Do you think it may have had something to do with DV's loyalty being gone? Herm has no ties to players that don't perform. Players were afraid for their jobs.

Good question. Are you asking if I associate the better play from the defense to the fact that players are afraid of losing their jobs? If so, not really.

I don't think the bubble players improved much, in fact most of them lost their starting jobs - Sims, Dalton, Hicks. Perhaps Wesley improved.

I'm not sure there was much DV loyalty to defensive players. There was a big turnover in guys during those 5 years. There were a lot of free agents that came and went and stayed.