The Bombers fell short against the Tigers on Friday night in the annual Dreamtime at the G clash, leaving the game with major injury concerns and even more pressure mounting on Brad Scott.
Speaking on the Six Points AFL podcast, Daniel Harford believes the injury chaos may have bought Scott more time.
"I think it's a different scenario to the Carlton situation with Michael Voss, because there are extenuating circumstances, on the weekend, Dreamtime at the G, great win for the Tigers by the way, considering what they're challenged with at the moment with access to players, but Essendon's in-game losses made it impossible for them to get the job done on Friday night," Harford said.
"I think it buys Brad a bit more time; they've got a couple of big weeks coming up against West Coast and then Carlton, and I can't see them winning either of those games.
"Without Durham, without Caldwell, Peter Wright, and then McGrath's jaw, without those guys you can't possibly expect to win those games when you're in a situation like Essendon bottom of the table, so Brad probably gets a bit more time to shape this list and find out what he's got."
But what is more concerning is the lack of a visible game plan.
“There's still that question of what is the plan, what's the system that Essendon are trying to implement, the DNA of the Brad Scott gameplan," Harford said.
"Whether or not you can see that when you watch an Essendon performance, and if you're the board, and the footy director and the president, and you are trying to work out what we are as a team, we haven't seen, what sort of system you are trying to run here really effectively, it changes week-to-week.
“Essendon don't have a discernible style, so that's the problem Brad Scott faces, let alone the fact that he's got now, some key personnel are going to be missing for two games.
"At the start of the year, they would have chalked up and said we could win both these games, probably on Friday night as well, would have been three in a row, and had that been the case, would have been a very different scenario for the Bombers, but he does find himself in a very precarious situation."
Mark Stevens believes there will be pressure on Scott heading into Essendon's bye.
“What is it now, 1-23, now, I mean, I'd like the boffins or the stats guru's somewhere, has there been a coach ever survive with that number?" Stevens questioned.
"That's starting to get brutal, you can't go 1-23 and be too safe, I think there will be pressure on towards the bye, Harf.”
