The article wasn't even intended to be critical.
Hey HL, would you explain, it was not meant to be critical? Thanks buddy. RTR!
Well, the overall theme of the article is in the title and subtitle:
Title: "SEC 2015: Alabama Is What You Want to See"
Subtitle: "How you perceive Alabama in 2015 says as much about you as it does the team."
The title is actually fairly clever because it has dual meanings. The one that goes along with the article's theme (your personal perspective will greatly affect what you expect from Alabama this year), and the one that states Alabama is the big show, so to speak, in the SEC and college football. People love to see and talk about Alabama (good or bad).
He points out all the reasons why people would not expect Alabama to be great this year - Saban feeling underappreciated and fans unrealistic expections (leading a Spurrier reference about him feeling similar at Florida and how long-term coaches haven't won a lot of championships recently). He points out how the game has changed and the recipe for success isn't exactly the same as what the 2009, 2011, 2012 Alabama teams were built on. The defense has been slipping against modern offenses, etc.
But then he flips the coin and talked about how Saban has been changing with the times (retooling the offense with Kiffen, how he'd used tools in the past like the Wildcat), and also points out that Saban's defenses have still been better than almost everyone else and that last years team which many saw as a failure was rated as the 2nd best team and 10th best in the last decade by a well-respected statistical analysis tool.
The last two paragraphs say it all (most of us really only know enough about football to judge results):
It's strange to say it, but one of the best coaches in the country has become something of a Rorschach test. With Saban, you're going to see what you want to see. It's true of his 2015 team too. Is it a team that can do fine with a retooled offense thanks to nearly everyone back on defense? Or is a great defense that will be let down by an offense without a quarterback or any proven playmaking receivers?
You, and I, and everyone else will be hanging on the results of the season to answer those questions. Saban? As always, he's more concerned about the process than the results. It's one of those things that make him the best and all of us just observers.
It's a pretty open ended article, but it definitely has positive undertones for Alabama and particularly Saban.
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