Anyone who thinks 10 wins is our floor is drinking kool-aid. We lost our defensive coordinator, we lost Josh Adams who was single handedly responsible for probably 50% of our big plays last season.
I have high hopes but my expectations are decidedly mediocre...to preserve my sanity.
Adams was a stellar back, but as we saw last year, our running game was pretty much just as stellar when he was out. We just continued to churn along most of the season with Williams, Jones, McIntosh or even Holmes behind the line.
I think we're better off this year with Williams and Jones, because I think they have better initial burst than Adams. Having the best line in America helped him significantly, because we saw how he can be negated if he can't get things going out of the backfield. This of course is all provided that Williams and Jones can stay healthy (and Williams improves his pass blocking).
I'm a little concerned about Lea from a playcalling perspective, but he's been around Elko for a while and knows the ropes. As from a coaching and cohesion perspective with the other coaches and players, not in the slightest bit worried and we may have actually upgraded in that aspect from Elko to Lea. No knock on Elko, it's just that Lea has been that impressive in getting his guys to rally around him so far.