God damn it.

[Crow]

God damn it. God damn it. God damn it.


Raiders | Ryan will remain defensive coordinator
Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:18:16 -0800

Updating previous reports, the San Francisco Chronicle reports Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will remain with the team after agreeing to a three-year contract extension Wednesday, Jan. 18.

 

[Crow]

We may as well just trade Brayton now.

Maybe we'll stick with that 4-2-5 base. That would actually be okay by me, so long as we really make it a point to upgrade at DE and safety.

Still...31st ranked defense, 27th ranked defense, league record for fewest INTs in a season...

Why, Al? Why?

 

[JC]

Apparently because improvement from really bad to bad means something in this day and age.

 

[Crow]

Raiders | Team wants to retain R. Ryan; Jets want him too
Thu, 19 Jan 2006 05:50:11 -0800

Jerry McDonald, of the Oakland Tribune, reports an Oakland Raiders team official said the club is working to retain the services of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. An NFL source said Ryan had already agreed to stay in Oakland but has since asked to be released from his contract so he could join head coach Eric Mangini on the New York Jets staff.


Let him go. Ugh.

But, in the interest of tempering bad news with good news...


Raiders | Team retains Millard
Thu, 19 Jan 2006 05:54:35 -0800

Jerry McDonald, of the Oakland Tribune, reports the Oakland Raiders have retained defensive line coach Keith Millard.


Retaining this guy was large. Huge, even.

 

[JC]

Millard is huge...I really was hoping we'd find a way to retain him, obviously he was money getting the kids on the DL coached up.

 

[Crow]

When we brought him over from Denver, I couldn't believe they let him slip away. This is the guy who developed Bert Berry and Reggie Hayward. Now, he's the guy who developed Derrick Burgess as well. Let's get him some more DEs to play with, stat.

 

[Rupert]

For starters I think having Kelly and Burgess at DE is GREAT! Those guys are excellent! But I'm totally behind bringing in another guy or two.

Maybe Riddle is the guy to back up Burgess, I just don't know. But there is absolutely no-one to back up Kelly, at least there's no functional equivalent. Yeah, I know, your backup shouldn't be as good as the starter or he'd be the starter. Yeah, I get it. But when Kelly moved inside we got JSN (Jack Shit Nothing) out of the RDE.

Okay, so Kelly is very good and should improve on the inside to replace Sapp. I like that move too, but in that case we need a starter ot RDE. So at a minimum we need one guy who could potentially start at RDE. I say bring us Williams!!!

 

[Crow]

I'm still puzzled as to why you'd want to keep a DT at RDE. That makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[Rupert]

As far as Ryan staying. I like it. In fact, I like it a lot. He made a credible knockoff of a silk purse out of half a bolt (or whatever) of silk and a sow's ear. That in my book says one hell of a lot. Did Al have to "convince" him to run the 4-3 (425 nickel)? Yeah, but it didn't look like he was clueless at doing it. I was personally sold by the result, and I think Al was too.

The fact that Ryan was able to make it work demonstrates his ability to think on his feet and work for results on the field. How many of you think Bresnahan could have pulled this season off with the personnel we had? I don't. (Not that I think any of you want him back either.) And a LOT of the coordinators people are talking about didn't have the personnel issues we had either. I think Ryan did very well, and I am glad to have him back.

Let's improve the personnel and speed on defense and we'll see HOW good he is. Improvement to sub 20 territory (with all healthy personnel of course) next season should be expected with the continued development of the kids, some solid depth here and there, the return of Sam Williams, and a better starting SS (Gibson would only be a very minor improvement over what we had).

 

[Crow]

31st ranked defense, 27th ranked defense, league record for fewest INTs in a season...

I'm still stuck on this. Either Ryan is a shitty DC, or Al is a god awful personnel guy. One or the other has to be an undeniable fact.

 

[Crossbones]

The situation in Oakland is again resembling a Three Ring Circus...

Yes he is -- no he isn't. Singed? Maybe? Wants to be released? WTF is going on in Raiderland?

Sigh.

 

[JC]

Well, just hire him as the HC and get it over with I guess...we still don't have one of those?

 

[Crow]

Surely we'll let the new HC hire one assistant on his own, right?

 

[Rupert]

I personally don't think it's an either or situation. But mistakes were made, bigtime.

I think the biggest one was Ryan thinking he could make credible backers out of some of our DE's. Brayton has come the farthest and actually looks decent playing the flat and hook zones.

I think the second mistake was Al allowing him to try it and NOT having a backup plan at LB. I mean seriously, we broke camp with 3 LB's on the roster (I forget when Williams went on IR but I believe it was early in pre-season - I must have been out of the country). No! We had Grant and Brayton listed as LB's - RIGHT! One of those backers was Tim Johnson, a fire plug who only got PT when there were injuries.

The way Ryan worked the nickel was pretty damned impressive to me. I think part of the personnel problem was Ryan insisting that Brayton could be a 3 down LB, and that Grant ot Irons could be decent emergency guys.

Al Davis has constantly let his coaches climb out on thinner and thinner branches and letting them break their own necks. This time he kept Ryan. That says a lot to me.

Fewest INT's in the history of the NFL doesn't concern me one bit. Not in the slightest. Asomugha in his first season starting at corner after being a college tweener. Schweigert in his first season starting at FS. Jarrod Cooper, a career backup starting at SS. Rookie Fabian Washington starting at the other corner for most of the season. Reynaldo Hill starting at nickel for most of the season.

Let's look at some of the details of having a nickel on the field all season:

• Rushing
• We had the 3rd most running plays against us.
• But only the 8th worst yards and TD's against.
• 12 worst first downs against.
• 14th worst yards per attempt against.
• And 10th best plays of 20+ yards against.
  Passing
• 9th fewest passing attempts against.
• But 7th worst yards per attempt and 8th worst yards per completion.
• 10th worst completion %.
• 12th best TD's against (worse than 9th though).
• 14th best first downs (still worse than 9th).
  Overall
• 7th worst 3rd down com %.
• But 5th best defensive penalties.

There were definitely some things to look at as positive. Like our ability to clamp down on our opponents rushing ability even though they ran on us a LOT.

Our pass defense wasn't great but our sack numbers were dead average (15th). And this in spite of all the personnel problems. Said a lot about Ryan's ability to make lemonaide out of lemons, sugar, and water.

 

[Crow]

Al Davis has constantly let his coaches climb out on thinner and thinner branches and letting them break their own necks. This time he kept Ryan. That says a lot to me.

About Ryan or about Davis? That could go either way.

We can talk all night about Brayton making progress as an OLB, but the fact still remains he's not any good at it. He can't rush the QB at all from a standing position. He's useless in man coverage. Whiffs too many tackles. Is far too slow in pursuit. There are no upsides to Brayton playing LB.

As for our run defense, when your 4 man D-line consists of 1 DE and 3 DTs for most of the season, you're going to be fairly difficult to run against for a lot of teams. Sadly, you can't get any consistant pressure on the QB that way. Consistantly non-existant pressure, yes...but that's about it.

Overall, the defense stunk. Retaining Ryan will prove to be a mistake, IMO.

 

[Rupert]

Well, with 1 DE and 3 DT's we were right in the middle of the league in sacks while facing the 9th fewest pass attempts. That sounds like better than average production per snap, but I guess that doesn't count a better than average pressure in your book.

We certainly won't agree on this.

On Brayton: I'm not sure what you think of him as a DE, but I thought he was pretty damned pedestrian there too. So what is he? I think he could only keep the weight on with supplements, so he's better off dropping the weight and working on his other abilities. Will they develop? It's doubtful, but that's all he has in my opinion.

 

[Crow]

Well, with 1 DE and 3 DT's we were right in the middle of the league in sacks while facing the 9th fewest pass attempts. That sounds like better than average production per snap, but I guess that doesn't count a better than average pressure in your book.

You guess correctly. Stats are pretty, but game tape doesn't lie. Opposing QBs routinely had all day to throw against us. A few meaningless sacks does not equate to consistant pressure.

Here's a stat for you: We were 26th in the league in 3rd down defense. Teams with an actual pass rush rarely rank so low in such a key stat, especially when you consider most 3rd down plays are pass plays.

We certainly won't agree on this.

I don't mind admitting when you're wrong if you don't.

On Brayton: I'm not sure what you think of him as a DE, but I thought he was pretty damned pedestrian there too.

Prior to Ryan screwing his career, he was hardly pedestrian. He showed promise as a rook, even though he was playing out of position at RDE. As a 3-4 DE, he managed 2.5 sacks, 9 tackles, and 2 passes defensed in 2 games and held up fairly well against the run considering he was a little light for the position. All in all, if not for Rob Ryan, I'd say Tyler Brayton would have become a pretty solid DE...and still could have, had we not rewarded Ryan's incompetance with a contract extension.

I think he could only keep the weight on with supplements

Based on what exactly? And, seeing as they're legal, what's wrong with a player taking supplements?

so he's better off dropping the weight and working on his other abilities. Will they develop? It's doubtful, but that's all he has in my opinion.

Seems to me your opinion flies in the face of his best interests and the abilities he demonstrated prior to being "Ryaned". Most curious.

 

[Rupert]

Well Crow, prior to Ryan, Brayton played mostly LDE. So I'm not sure what you're talking about. Brayton was decidedly pededstrian at LDE. He didn't hold up well against the run, he couldn't shed blockers, and he was consistently two steps slow on the pass rush. I guess it's to his credit that he showed a lot of hustle and chased plays down from behind (still too slow to make tackles though).

So I don't mind admitting when you're wrong if you don't either.

If Brayton was all that good at DE do you think Al Davis would have allowed him to be moved to OLB? I guess you think he would. I don't.

When I talk about supplements I'm talking about steroids. I have no corroborating evidence other than the neanderthal brow that Brayton sports that is one of the stereotypical signs of steroid use, and just a hunch in general.

As far as which defensive end he plays. Under Ryan at RDE this season he should have been able to speed rush the smaller more agile LT's and should have been able to withstand their power blocking better, but he wasn't. The guy is pedestrian at best as a DE and always has been at the NFL level.

You can blame Ryan for trying to change him, but I put the blame squarely where it belongs, on Brayton, who wasn't good enough as a DE but had enough energy and desire to try to find a role on the field. Brayton has value as a football player, and if he's going to realise it, it's NOT as an every down DE.

 

[Rupert]

One more thing. Brayton doesn't change directions well enough with a blocker on him to be a speed rushing DE and he's too small (not strong enough) to hold up as a run stopping DE. He shows positional smarts and awareness, and if he drops weight and works on his speed he could become a decent SAM backer. The problem is, when guys bulk up, as Brayton did, they usually cost themselves their speed forever. A proper off-season workout can bring some of it back, but he'd have to be seriously dedicated. He did show improvement in that area since last season.

Additionally, you accurately point out his inability to react well to runners in the open field. What makes you think he can be any better reacting to the QB in the backfield? Especially since he hasn't in his entire career with us. That sort of flies in the face of your own logic, doesn't it?

The reason I think he could possibly be a decent OLB in a 3-4 is because Willie McGinnest was decent (not even above average) when he dropped back as an OLB. They don't ask it of him as often because he's losing his lateral quickness in space which wasn't great to begin with. Also, on zone blitzes, DT's drop back into space and are quite effective at handling their responsibilities. They key in both those situations is a pass rush. Brayton could potentially handle TE's and FB's as lead blockers, but I still wonder about his ability to shed blockers. Maybe the smaller players would be easier for him to handle, but their speed would make his footwork more critical. Still he has the desire, and that might be his advantage in the off-season. He showed quite a bit of mental development between last season and this season as an OLB. Now if he can get the physical to line up with the mental, he might be worth more than he is.

 

[RaiderIVlife]

Brayton - I don't think he's either much of a player that this level at any position. Not only is he a step slow (IMO) at DE, he can also get overpowered against the run.

The Raiders are scrambling to find a place for him on the roster, but I simply think Al swung and missed on this draft pick. At least Nmandi Asomugha is a solid CB. You win some, you lose some.