Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Rob Ryan believes what Rob Ryan says, obviously. Former Saints defensive lineman Akiem Hicks apparently believes Ryan, too.

A few days after Ryan spoke out and claimed his power as Saints defensive coordinator was taken away, Hicks backed up those claims in an interview with Chicago-area repoters.

“Not to talk about New Orleans for the rest of this interview, but as a player in that system, you can see when power is taken away from a guy,” said Hicks, who now plays for the Bears. “It was evident in that situation and you saw what the turnout was because of it.”

The Saints traded Hicks to the Patriots early last season. He signed with the Bears as a free agent this year.

read more

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

No kidding.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Coming from a guy that only gave effort 25% of the time.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

So power was taken away from him after he put up the 32nd ranked D in 2014, then comes out in 2015 with a ton of disorganization and poor play. How are we shocked power was taken away from him?

Ryan is only in the NFL because of his last name, he is a joke, and the only person even slightly interested in him happened to be his brother lol.... GTFO

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

I wish we had signed Romeo Crennel, I thought I was wrong after Ryans first year and he put up decent numbers, Crennel is still fielding a top ten D every year.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

At some point it's got to be true. I mean as I said SP panicked after losing to Seattle and tried to copy their defense. And I hate doing this but in 2014 we had no number 2 corner, a hurt starting safety, one who had a sophomore slump, and were in our first year without Vilma, Harper, Greer, Jenkins. How can RR make a defense with those missing pieces better? And by taking RR's power away I don't think we are necesarrily talking about when Allen came in but that SP got involved in RR's playcalling and I could see that being the season after 2013. If not it was because Byrd got hurt.

We might be fixing it now but it's honestly time we accept that SP screwed up the 2014 offseason.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

That was who I wanted, him or wade

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Funny how this comes from a guy whose career tanked right about the same time...
29 tackles and 4.5 sacks is his best season. Yeah...

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Vilma did not play in '13, and he was well on the down swing in '11 and '12. The signal his career was over starte two years prior to '13 as he didn't play full seasons and had half the tackles he previously did
Harper wasn't a loss.
I would agree that Jenkins was only because his best season for the Saints was his final season. You could see he had finally put it together. I didn't like letting him go.
Greer was a huge loss, but he didn't take us from 4rth to 32. That loss wasn't on anyone, however, it was an injury.


Finally, What happened in Oakland?

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

and played at vagina

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

None of us will ever know the real truth, but something hasn't been right since day 1. Gary Gibbs, Gregg Williams, Steve Spagnuolo, Rob Ryan, and now Dennis Allen. We are only talking since 2006, that is not a long time. What is really going on?

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Hey, look, it is what it is and I'm not surprised...

The fact that Payton rolled out a defense last year with two defensive coordinators speaks volumes - that was horrible, horrible management...

One vision, one direction, one leader - what Payton did was wrong...

Payton is the greatest offensive mind/playcaller since Bill Walsh - bar none...

But this is why you need a strong general manager, not to rubber stamp everything, but to reign in the coach from his own dastardly genius...

And it should tell you something that Romeo had misgivens about coming to work for Sean Payton...

As I said earlier, I don't blame Ryan for being hurt, he just shouldn't have aired it out there unless he felt he felt the risk of losing job opportunities was greater than staying silent and being loyal, taking the hit full...

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Payton needs to let the DC do his job and when he screws up correct the screw up not the entire defense. Consistency wins!

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

What happened in Oakland? That's easy, Sean Payton hates Oakland too!

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

I'm not buying it. Sorry, but RR got micromanaged because his defense tanked in 2014. Then in 2015 he tanked again. His players were disorganized and confused and his scheme wasn't working. His players weren't held accountable and he was too busy being buddies with them instead of being the fiery leader he was hired to be.

I don't care if a player like Hicks, who was traded because he was giving a half assed effort, comes to RRs defense. RR wasn't being a leader. He was being a buddy.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

A LOT of blustering and excuse making by the big Lebowski. Utter lack of control. The Ryan's brothers have one speed & it is to burn bridges.

It's too bad the Bills aren't on the 2016 Saints schedule.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Oakland was a bad team. Their offense was pathetic. I'm not defending Ryan. But we need to quit acting like we are so perfect.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

and North Korea just endorsed Trump

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

bad mouthing your ex-employer shows what character these two clowns process, hasn't Hicks been cut by NE? and I wouldn't be surprised Rob lasts only a year in Buffalo because Rex will be gone after this season

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Nope, he was on his last year of the existing contract and became a FA this off-season.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Dude you can't have it both ways. It can't be Sean did it and when it happens in Oakland it was because the team stunk. He has had two top 10 defenses and 2 top 20 defenses in 12 years. That means 2/3 of the time his d is in the other side of 20. No, it wasn't Sean

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

No. He said the power was taken away from him after his first year when we had the number 4-5 defense. They had to let a bunch of veterans go to free up space for the salary cap. He does kind of have a point.

There has been something lacking in the team culture for a few years now and it's not all Rob Ryan's fault. Like I said in another post an unusually high number of ex players have spoken negativity about the Saints after leaving. We have let tons of players go for all types of reasons and never in the history of the franchise do I remember so much talk from ex players. I'm not even counting Browner and Junior. Where there is smoke there is fire.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Who has spoke badly?

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

He's gone, is this over yet.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

ok this is why Hicks was traded for a sack of beans,

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Square peg, round hole...didn't fit the scheme change...

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Jimmy, Sproles (or his wife), Stills, Hicks, and one or two others. I don't count Jr and Browner because they are classless douche bags. I can't remember one Saint ever saying anything negative about the organization before this. Maybe joe horn.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

I think there was more to it than that. I remember something about his attitude.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

I don't recall Stills saying anything. Jimmy had an atitude before he left the Saints. He didn't like being classified as a tightend. Hicks rans his mouth to the media about playing DE which is probably why he was traded. He ran his mouth long before he left the Saints. As far as Sproles wife, that pretty much is self-explanatory. Sproles himself has said he's at peace with it and even still keeps in touch with some of the Saints' players. Humber was cut and he hasn't said one thing aboutt the Saints, one way or the other. Hawthrone was cut, he hasn't said one bad thing about the Saints. Watson wasn't re-signed and he's had nothing but good things to say about the Saints. It all sounds like sour grapes to me. Consider the source.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Curtis Loftin has had nothing but good to say about the Saints since he left. In fact, he still lives in New Orleans.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Same with Vilma. Not all players, just more than I've ever seen.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

I'm sure it is the source. The problem lies with those types of players. At some point they were allowed to get away with having a bad attitude and it wasn't nipped in the bud soon enough. That's a problem that lies within the coaches and staff. Jr's release was long overdue and Browner was always yelling in the coaches faces. He should have been benched the first time it happened. The rest of the team sees that and it just sets a bad tone. One player with an attitude might slip through the crack, maybe even two, but when you have a hand full of them that's a problem with team culture.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

I don't think there was ever an issue that Ryan was a players coach.

The Problem is that making friends doesn't get the job done. You can like him all you like but when you suck... you suck.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Sproles' wife was mad because they wanted to stay here...

Stills...really?

Hicks....really?

So basically jr and toast

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Bears DT Akiem Hicks opens up on escaping New Orleans and fitting in with the Patriots - Pats Pulpit

Interesting perspective from the "outside" on Hicks, his departure, his Patriots' acclimation, success, and new free agent contract with Da Bears...

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Nope i do not buy into. they refused to accept he was not DE.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Don't care, he's gone, lets move on.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Article reaffirms my belief that we were running the wrong scheme for the personnel we had. THey should have run the scheme that played to most of their players strengths. They were indeed trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Apparantly Hicks "Developed into one of the best DTs in the league down the stretch"
I still believe Payton saw a defense out there he wanted to immulate and tried to make it happen no matter what. You have to have the right players in place to emmulate a Seattle or Denver.

Re: Akiem Hicks backs Rob Ryan, says Ryan’s power was stripped
 

Buh bye.