and it also occurred to me that we might have played our first team longer than others might have, due to the complexity of the systems we’re putting in on both offense and defense. On the other hand, the larger drop-off between our first team and the scrubs might be greater than for others, so the two considerations might be a wash with the bottom line being that we’re doing surprisingly well on defense. Our defense’s performance might be analogous to Detroit going 4-0 in the preseason then 0-16 in the regular season. I’m not expecting us to be a top defense just because we’re doing well in preseason. I’d be thrilled if we turn out to be average or even a little below average during the season, and this makes me more confident that that might happen. The contrast with the preseason results during the Bates run-contain experiment is striking. It suggests that Nolan is doing a very good job of coaching, and also that, despite their lack of pedigree, the players we’ve acquired are coachable and able to combine their talents in a way that enables our defense to be more effective than the sum of its individual parts. That never would have happened under Shanahan. Perhaps we really are getting, if not supremely gifted athletes, players who not only have character but are smart, just what McDaniels said he wanted. If so it suggests somebody’s very subtle and effective at player evaluation, and that we’re getting a defense that will overperform rather than vice versa.

You can’t read too much into it, but good news is way better than bad news and that sinking feeling you get when your new system is seemingly not getting traction.