Bob Sutton

[Rain Man]

I think we're quick to blame the coaches around here, and I'm as guilty as anybody.

I'm really not sure what happened last year. It was weird as heck. We went from having a world-beating defense to a defense that was almost Greg Robinson-esque in ineptness. (There I go blaming the coaches again, but ... spinner defense. That was all Robinson.) And at the same time our offense went from being completely inept to being a world beater. That was totally weird.

On the defense, I think it's no coincidence that our defense went from good to bad about the same time that our schedule got tougher. It implies that our defense was good enough to shut down weak teams, but that it had a weakness (also known as a "Kendrick") that could be easily exploited by good teams. Or as implied in the initial post, maybe 9 weeks was enough time for opponents to figure out the Achilles heel of our system or our personnel.

The change in the offense was the bigger mystery. What started going right? Was it all Geoff Schwartz and Donald Stephenson (aka Russell Wilson)? That and Fasano's return were the only notable personnel changes. Or was it the offense learning the new system well enough that they started dominating via their amazing talent and system?