Former Saints player: Rob Ryan didn't have any power as defensive coordinator
Was Rob Ryan right about being forced to 'sit on his hands' in New Orleans?
By
Ryan Wilson
•
2 min read
Rob Ryan, perhaps more than his brother, isn't afraid to speak his mind. Sometimes it's a welcome change to the usually staid relationship between NFL coaches and the media, but usually Ryan's frankness seems to get him in trouble.
Now working on Rex's staff in Buffalo, Rob told TheMMQB.com's Jenny Vrentas last week that he regretted "sitting on his hands" as the Saints' defensive coordinator last season, which eventually led to some terrible football and his midseason firing.
"I get pissed in New Orleans because I know I am better than that," Ryan said. "I am a way better coach than I was allowed to be, and that's just the truth."
On the surface it sounds like sour grapes -- guy gets fired and blames his boss -- but former Saints defensive lineman Akiem Hicks says Ryan isn't wrong.
"Not to talk about New Orleans for the rest of this interview, but as a player in that system, you can see when power is taken away from a guy," said Hicks, who played for the Saints from 2012-2015 and is now a member of the Bears. "It was evident in that situation and you saw what the turnout was because of it. ...
"I didn't see the interview, but I do know this: I'll forever and always have a lot of love for Rob Ryan, just because there's nobody that's going to shoot you straighter," Hicks told the Chicago media Wednesday, via ESPN.com. "He's going to tell you how it is, he's going to tell you how he feels, and you're always going to understand his perspective on things, and I feel like that was taken away."
Fair enough, but the reality is that Ryan was a mediocre coordinator long before last season, something we we wrote in September 2014:
Rankings via Football Outsiders' defensive metrics:
Ryan with the Raiders, 2004-08
2004: 26th overall defense (30th pass, 28th run)
2005: 20th overall (27th, 14th)
2006: 8th overall (4th, 17th)
2007: 22nd overall (13th, 32nd)
2008: 19th overall (13th, 26th)Ryan with the Browns, 2009-10
Browns, 2009: 30th overall (28th, 30th)
Browns, 2010: 18th overall (18th, 22nd)Ryan with the Cowboys, 2011-12
2011: 16th overall (20th, 8th)
2012: 23rd overall (25th, 19th)Ryan with the Saints, 2013-2015
Saints, 2013: 10th overall (6th, 20th)
Saints, 2014: 32nd overall (30th, 24th)It's also instructive to look at how these defenses did in the season before Ryan arrived:
Raiders, 2003: 26th overall defense (27th pass, 21st run)
Browns, 2008: 20th overall (16th, 23rd)
Cowboys, 2010: 27th overall (28th, 11th)
Saints, 2012: 32nd (28th, 30th)
Good news, however: During that same TheMMQB.com interview, Ryan also took the opportunity to announce that he and his brother were going to beat Bill Belichick -- together. So there's that.
