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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

Seer1

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

Rugby Saint II

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.

dizzle88

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

halloween 65

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

Danno

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.

hitta

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.

QBREES9

right now, in Spags I Trust !

UK_WhoDat

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.

FinSaint

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.