What could all these Rams coaches mean for the Saints defense?
 

Another vacant defensive coaching position, another former St. Louis Rams coach hired to fill it.

The Saints announced yesterday that the team has hired Andre Curtis as assistant secondary coach, making him the third new member of the coaching staff and, in case you weren't keeping score at home, the third to coach in St. Louis from 2009 to 2011. I almost titled this post, 'St. Louis Rams Coaches and the Teams that Love Them.'

So with the Saints pulling all of their eggs from the Rams slightly used basket, it naturally begs the question: was the St. Louis Rams defense actually any good between the years 2009 and 2011? The answer to that question could be telling. Because, like, I don't really want them if their defense sucked.

Of course I just had to poke around the Rams defensive stats over the past three years to try and answer that very question. My findings? Meh. I'm not very impressed. And that's putting it nicely. Wish I had better news to report.

There are a few bright spots here and there, like the leagues second best 3rd down defense in 2010 and the 7th fewest passing yards allowed this past season. But none of the other numbers look great and overall the Rams have never been better than 19th in the league (2010). There's just no positive consistency to be found anywhere over this three year period.

With one exception: sacks per pass attempt.

You knew I'd find something. Okay, technically they weren't good three years straight but that's because 2009 was just abysmal across the board. In 2010, however, they were 8th best in sacks per pass attempt and actually improved to 7th best in 2011. It's basically the only thing their defense did well two years in a row.

So does this bode well for the Saints, who have had a paltry pass rush the past few years and need some help in that department? Or have the Rams simply had more natural talent in the pass rushing department? *cough* Chris Long *cough*

What Could All These Rams Coaches Mean for the Saints Defense? - Canal Street Chronicles

Cariello should've also looked at when Spag was a DC instead of head coach.

I sure hope that Spags and these new assistants are smart and can coach. Mix that in with athletic and smart players maybe we can Ram this defense right down the oppositions throat.:cool:

Spags turned a struggling Chris long into a 10 sack a season sort of guy, he turned justin tuck from 4 sacks in 3 seasons to a guy with over 50 sacks.

I trust him

They may be a welcomed change to our horrible D. I truefully don't see it being any worse.

Well its not exactly apples to apples. The HC became the DC, the DC became a position coach.

I'm gonna go with the reason they were promoted to HC and DC in St Louis was because they excelled at being a DC and a position coach, respectively.

Yeah, thats the story.

tbh, the rams defense was pretty amazing considering how bad their offense was. When your offense can't move the ball, the other team just keeps getting the ball back, which is what happened all year long. Their time of possession was an abysmal 28:11 minutes per game, which is 3rd from last... but considering that they ran the ball a good bit, and had the the smallest turnover differential(theres was like -5 and other teams at the bottom like the colts were -10 to -20) of all the teams at the bottom of the ToP stat.... it's pretty horrible how bad their offense was at keeping the ball.

right now, in Spags I Trust !

AND how many personnel were missing on defense. The Rams were looking at players at the bottom of the pile to play. With fit personnel to choose from, I am sure the coaches will be more successful.

These coaches have the pedigree and the ability to perform to and above the expectations we all have for them, it is only a matter of if they are able to succeed under the given circumstances, and that is something that would be true to any coach(es) that the Saints hire.

Goal in St Louis - fix an entire defense

Goal in New Orleans - fix a few positions

Not all good coordinators are cut out for HC. But my money is on Spags having a more focused role. Especially on a championship caliber franchise.

I sure hope these guys can make a difference. I've been asking, and still haven't gotten a response, but we're not gonna have the ability to make a lot of moves this off season so if we haven't been able to generate a decent pass rush with the d-line coach we still have, or with the talent we had and have added to, how is Spags all of a sudden going to make this d-line and lb corps into a fearsome bunch?

I am hoping that we atleast get one good defensive guy from free agency. I am also hoping that the talent is here and just wasn't being utilized in a complex GW scheme. I would also agree though that our D line has always been booty and don't understand why that coach is still here. Maybe Spags can be the difference we need on the D line.

Hopefully by utilizing and maximizing the talent of the youngsters we have...

I've seen it being stated in various sources that Johnson is one of the best D-Line coaches in the league, but like you Mike said, it's not like the D-Line was bad just during GW's tenure, and Johnson hasn't been with the Saints longer than that.

He seems to had done a good job with the Failclowns D-Line back in 2001-06 and then with the Broncos D, but for some reason that hasn't translated into an increased effectiveness of the Saints' D-Line.

I'm hoping like you said Mike that it was GW's complicated schemes that held Johnson and the D-Line back and that they'll both be able to flourish working under Spags.

But who knows..? At least Spags didn't want to get rid of him (or couldn't) so that should count for something.

And people have to remember, last year the Rams offense could not score with a prostitute. The defense was overworked

i always liked the rams talent in the secondary. but how much was coaching that hurt them? well we are about to find out

Their secondary was decimated by injuries last season, so I think coaching only helped them in that regard because they were fielding 3rd and 4th string guys as DBs.

bingo fin i agree. they have an eye for talent in the secondary.