I guess I'll jump on the Neal Brown train. Right now, I may be the only one; maybe the conductor :grimace:
That stated, let's jump in...
I've always been a defense-first guy. For three main reasons: 1) Defense keeps you in games; 2) Defense travels; and 3) Defense wins championships.
With Brown, we've had the best defensive years since...Nehlen? It's ok to win 24-20 every week if we could only get to 24. If only we had some semblance of an offense think where we'd be. What's holding that back - inconsistent QB play. Get that fixed somehow and this team could contend for B12 championships. All the other stuff - penalties, TO's, etc. will likely fix itself also.
I believe people were so used to scoring 40 with Dana that 40 is the new norm. If we aren't scoring 40 then something's wrong! The problem with that is we HAD to score 40 to even be in it. With a defense like this, we don't get blown out by anyone - even with this poor of an offense. Just average 28 a game - one TD per quarter - and we're looking at 8-10 win seasons again.
2/3 of the team have taken the step to be great. If the offense ever comes along, Brown finds his QB or turns over the OC to see if things change, then good times may/will be ahead.