NSIAP -
While driving between two appointments yesterday, I submitted myself to the Paul Finebaum show. He had Billy Liucci as a guest. Before and after, Finebaum took calls. I'll start by saying that Liucci was the smartest person Finebaum spoke to while I was listening.
Liucci mentioned that Elko was taking over the defense and that what happened last year will not happen again this year. IIRC, they had some sort of audio clip of Elko. It's not a ringing endorsement of his co-DCs Bateman and Peterson.
He's losing 3 defensive linemen, a couple of DBs, etc., so diving in to have more ownership is not exactly smart for his career at aTm. Seems like an odd/panic statement this early in his tenure, esp. given that the defense performed OK during the season.
The defense did seem to wane in the latter part of the season in the latter part of games. Conditioning? Tells?
Regardless, it seems odd to publicly declare it...