I guess this is all about expectations and what you viewed the team's talent as, as one poster has alluded to.
QB: I don't think many of us expected us to miss Mitch as much as this team does for his running ability as I think most thought Croft would take the job and the feet wouldn't miss a beat. With Rhoda, yes he throws a pretty nice ball and can do some nice things in the pocket, but it really hurts our read option game and his attempted pull and fumble debacle was a brutal. When he's misfiring, this offense loses a ton of pep and puts the defense in a major hurt. Either they need to tell him pulling it and getting 4 yards is ok (which it is, as it makes the DE stay home) or phase the read option out some as he's just not looking comfortable keeping it.
RB: RB talent is as good if not better. Really hard to assess Brooks and Smith as the space they've had to navigate has been tight due to loaded boxes.
WR/TE: We miss Woli for sure. Johnson has stepped up big time, but he also disappears at times. Could be scheme or that teams are doubling him but we definitely lack a second playmaker to free up space. Think we hoped Lingen or Woz could help out here, but they just have not. And for the rest, Howard has had yips, Still has been non-existent and in the dog house, Carter just doesn't seem to have the ability to get open. Second facet that I think has hurt with these guys is they, IMO, have not blocked well, the TEs especially. Seeing way too much of Lingen getting blown up at the point of attack, which cripples developing a lane for the read option. Need these guys to figure it out or the back half of B10 play will be very ugly. Overall talent level looks similar. One guy who looks like he could start/play for other B10 teams and not much after that.
OL: pass blocking looks much improved, which may be aided by Rhoda looking more comfortable than Mitch in the pocket at times. Run blocking has looked regressed, but this may be more 8, 9 man boxes coupled with the lack of threat for a QB keeper in effect. Need them to gel more because the talent level should not have dropped off this much.
DL: I've thought or DL overall has been slightly worse than last year. Richardson continues to look good but rest of DL has been relatively non-existent. Coughlin looks overmatched from a size aspect at DL. Shows flashes but dominated most other plays, which I did not expect. Devers, Cashman both look like they can't do much at this point, which is bothersome. Need someone to figure out how to get home in this system. The talent should be there, but for some reason it's not showing up.
LB: Feel like our LB talent is better than last year, flying to the ball more effectively. Our best unit IMO. Doesn't mean they don't make mistakes, but looks like they're being expected to compensate for other's deficiencies right now.
DB: Talent looks severely dropped off from last year. Really lacking a #1 DB, which I was hoping Shenault could be. Winfield, McGhee look just as good but are missing games. We really don't have a set of backups that can contribute, which I feel like is what last year's team could do that this year's can't. We just don't have the depth. This could be a really good unit in 1-2 years, but they're taking some heavy lumps this year and it appears the coaches don't trust them right now because of this.
K/P: talent is just as good as last year. Can't really complain here.
Offense: play call is vanilla, some wrinkles but really shows we don't have the dynamic playmakers at WR. Really easy to play armchair coordinator but I expected better and feels like we're underachieving on offense with the offensive minds we have on staff. Expected better.
Defense: appears we're planning to play soft defense and hope for mistakes. Guys appear to be in right positions relatively speaking most of the time, which is consistent with last year. But looks like they don't have the horses to hold up in the secondary to allow us to be more exotic, which is why I think they're feeling limited in what they can call for fear of giving up home runs. We will see if they adapt. If you asked me before MD, I would've said I'm thrilled with how the defense has come around (sound tackling, good point of target, flowing to the ball with tenacity and speed) but now watching it against a team with some athletes, I'm a little more worried about how the guys are being put on the field.
Discipline: expected big things out of Fleck and co in terms of pre snap penalties, awareness of situations, etc and I would say they've achieved on this. Much less bone-head penalties, guys all together appear to be aware of situational football.
I guess what I'm getting at with this ramble is I was cautiously optimistic our DBs would look better than this and they just don't appear talented at this juncture, especially without Winfield. I expected our DL to look much much better rushing the passer. Unsure if that's scheme or underachieving players. Our QB limitation I expected for sure, and it's playing out that way exactly. We only have a few guys that I'd say could start on most B10 teams, and it's showing when those guys get dinged up. Guess I underappreciated the lack of depth this team had and think it is showing