I know this is unpopular, and I wouldn’t have said it even earlier this season, but Joe Barry has this defense playing well despite being without key players throughout much of the season.

We were quick to defend the offense when it was struggling (well some of us were), because we understood MLF was trying to make it work while short on players and while coaching up young talent. I think perhaps we’re sometimes less forgiving of the defense because of Barry’s past issues.

I’ll actually take it a step further. I’ve seen a lot of fans complain about the defense doing well enough by saying “this is just going to lead to Barry keeping his job”, and suggesting it’d be better if our defense played poorly. That’s loser talk. If our defense continues to play as well as they have recently, then I hope Barry stays around and we can see what he can do as these players get more experience and get healthy.