DMN Blog: NFL analyst expects Cowboys' defense to improve under Rob Ryan

[WoodysGirl]

By

Rainer Sabin / Reporter
rsabin@dallasnews.com (rsabin@dallasnews.com)| Bio (http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/authors.html#Rainer Sabin / Reporter)
2:36 PM on Tue., Mar. 8, 2011 | Permalink (http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/nfl-analyst-expects-cowboys-de.html)


Among the many moves made during this offseason, the Cowboys' decision to hire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan sparked more dialogue than most. His philosophy, his personality and his background have been discussed at length. Now, Pat Kirwin, a senior analyst at NFL.com, is contributing to the conversation.

Kirwin profiles Ryan and assesses his future in Dallas (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81ea935a/article/ryan-bringing-aggressive-philosophy-personality-to-dallas). In his opinion, Ryan will revamp the Cowboys' deficient defense.

Read more: http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/nfl-analyst-expects-cowboys-de.html

[acer941]

By

Rainer Sabin / Reporter
rsabin@dallasnews.com (rsabin@dallasnews.com)| Bio (http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/authors.html#Rainer Sabin / Reporter)
2:36 PM on Tue., Mar. 8, 2011 | Permalink (http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/nfl-analyst-expects-cowboys-de.html)


Among the many moves made during this offseason, the Cowboys' decision to hire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan sparked more dialogue than most. His philosophy, his personality and his background have been discussed at length. Now, Pat Kirwin, a senior analyst at NFL.com, is contributing to the conversation.

Kirwin profiles Ryan and assesses his future in Dallas (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81ea935a/article/ryan-bringing-aggressive-philosophy-personality-to-dallas). In his opinion, Ryan will revamp the Cowboys' deficient defense.

Read more: http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/nfl-analyst-expects-cowboys-de.html

Didn't know they could get worse.

[trickblue]

He likes to say points given up and turnovers are the categories that interest him the most. It might take more than one year for the Cowboys to repair their points allowed, and it will be 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 Ryan went to Oakland and Cleveland, his defenses actually gave up more points in his first seasons there than they did the year before without him (23.7 points allowed per game by Oakland in 2003, 27.3 under Ryan in 2004; 21.9 points allowed per game by Cleveland in 2008, 23.4 under Ryan 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 the 2010 team generated. Ryan's first season in Cleveland, the Browns dropped from 31 the year before to 19, but bounced right back to 28 last year.

I hope people understand the bolded portion, although I doubt we actually give up more points next year as that would be hard to do...

[Sam I Am]

I hope people understand the bolded portion, although I doubt we actually give up more points next year as that would be hard to do...

Yep, that usually happens when you are learning a new defense. Especially crazy scheme defenses like Rob Ryan produces.

That said, I would be absolutely PISSED if we give up more points next year than we did last year.

[cml750]

I hope people understand the bolded portion, although I doubt we actually give up more points next year as that would be hard to do...

Not having a OTA's and minicamps will slow the process even more.:(