Again, only players can save Raiders’ Ryan

By Anthony Carroll  |   Friday, December 28, 2007  |  Comments( 41 )

Oakland Raiders
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For the third consecutive season, Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has his back to the wall. And, once again, only reporters are surrounding him.

This time around, though, Ryan may not feel so uncomfortable. The 45-year-old coach is in jeopardy of losing his job for the third consecutive season. Each season, he's retained it, and he has his young players to thank.

Ryan was hired back in 2004, when Norv Turner was brought in as coach. He survived the '05 season, when Turner was fired, and last offseason, when Shell was canned. Plenty of players spoke out each season to keep the rugged-looking coordinator in town.

In fact, before hiring Kiffin, some players endorsed Ryan to be the team's next head coach. Outside linebacker Sam Williams was one.

"I've been with Rob for three years now. He's a really emotional guy," the 27-year-old defender said. "He gets the guys up to play. He'd be a really good leader for the whole team, and he'd still be running the defense his way."

In the end, Kiffin got the job, but Ryan still got to run the defense his way.

The ensuing result was an '07 defense that ranks 26th in yardage allowed, 25th in points given up, 10th in pass defense and 31st in rush 'D'. The Raiders haven't held a team to under 20 points since Week 12, and that was against a 29th-ranked Chiefs offense.

Even so, Ryan believes he'd be a hot commodity on the market.

"I'd be out of a job for two minutes," Ryan told Bay Area reporter Jerry McDonald Thursday. "I mean, who are we kidding? I'm not worried about it."

A year ago, the Raiders ranked third overall in total defense, giving up just 284.8 yards per game. This season, the unit has surrendered 62.7 yards more each game.

"[I] love the Raiders, [but] if that happens, so be it. I'd be out of a job for two minutes," Ryan repeated.

Kiffin hasn't given any indication that Ryan won't have to endure those two minutes of joblessness.

"I haven't made any decisions yet," the head coach said. "I'm continuing to evaluate everything and look at everything and make us as good as we can be."

With the way the '07 season has played out, it doesn't appear Ryan's almost-strictly man-to-man defense gives the team the best chance to win.

Players may come to Ryan's defense once again, but this may be the year that doesn't work.

Anthony Carroll can be contacted at acarroll@realfootball365.com
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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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CommentsComments: 41  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
SKiplocz		04:38 AM
12/28/2007
Hopefully this is the season Ryan gets axed it is inexcusable to be so horrid in run D. There appears to be no stressing on the...
No.2
The Shape		05:56 AM
12/28/2007
I'm not blaming Ryan for the defense falling apart. Our talent at each position has gone down the tubes. Not all the spots sucked...
No.3
92054 Raider		07:13 AM
12/28/2007
When Ryan was 1st hired by the Raiders he strictly ran a 3-4 but since we didnt have the personnel for that system he started to...
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