Ryan's aggressive philosophy just what Dallas needs
By Pat Kirwan NFL.com
Senior Analyst
In Dallas, Rob Ryan will have more talent to work with than he did in Cleveland.
Talk about an overall NFL makeover. There have been 23 new offensive/defensive coordinators hired this offseason, to say nothing of the special teams coordinators hired also. I was surprised to count up all the coordinator changes, considering the ongoing labor situation and the potential limited practice time.
The 2011 season will feature 13 new defensive coordinators. There is little doubt that these men will have a great impact on the outcome of next season. Just a few short weeks ago, some of the biggest storylines surrounding Super Bowl XLV were the defensive coordinators, Dom Capers of the Green Bay Packers and Dick LeBeau of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They brought all kinds of pressure from a base 3-4 defense and, as usual, teams will look to follow suit and find a coach with a similar philosophy.
That leads me to the first in a series of profiles of potential high-impact coaching moves this offseason, Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.
Rex, Buddy and Rob Ryan are known for defense and being dominating personalities for teams.
The decision to hire
Remus "Rob" Ryan is the son of Buddy Ryan and the twin brother of Jets coach Rex Ryan. Rob has a presence in a room; he can be boastful and engaging. He can appear like a standup comedian at times, and an extremely aggressive coach as well. The Cowboys were looking for an aggressive 3-4 coach with coordinator experience to compliment the first-time head coach, offensive guru Jason Garrett. His expertise on that side of the ball makes for a perfect situation for a veteran defensive coordinator such as Ryan.
Dallas interviewed Vic Fangio and Greg Manusky for this job, and while both landed coordinator jobs elsewhere Rob, and his contrasting personality to Garrett's, looks like a solid pick to bring some energy and attitude to a defense that needs an emotional repair job. The previous defensive coordinators were good coaches, but quiet and a lot less flamboyant than Rob.
Rob's background
Rob's father, Buddy, was the first great influence on his coaching career. As a ball boy for the Bears, he watched his father's 46 defense dominate the NFL. The 46 defense was an attacking defense that refused to give up an inch on the ground. In today's game, there are some 46 principles, but offenses changed and found ways to beat the 46 with a spread passing attack.
Rob has other great influences in his coaching career. Of course, he can be seen at many events like the Senior Bowl with Rex, who has a high-pressure defense he developed while with the Baltimore Ravens and refined with the Jets. There are similarities to Rob's philosophy. Rob also spent significant time with Bill Belichick as his linebackers coach, which might be the stop in his career that gave him the foundation to teach technique, as well as packaging up pressure calls with different players. Rob was around Willie McGinest, Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel, among others, and he really learned how to get the most out of older veterans without wearing them out.
From the Patriots, it was on to the Raiders as a defensive coordinator and the influences of Al Davis. Davis loves man-to-man coverage schemes, and Rob learned to blend in Davis' philosophy with his own. That is not always an easy task, but one that enhanced his skill sets.
After Oakland, it was a return to the Belichick coaching tree with a two-year stop in as Cleveland's coordinator under coach Eric Mangini. That was a more restrictive situation for Rob's personality, with Mangini requiring his coaches to be low profile and rarely available to the press.
Defensive philosophy
Rob is a base 3-4 coach, and the Cowboys were built by former coach Bill Parcells to be a 3-4 defense. The first thing that will change in Dallas are the pressure calls in every down-and-distance situation.
Here's a look at what happened when Rob came in as defensive coordinator in Oakland and Cleveland with the year before his arrival and his first season with the percentage increase in pressure calls:
Team/Year............................First down pct. ....Second down pct. ....Third down pct.
Oakland/2003 (no Rob Ryan)............29%.......................35%.....................29%
Oakland 2004 (with Rob Ryan)..........48%.......................44%.....................40%
Cleveland 2008 (no Rob Ryan)..........42%.......................42%.....................41%
Cleveland 2009 (with Rob Ryan)........56%.......................54%.....................39%
Notice that not only does he come in and pressure more than the year before in most situations by more than 10 percent, but pressure calls from team to team increase. Keep in mind, Rex heated it up in 2010 to another level: 45 percent on first downs, 56 percent on second downs and 75 percent on third downs.
Here are my projections for Dallas in 2011:
Team/Year......................First down pct. ....Second down pct. ....Third down pct.
Dallas/2010 (no Rob Ryan).........26%...................44%....................36%
Dallas/2011 (with Rob Ryan).......50%...................52%....................55%
Rob will get along just great with Garrett, who believes in pads at practice, tackling and contact most days, a toughness and very little excuse making. I have been to camp where a defense led by Rob has been, and he likes to have his guys compete against the offense every day. Garrett will be just as competitive. Practice in Dallas will be much more aggressive with these two guys on the field.
Will it work?
Rob knows he has more talent on this defense than he had in Cleveland and probably Oakland, too, starting with DeMarcus Ware, who told me at the Super Bowl that he and his teammates are fired up to play for Rob. There is some concern around the league that Rob is going to angle to be the center of attention, much like his dad in Chicago even though Mike Ditka was the head coach. I have been told by a few coaches who have worked with Rob that will not be the case. Rob will be a positive addition, not a liability.
Rob likes to say points given up and turnovers are the categories that interest him the most. It might take more than one year to repair in the case of points allowed and tough to match in turnovers. Last year, the once-mighty Dallas defense gave up the most points per game in franchise history (27.3).
When Rob went to Oakland and Cleveland, his defense actually gave up more points in his first season than it did the year before (23.7 points allowed per game by Oakland in 2003, 27.3 points allowed per game by Oakland under Rob in 2004; 21.9 points allowed per game by Cleveland in 2008, 23.4 points allowed per game by Cleveland under Rob in 2009), but in both places things got better in the second and third years.
Installing a system, getting all the right types of players and learning to play fast takes time. As for turnovers, he would do well to just match the 30 turnovers the 2010 team generated. Rob's first season in Cleveland saw the team drop from 31 the year before to 19, but bounced right back to 28 last year.
I think things will work out well for the Dallas defense under Rob. He has a good nose tackle in Jay Ratliff, an elite pass rusher in Ware, a solid outside linebacker opposite Ware in Anthony Spencer, and a potential star corner in Mike Jenkins. I was surprised the Cowboys didn't go after O.J. Atogwe with their issues at safety, but they have three draft picks in the top 71 selections.
If Rob can get two of those three picks for defense, especially at defensive end or safety, he will turn this unit around in a year or two.
