Pretty simple, all stats show it was not a NY6 level D last year. Hope I’m wrong for this year and maybe one year of development makes a difference. Not saying NY6 couldn’t be possible, and teams can have success riding one side of the ball, and we did last year with a 6th ranked O and 81st D.

I just don’t see where the D is getting markedly better this year over last year talent wise. Problems last year with talent were more than losing one healthy very good linebacker. 6th ranked offense with a great back meant we won a lot, but could have been NY6 if we had even a 40-50th D with a decent Dline and Dline depth.

Also, the Special Teams were 107th in Efficiency, which doesn’t get talked about a lot but really hurt us. Offense 6th, and Defense 81st. So hopefully special teams is getting some attention.