Thank you, Eric Mangini. Sorry, Browns fans.

By Anthony Carroll  |   Friday, January 09, 2009  |  Comments( 45 )

Oakland Raiders
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Take away Rob Ryan’s rough exterior and family legacy. What do you got? Honestly, sit back and think about this one.

The answer: A sloppy-looking defensive coordinator whose five-year average ranking for his defenses is 22nd in the NFL.

I’m not writing this out of bitterness. Honestly. It’s out of relief.

Relief that somebody finally gave the ex-Oakland Raiders D-coordinator a reason to leave the Bay Area. Relief that maybe somebody who knows how and when to run a zone defense will come in and finally do it. Relief that I don’t need to listen to Ryan’s curse-word-filled, senseless interviews anymore.

On any other non-Al Davis-operated franchise in the league, Ryan would’ve lost his job years ago. The 46-year-old has never assembled a ‘D’ that has ranked better than 22nd in stopping the run -- (one small secret about the NFL: Stopping the run is important) -- and he hasn’t run a successful zone defense in five years. Oh, and his last-second losses thanks to running the prevent defense probably hit double digits over the last five years.

So, thank you, Eric Mangini for earning a head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns (really, congratulations) and taking Ryan with you. Because Al Davis sure as heck wasn’t getting rid of him.

Enthusiastic Browns fans will say he was coaching in a bottomless pit of talentless scrubs. Let’s go through a quick list of players he’s coached since joining the Raiders in 2004: Charles Woodson (two years), Nnamdi Asomugha (five years), Ted Washington (two years), Warren Sapp (three years), Tommy Kelly (five years), Kirk Morrison (four years), Derrick Burgess (four years), Thomas Howard (three years), Michael Huff (three years) and Gibril Wilson (one year). There are 20 Pro Bowls in that list. And those are just the big names. If you think players like Stanford Routt, Terdell Sands, Danny Clark, Bobby Hamilton, Robert Thomas and Fabian Washington are talentless, you don’t know much about the NFL.

Still, let’s take a look at Ryan’s defensive rankings since becoming a D-coordinator, from 2004 through 2008, respectively: 30th, 27th, third, 22nd, 27th.

But wait! Something to hold on to for hope: Third overall in 2006.

Well, sorry folks, that could be the most deceiving stat you’ll ever encounter. That year, the Raiders’ rushing ‘D’ ranked 25th and opposing QBs had a 63.7 completion percentage. The defense had just four interceptions all season long and gave up a 15th-ranked 20.8 points per game. They were the fourth-worst team in stripping the ball loose and ranked in the bottom half of the league in sacks. Simply put, teams didn’t need passing yards to beat the Raiders that year. The offense was so bad and rush ‘D’ was so weak that opposing teams controlled the game and the clock on the ground.

So in the spirit of ruining some Browns fans’ fun, I headed over to TheBrownsBoard.com and found some Ryan-related posts. Let the ignorance begin.

“Dinkey33bw” posts: “Anybody related to Buddy Ryan is good by me.”

My response: George W. Bush. Blood means nothing, buddy.

“Gips” posts: “If we get Ryan he will turn our pressureless 3-4 (defense) into a QB killing machine with many different bases and schemes.”

My response: I just threw up in my mouth a bit. I can’t think of an any more twisted way to describe Ryan. Not only did he fail to implement the 3-4 in Oakland (albeit, I’ll admit the talent wasn’t there … but it’s not in Cleveland, either), but he has not once shown a glimpse of being a QB killing machine. The Raiders’ sack rankings over the last five seasons (2004-2008): 31st, 28th, 19th, 18th and 31st.

“Pumpkin Eaters” posts: “Yeah because the Raiders have so much talent on BOTH sides of the ball. Please. No one can be successful in that hell hole.”

My response: Last meeting between Oakland and Cleveland: Sept. 23, 2007. Browns lose in that hell hole. So what’s beneath hell? Browns Stadium?

“JewDago” posts: “I didn’t know he had scheme versatility. That’s a huge plus.”

My response: Do you know why you didn’t know he has scheme versatility? Because he doesn’t.

“Mz.” posts: “Dude is aggressive.”

My response: Dude looks aggressive. Dude is really passive. Sorry, dude.
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About Anthony Carroll

Anthony Carroll began writing for RealFootball365.com on Sept. 26, 2005, making him one of the longest tenured contributors to the “365” team. As a senior writer, Anthony has taken on the task of delivering original content to the silver and black faithful year round, despite having to deal ...
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