in the title game.

I remember Vermeil's press conference after Green went down. Vermeil was in tears.

 

[3rdbass]

The Pacers didn't win it all but it got me thinking. After a pretty ridiculous online discussion of whether there needs to be an asterisk next to OKCs win because of TH absence (absolutely not. Stop with the asterisk flinging)
I started thinking of teams that lost a star or key player during the year they won it all.

This could be from any sport. Who you got?

The Pacers got luck this year and last year with other injuries to key players. This year it was no Dane, Like 4 Cleveland players intlcuding Mitchell who was limping on one bad leg in the last game, and Towns. The year before a bunch of Knicks players were hurt including Brunson who broke his hand in the game 7 and both Yannis and Dane. So Indiana got lucky both years to get as far as they got.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

New England Patriots 2001 when Bledsoe went down.

 

[HooperScooper]

The Pacers got luck this year and last year with other injuries to key players. This year it was no Dane, Like 4 Cleveland players intlcuding Mitchell who was limping on one bad leg in the last game, and Towns. The year before a bunch of Knicks players were hurt including Brunson who broke his hand in the game 7 and both Yannis and Dane. So Indiana got lucky both years to get as far as they got.

That's what they said about the Celtics last year on their way to a championship. There is no such thing as "luck" with injuries. It's part of the game. And it seems especially more so recently.

 

[Husky25]

That's what they said about the Celtics last year on their way to a championship. There is no such thing as "luck" with injuries. It's part of the game. And it seems especially more so recently.

Consider that the Celtics had their own injury issues.

 

[Scoe]

Consider that the Celtics had their own injury issues.

You can't have it both ways. Don't use injuries this year as an excuse then.

 

[Scoe]

That's what they said about the Celtics last year on their way to a championship. There is no such thing as "luck" with injuries. It's part of the game. And it seems especially more so recently.

Yet Celtics fans are using injuries as an excuse this year, you can't have it both ways.

 

[Husky25]

Yet Celtics fans are using injuries as an excuse this year, you can't have it both ways.

I'm sure some are. Not me. They blew three double digit leads (nay, 20 point leads) in three different games to the Knicks. Tatum's injury had nothing to do with the NBA season being over in mid May.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

That's what they said about the Celtics last year on their way to a championship. There is no such thing as "luck" with injuries. It's part of the game. And it seems especially more so recently.

The overuse of players is a huge issue, in part because top teams have been losing key players at the end of the season or in the playoffs for several years in a row. The fact that Cleveland and Boston got decimated and the Knicks were completely spent by the Conference Finals doesn't make the Pacers better. If Halliburton had gone down in game 1 against the Bucks, Pacers may have lost that series in 6 games even with Lillard getting hurt.

 

[Inyatkin]

The overuse of players is a huge issue, in part because top teams have been losing key players at the end of the season or in the playoffs for several years in a row. The fact that Cleveland and Boston got decimated and the Knicks were completely spent by the Conference Finals doesn't make the Pacers better. If Halliburton had gone down in game 1 against the Bucks, Pacers may have lost that series in 6 games even with Lillard getting hurt.

So many things going on here.
The Celtics weren't decimated by injuries. Tatum went down when the series was basically out of reach, and before that the big issue was Porzingis, who is unreliable in the best-case scenario. Holliday and Horford were old, not injured.
The Knicks weren't completely spent. The Pacers outplayed them.
The Bucks were completely exposed. They have Giannis, Lillard got hurt and then they have not a single player that scares anyone.

 

[Scoe]

2016 Pats losing Gronk for the year