All good points. But you have to remember, the Red homers have had 3 years of the Process looking shaky, while they have kept banging the Red drum. The more the Process looked stuck in the mud, the more they dug in as Red was criticized, both rightfully and wrongfully so for various things. They have felt like victims. Disenfranchised. Ridiculed. Often ignored. This is vindication for them. Its a time to say, "we told all of you blind bats" who werent willing to see.
Who should get all the credit for the turnaround is debatable, but ONE thing we all know is that it is totally different this year. So what changed? Are we to assume that its ALL the Process and it just finally clicked after 3 1/2 years of little if any progress? And even more like 6-7 years for the offense to finally click and cut out the dumb mistakes/penalties and play consistently?
The answer is that NONE of us really know what all contributed to what we have seen so far this year, but we do know its totally different than the past.
I think it is a complete stretch to now say "the process worked". Nothing in the past ever looked as if the process was working, nor was there any indication that it was working.
It is not like we have been seeing improvement week to week, game to game, season after season.
Instead, it has been the same mistakes, similar blunders, .. losing games we shouldn't, .. always going 8-8.
This has all come out of nowhere.
Several things have fallen into place this season:
Linehan has been great with play calling and sticking to the run.
Marinelli has been great working with what he has.
Rolando McClain has brought an 'attitude' to the defense, and the run-first mentality has brought an 'attitude' to the offense.
Garrett has been great as the "leader of men", and as the walk around coach. He is a personality that commands respect, and I think the players trust him and are behind him.
Our recent drafts have been good and that is showing.
But other than the drafts and our other accumulation of talent, .. this has not been brewing, and growing, and getting better as the results of some process.