Rob Ryan is one of the most colorful figures in the NFL, so it should come as no surprise that he went off after the Dallas Cowboys fired him as defensive coordinator last night.
Here's what he told ESPN Dallas:
"I inherited a team that was 31st in the league in defense and made them better. I (expletive) made them a hell of a lot better. I'll be out of work for like five minutes.
"I think I did a good job and I think our staff did a good job on defense trying to compete with what we had at the end of the year. But the best job we did was when we were able to coach our starters."
For all his bluster, he makes some legitimate points.
Dallas was 31st in points allowed and 23rd in yards allowed in 2010, the season before Ryan came in. Last year they were 16th and 14th in those respective categories. This year they regressed a bit, finishing 19th and 24th, but the defense was hit with a rash of injuries.
According to Jonathan Bales of the Dallas Morning News, Cowboys defensive starters missed a combined 38 games this season, and concluded, "When we assess Rob Ryan’s 2012 defense, there simply needs to be an asterisk next to the numbers."
Ryan keyed in on this fact, telling ESPN's Tim MacMahon, "When we weren’t short-handed, we were kicking ass."
Dallas had a top-10 defense through 10 games, and Ryan said that he shouldn't get blamed for the team's mediocre record, “When you play that way for the first 10 games, you’re supposed to be 9-1 and or 10-0. We were 5-5.”
Hopefully he'll find his way back to an NFL sideline next year, because he really is one of the great characters in the sport. The Jets, who are coached by his brother Rex Ryan, have an opening at defensive coordinator... just saying.
