"Firing" is the operative word here, because Saints coach Sean Payton said Monday that Ryan is still his defensive coordinator.
Firing or fired, either way, it looks like Ryan -- whose defense has been shredded this season -- will be looking for a job soon enough. It In addition to Cousins' monster performance, Ryan's Saints allowed huge games to Carson Palmer (307 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT),Cam Newton (312 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT; 33 rush yards, 1 TD), Sam Bradford (333 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT), Eli Manning (350 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT), and Marcus Mariota (371 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT).
They head into their Week 11 bye last in the league in both total yards (30th in passing yards and 29th in rushing yards) and points allowed per game, and before being torn up by Cousins, they were already last in Football Outsiders' Defensive DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, which adjusts team performance for down, distance, and opponent) as well.
This is really nothing new for a Ryan-led defense. He has been a coordinator since 2004, spending time with the Raiders (2004-2008), Browns (2009-2010), Cowboys (2011-2012), and Saints (2013-2015). The following chart shows his team's league-wide ranks in yards per game, points per game, and DVOA, yearly and on average.
| ROB RYAN DEFENSES | |||
| YEAR | YDS/GM | PTS/GM | DVOA |
| 2004 | 30 | 31 | 26 |
| 2005 | 27 | 25 | 20 |
| 2006 | 3 | 18 | 8 |
| 2007 | 22 | 26 | 22 |
| 2008 | 27 | 24 | 19 |
| 2009 | 31 | 21 | 30 |
| 2010 | 22 | 13 | 18 |
| 2011 | 14 | 16 | 16 |
| 2012 | 19 | 24 | 23 |
| 2013 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 2014 | 31 | 28 | 31 |
| 2015 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| AVG | 21.8 | 21.8 | 21.3 |
Over a period of 12 years, Rob Ryan has consistently coordinated defenses ranking in the bottom third of the league. He's had a defense that ranked in the top 10 in both yards and points per game allowed exactly once, and his units have made just two appearances in the top 10 in DVOA, with no top-five showings. Even if his defenses have shown improvement at some point, they have reliably fallen back toward the bottom of the league before long.
It is difficult to find reasonable justification for anyone to hire him in the same position at this point, but he is the son of Buddy Ryan and the brother of Rex Ryan, so somebody probably will.
No comments:
Post a Comment