Sturm: Cowboys DC Rob Ryan exits stage left

[WoodysGirl]

January 9, 2013
Yet, last week, I was ready to try to interpret the "uncomfortable change" that was around the corner according to an irate Jones a few days after the failure in Washington.

I was pretty sure it would be a new play-caller on offense. But, a change in the coach running the defense? Here is what I wrote about it (please note that I felt the conversation barely needed to happen given that a long-winded guy only used one paragraph for the entire discussion):

I also don't think I would campaign for a dismissal of Rob Ryan. I believe in what he likes to do and although nobody wants to hear this, I still don't think we have much of an idea of what he would like to do with this crew. In 2011, he had a very poor personnel situation at corner and in 2012, he enjoyed about a month of Sean Lee and Bruce Carter together with a legit pair of corners. They need health and a better defensive line group, but this defense is not far away if you ask me.

So, that was that. Done and dusted.

Until yesterday when Ryan was fired.

Read more: http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/01...1&feedID=10194

[Idgit]

This is what happens when you submit an article while the team's in the middle of making its staffing changes. Not much to talk about when you don't know whom they're replacing Ryan with.

[Risen Star]

That is not changing anything about the systematic ills that continue to plague this proud organization.

What it sounds like to me, for different reasons, is that the Cowboys likely let two guys go who did not necessarily do anything fireable in a sense of coaching strategy. Rather, to either freshen things up or to change philosophically, the two men were fired so that we could "go in a different direction".

Seriously, if anyone was hit harder than Rob Ryan from an injury standpoint (Lee, Carter, Ratliff, Coleman, Church), it might be the guy in charge of running backs (DeMarco Murray missed a huge chunk of the year). To fire them under the pretense of under-performance is flat-out silly.

[View Full Quote]So, is there issues with factions in the coaching staff? Well, let me say that this is my biggest hot-button issue with Jerry Jones (once we accept that he has given himself a life-time term as the team's general manager), the idea that a head coach has somewhere between little and nothing to do with who is on his staff.

You have to understand how difficult this makes this job. A head coach, no matter who he is, needs and must receive unconditional loyalty from his coaching staff. When that doesn't happen - when a coach undercuts him to the players or to other assistants or even the public - we have major issues. We have a powerless head coach which is 100% the opposite way of how the legendary successful coaches have always operated. This is why their staff is made up of people they generally know or trust and one reason why coaching is thought of internally as an honorable occupation with a strict code of ethics that you are loyal to the man who gave you the opportunity.

And this is why the Cowboys have it all wrong.

Great stuff by Sturm. He's a tell it like it is, don't care who likes it breath of fresh air.

[Risen Star]

This team is never short of story-lines, and maybe this is the year that Jason Garrett gets full control of his coaching staff.

But, I highly doubt it.

If there is one change we can bet against, it is the idea that Jerry will ever truly change his ways. You can't predict much about the man, except for the idea that he will still be doing things his way for many years to come and there is nothing you can do about it.

So what changes will truly matter if the biggest change doesn't happen? Well, that is tough to predict. But, the outcomes might not be as difficult to forecast.

You can't say it any better than that.

[silver]

Originally Posted by Risen Star

You can't say it any better than that.

the culture remains intact

[Risen Star]

Originally Posted by silver

the culture remains intact

Yep. That's the story. Most are too distracted to notice.

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by Risen Star

Great stuff by Sturm. He's a tell it like it is, don't care who likes it breath of fresh air.

Sturm's great. But there's no way to fairly criticize the moves at this point until you get the context under which they were made. If we'd arbitrarily fired these two because that's what we thought was wrong with the team, it's one thing. If we let Skip go because we're reorging the entire offensive coaching staff to bring in another senior offensive coach, it could be entirely different. Similarly with letting your DC go in favor of an upgrade. Until we know what the team is actually doing, it's too soon to criticize accurately.

That said, the guy has an article to write, and the issues obviously had to be addressed. We're analyzing moves that haven't bee completed at this point.

[Phrozen Phil]

Originally Posted by Risen Star

Yep. That's the story. Most are too distracted to notice.

Are they? There's been plenty of criticism of Jones' managerial style over the years. Until that changes, it will continue to impede progress.

[InmanRoshi]

Some will say that the Cowboys just wanted to move to the 4-3. And maybe that is all it is. But, if you read this column, you know that I have been saying they have been running a modified 4-3 for Ryan's entire run here. At least half of the game every week is either in an actual 4-3 (nickel defense on 3rd Downs and other passing scenarios) or a modified 3-4 where Ware rushes 88% of the time getting him defined as a DE in a 4-3 defense and the front 3 is just a DE and 2 DTs.

That is why I am somewhat amused by the universal freak-out about their personnel in a supposed change to the 4-3.

Yep. If you breakdown what the Cowboys actually do on defense, rather than cling to elementary text book concepts of what a 3-4 or 4-3 is, the switch is not a huge transition for the Front 7. They've been playing 4-3 techniques the entire time.

If anything, I think the bigger issue with bringing in Lovie is in the secondary if he's going to want to play a lot of zone, particularly how that effect what Claiborne and Carr do best in press man.

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by InmanRoshi

Yep. If you breakdown what the Cowboys actually do on defense, rather than cling to elementary text book concepts of what a 3-4 or 4-3 is, the switch is not a huge transition for the Front 7. They've been playing 4-3 techniques the entire time.

If anything, I think the bigger issue with bringing in Lovie is in the secondary if he's going to want to play a lot of zone, particularly how that effect what Claiborne and Carr do best in press man.

Both CBs play press man effectively, but they're both also effective in space. I don't think that's going to be a problem.

We're going to need better S play, though. I know you know that, too.

[Risen Star]

Originally Posted by Idgit

Sturm's great. But there's no way to fairly criticize the moves at this point until you get the context under which they were made. If we'd arbitrarily fired these two because that's what we thought was wrong with the team, it's one thing. If we let Skip go because we're reorging the entire offensive coaching staff to bring in another senior offensive coach, it could be entirely different. Similarly with letting your DC go in favor of an upgrade. Until we know what the team is actually doing, it's too soon to criticize accurately.

That said, the guy has an article to write, and the issues obviously had to be addressed. We're analyzing moves that haven't bee completed at this point.

You obviously didn't read his article or it went right over your head. It's not about the names leaving and going. It's who is the driving force behind this change?

Answer that question correctly and I'll know whether the arrow's up or down. Sturm thinks down. I wouldn't bet against him.

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by Risen Star

You obviously didn't read his article or it went right over your head. It's not about the names leaving and going. It's who is the driving force behind this change?

Answer that question correctly and I'll know whether the arrow's up or down. Sturm thinks down. I wouldn't bet against him.

I set aside the Jerry-is-the-source-of-all-evil backdrop, because I somehow knew you might agree with it and I thought, just maybe, there'd be a chance we could discuss it somewhere down the line this offseason.

The only new meat on this old bone is the coaching-move stuff, and that's not done yet, so it's premature to criticize it one way or another.

[Risen Star]

Originally Posted by Idgit

I set aside the Jerry-is-the-source-of-all-evil backdrop, because I somehow knew you might agree with it and I thought, just maybe, there'd be a chance we could discuss it somewhere down the line this offseason.

The only new meat on this old bone is the coaching-move stuff, and that's not done yet, so it's premature to criticize it one way or another.

Anytime an owner is telling the head coach who to hire and fire on his staff it's a bad thing. It's a team killing thing.

Sturm thinks it might be the case. I agree with him.

So it's not really about who the new DC is. It's who brought him there. That's all I care about. It will tell me all I need to know about the remainder of Garrett's head coaching tenure here.

[DFWJC]

As soon as Ryan was canned, my first assumption was that he (intentionally or unintentionally) was undermining Garrett.
I'm not defending Garrett per se, just saying that I could see this happening from a person (Ryan) in a position of power, who is tight with his players, and who under duress will say almost anything.

My biggest gripe with Jerry is like so many other here--he won't hire a coach and let the coach build his own staff. It is so incredibly important, yet he keeps undermining the coach in this way. How can you get everyone on board if...there not all on board with the leader.

Who knows, maybe Garrett voiced his opinion on this and said he wants to pick his staff going forward.
No idea.

[T-RO]

Sturm gets it.

It's staggering that some around here want to view the re-arranging of chairs on the Titanic as some dynamic Lutheran reform. (or who will just try kissing JJ's butt for tickets or favors)

The lunatics are still running the asylum...and they want yes-boys to follow their lunatic orders without question. Rob Ryan wasn't going to last long in that kind of culture.