Another Sunday, another pathetic Browns’ loss.
It’s now reached the point that I can’t possibly see Mangini making it into 2010. The franchise has never gone 1-10 before this season. Mind you, I don’t just mean in the expansion era. I mean in their entire history.
Obviously, the fans want blood. For weeks, many have been calling for Alpha’s head on a platter, a stake, or something else equally unpleasant. This is understandable. Even if it were to happen, I don’t think that move would help because at this point the damage has already been done. But the outrage itself is justified.
However, one thing that is NOT justified in this fan-dream scenario is exactly what I’ve seen many message board commenters (and fan-handjobber Terry Pluto) advocating: the ascension of Rob Ryan to the position of interim head coach.
Let’s get something straight right off the top. As a personality, I think Rob Ryan is phenomenal. His rants have attained near-legendary status, both this year in Cleveland and in his previous years with the Raiders. His complete lack of concern for any kind of tact or professionalism at the podium is unparalleled in today’s game.
Meanwhile, his absurd appearance — mane of salt and pepper hair whipping wildly in the Lake Erie wind as he screams at people like a bloodthirsty Nordic warrior ready to split someone in two with a battle axe — makes every game-time shot of the Browns’ sidelines an adventure. Every time I see him, all I can think of is my once-favorite video game of all time, Golden Axe, in which I always chose to play as the viking. (That’s him on the left at the top of this post.) It’s amazing that I’m only now realizing that this should be Rob’s nickname for the rest of the season.
In other words, everything about Golden Axe is fantastic…except for his ability to coach a defense.
Golden Axe has been a Defensive Coordinator for 6 seasons if you count his Browns’ debut. Much like the performance of the Browns’ defense this year, that career has had some highlights. For instance, his 2006 Raiders’ defense was ranked 3rd overall in total yardage at 284.8 yards alowed per game. Oakland was also 1st in the league in pass defense that season, surrendering only 150.8 yards through the air per contest.
But as with any kind of ranking or statistic, it’s easy to drastically distort the perception of Golden Axe’s defenses by picking and choosing what to talk about. One aspect of football that’s undeniable, though, is that teams win games by giving up fewer points than they score. So to me, the primary ranking to look toward when evaluating a defense is points allowed.
How have Golden Axe’s defenses fared in this category? (Note: * marks rankings for the current Browns season.)
Starting with 2004, his teams have ranked 31st, 25th, 18th, 26th, 24th, and 28th* in points allowed. On average, that maths out to a #25 annual ranking.
No Rob Ryan defense has ever allowed fewer than 20.8 points per game. His career average is 24.6 points allowed per game.
The numbers get even grislier if you isolate them down to rush defense. Golden Axe’s defenses have never ranked higher than 22nd in the league against the run. Year by year, they’ve scored 22nd, 25th, 25th, 31st, 31st, and 29th*.
Last season in Oakland, the Raiders actually sacrificed 159.7 rush yards per game and an NFL-high 4.8 yards per carry.
Even the possible positives are false positives. Yes, Golden Axe’s 2006-8 passing defenses were 1st, 8th, and 10th in the league. But these rankings are just based on raw passing yardage. Obviously, a team only has the choice of running, throwing, or kicking the ball on offense. The fewer passing yards you give up as a defense, the higher you rank in pass defense. But ranking highly in that category doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re that tough on quarterbacks and receivers. It could just mean that your opponents don’t see a need to throw the ball on you when they can be eating up yardage AND clock by tearing through your frail rush defense like a starving tiger.
With that in mind, it’s probably not a coincidence that the Raiders’ run defense in those three years was 25th, 31st, and 31st, respectively.
I understand that the players supposedly love Ryan and always have. This was the case in Oakland as well. But liking someone and performing because of them are two separate things. Remember, Romeo was a “player’s coach” too, but that didn’t mean that the team could win consistently on his watch.
So, to the fans of Cleveland, I get why you embrace Golden Axe. His passion for the game, his emotion, his personality all have a strange charm. But history has shown that the results are weak. If he’s not able to effectively coach a defense, there’s no way he can handle an entire team. Let the man pillage small hamlets and gorge himself on mead and massive turkey legs. Who are you to deny his destiny?
Meanwhile, let’s hope that the fabled incoming football czar will be more concerned with finding someone who can actually teach some guys how to stuff a run play.
-T
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