there were times when the offense got the ball on their end of the field, drove to mid-field or so, then stalled. They punted, and the other team started at their own 10 or 20 yard line.

If the defense held the other team to a 3-and-out, then we should get the ball back somewhere close to where the last drive ended (obviously depending on punts and punt returns).

That'd be great, because the odds of scoring go way up when you start around mid-field.

But instead, most of the time the defense would let the other team get 2 or 3 (or more) first downs before stopping them. That means our offense would start it's next possession deep in is own end of the field again.

The odds of scoring when you start 80+ yards away from the end zone are not good.

This scenario had played out over and over again last year and this. In that sense, the defense hasn't done the offense any favors in starting field position, and that will reduce scoring for all but the most explosive offenses (which we definitely are not).

I'm not excusing the offense at all. They've been a lot worse than the defense over all. But this is a legitimate criticism of the defense. They haven't been good at winning the field position battle.