a couple of good points, wrapped up in fantasy....makes those good points feel like fantasy as well.

Should have stopped with this;
"The D from 2005-2011 was much more conservative, and based on assignments that didn’t require as many fast players. The last few years we broke that mold because we had some very unique athletes.

This season, our coaches estimated that we could continue with the less conservative system, and guys like Fua and Kaufusi could carry it. It’s been a horrible miscalculation. It turns out that Ziggy, KVN, and even guys like Hadley and Sorenson are not plug-and-play athletes. We won’t usually have that kind of quality on the roster.

But, instead of recognizing that and adjusting, the coaches – Bronco, foremost among them – have doubled down and just pounded on better execution."

Bronson and Fua being out of place has been the biggest miscalculation this team made. more so because they were expected to break out and have stellar performances. Somehow you still don't factor in...those guys haven't hardly played (Fua in 2.5) of the losses) and 4-5 guys have been missing on that D.

I just rewatched the Nevada game , if you pick out the player that missed their assignment on every crucial play (scoring play, first down play, etc, special teams) it's often times Kaufusi fails to set the edge, or a third stringer misses a tackle or is turned around out of position.

It's obvious to see that guys completely missed assignments, or in some cases were beat entirely. Nevada in particular picked on the area of the field Bills or Taki Taki would have been. Experience factors in. Any one on that team particularly those guys who missed assignments know they missed the assignments. The narrative and fantasy locker room scene you wrote up made me chuckle though.