[washingtonismoney]

It seems to me that a lot of fans hardly notice when the defense plays poorly, but are quite fixated on the offense.

As of this moment, I am much more optimistic about the offense. Though in my case that could be strongly affected by my expectations that the defense would be very good this year but that the offense might have trouble getting beyond average. Thus I am disappointed in the defense, but buoyed by the recent signs of life on offense.

1) Well I think you know precisely why fans are much more wroth by bad offense than bad defense -- they're certain David Shaw is a Bad Offensive Coach.

2) I agree with the relative optimism about the offense. A few reasons -- that are a bit related to 1). While in the past fans have been perhaps overly critical with Shaw's Bad Offensive Coaching, I think the criticism of the offensive coaching against SDSU was valid. But that, in turn, suggests reasons for optimism: the personnel issues appear tractable. Costello *looks* like a better QB than Chryst; and we'll see on the offensive line. On the other hand, defensively ... nothing's fixing that line, absent a late-season surge from the redshirt freshmen Swann and Williams. I suppose the odd underperformance of the linebackers and defensive backs might remedy themselves, but it's hard for me to figure out.

[washingtonismoney]

It seems to me that a lot of fans hardly notice when the defense plays poorly, but are quite fixated on the offense.

As of this moment, I am much more optimistic about the offense. Though in my case that could be strongly affected by my expectations that the defense would be very good this year but that the offense might have trouble getting beyond average. Thus I am disappointed in the defense, but buoyed by the recent signs of life on offense.

1) Well I think you know precisely why fans are much more wroth by bad offense than bad defense -- they're certain David Shaw is a Bad Offensive Coach.

2) I agree with the relative optimism about the offense. A few reasons -- that are a bit related to 1). While in the past fans have been perhaps overly critical with Shaw's Bad Offensive Coaching, I think the criticism of the offensive coaching against SDSU was valid. But that, in turn, suggests reasons for optimism: the personnel issues appear tractable. Costello *looks* like a better QB than Chryst; and we'll see on the offensive line. On the other hand, defensively ... nothing's fixing that line, absent a late-season surge from the redshirt freshmen Swann and Williams. I suppose the odd underperformance of the linebackers and defensive backs might remedy themselves, but it's hard for me to figure out.