SmashMouth

When the New Orleans Saints hired Rob Ryan to be their new defensive coordinator after Steve Spagnuolo led a 2012 New Orleans defense that set an NFL record for yards allowed, the general consensus was that hey — at least things couldn’t get any worse. Ryan, after all, had been dismissed by Jerry Jones as Dallas’ defensive coordinator after drawing things up for a unit that ranked 23rd in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted defensive metrics. Throughout his history as a schemer for the Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns, and Cowboys, Ryan had tried to balance as many line combinations and coverage concepts as any defensive coordinator in the league — including twin brother Rex. In Dallas, Ryan’s tendency to alternate between all-in blitzes and major coverage clusters apparently did more to confuse his charges than anything else — or, at least, that’s what Jones said when Ryan was canned in January — there were too many schemes on the field, and the ‘Boys needed to “skinny it down.”

Undeterred, Ryan took his big-ass playbook to the Crescent City and opened things up in a different way.

Through five games, the Saints are undefeated and quite possibly the NFC’s best team. And that’s as much to do with their defense as it is the always-combustible offense led by Drew Brees and Sean Payton. New Orleans ranks fourth in points allowed, and 11th in yards allowed. Ryan has made a star out of end Cameron Jordan, advanced the profiles of previously unheralded players such as pass-rusher Junior Galette, and has put rookie safety Kenny Vaccaro in about as many spots as you can without drawing penalty flags. The primary issue with Ryan’s blitzes before seemed to be that he left his defensive backs on islands they weren’t prepared to inhabit — but he’s doing some very cool and different things now when he brings the house.

The Chicago Bears got a good look at this last Sunday at Soldier Field, and they didn’t like it. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler threw for 358 yards and two touchdowns, but Chicago could get nothing going with its running game, and the Saints took the game, 26-18. Cutler was sacked three times, and the first two sacks revealed some interesting tendencies regarding Ryan’s ability to show similar blitz looks and do totally different things after the snap.

“I think they were problematic,” Bears head coach March Trestman said of Ryan’s pressures. “We hadn’t really seen them. I thought Rob did a good job. We had answers for them early, we just didn’t get it communicated it to the guys. Once we did, I think you see we efficiently moved the football up and down the field. Our guys did a good job of making that transition. I don’t know if all of them were the same ones. I think two of them were the same, one was a little different. So they got us early. But I was pleased we were able to make the adjustments. I would have liked to make them sooner.”

The first blitz-to-sack came with 7:38 left in the first quarter. The Bears had first-and-10 at their own 20-yard line, and had lineman Eben Britton (62) in as a sixth blocker upfront. Ryan responded by putting both his starting safeties — Vaccaro and Malcolm Jenkins — in a blitz look at the line just outside left tackle Jermon Bushrod. Jenkins was head-up on receiver Earl Bennett, who was in a stack formation to the left in front of Brandon Marshall. He wasn’t covering Bennett or Marshall, though — at the snap, both Vaccaro and Jenkins took off straight for Cutler’s blind side. Bennett and Marshall were covered in their routes because linebacker Curtis Lofton veered over to the seam to help cornerback Jabari Greer on that side. Meanwhile, linebacker Ramon Humber peeled off from his position outside Britton and right tackle Jordan Mills to help cornerback Keenan Lewis cover Alshon Jeffery on the offensive right side. Running back Matt Forte ran a quick route right up the middle and wasn’t available to help with the pressure. The first screencap shows New Orleans’ coverage, and the second shows that Jenkins had a free release to Cutler.

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