Not an excuse for me.
Defensive side? Trevathan and Irving. Not enough to break the defense in my mind. Did more with less last year.
Offensive side? Orange Julius, Sanders, Hillman, and Ball? 2 good, 2 who cares. Still not an excuse when you have the weapons we do. Sanders should have been replaced by Latimer, and OJ you can't really replace. Even with that said DT, Welker, Latimer, Tamme, and CJ should have been enough to get it done. Hell DT, Welker, and CJ should have been good enough if we had an inkling of a run game. We are not struggling because of the players, we are struggling because we are not prepared, and completely predictable. I'd send the house on Manning all day long if I knew they weren't going to run.
He might burn you a few times, but you also have a shot of rattling him. I'd take that chance if it was me.