Fall Practice Begins Today

Stephen Tsai talked to the players as they prepared for the opening of fall camp yesterday.

And Ferd Lewis writes that this year, a good offense will be the best defense.

Too often in the past the offense has taken its time moseying to a degree of sharpness in a herky jerky start. But this year that is a luxury the Warriors can hardly afford as they begin with the double whammy of a road-heavy early schedule and a rebuilding defense.

Last year at this time, of course, the Warriors were a disheveled team in transition, having to decide upon and then plug in a new quarterback. They had a new head coach, offensive coordinator and rebuilding receivers so you knew it was going to take time. And, it did. Fortunately for their postseason hopes, they had an experienced defense to absorb some of the burden.

But this year it is time for the offense to emerge early and repay the favor in kind. It needs to do the heavy lifting early while the under-construction defense finds its way across an early road map of a schedule that has stops in Seattle, Las Vegas and Ruston, La., in the first four games.