Rob Ryan

Ryan fires back

By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 3:49 pm in Oakland Raiders.

Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan wanted to set the record straight, so he stood at the podium and launched into an 18-minute press session that was dotted with expletives and was largely a monologue, managing to answer most questions before they were even asked.

I’ll edit out the swear words, but nothing else, as Ryan takes full responsibility for the team’s defensive performance in Week 1 and denies the weekly involvement of Al Davis when it comes to specifics and game-planning:

Q: How are you doing?

Ryan: Who asked that question? A little bit rough, OK? Just working extra hard and I want to make sure that we give our guys the best chance to play well, obviously we had an embarrassing loss, didn’t have good defense, we were expecting great things, and it didn’t work out. Is it going to look like this for 16 weeks? I know it’s not. However it came to be, we didn’t play well, and that’s just the way it is.

Q: How do you approach it, take ‘em apart, encourage them, both?

Ryan: You’ve got to do both. The thing is, I’ve been in this business a long time, I’m a professional, I’ve dealt with bad losses before. Nobody wants to see you when you’re going over that tape and you have to point things out, but you’ve got to get it done to move on, to do the right thing. Were we upset about our style of play? Yeah, it didn’t go well, and I’ve seen some comments out there, some days you guys aren’t perfect. I know you’re the best at your profession. I am too. I’m man enough to stay up here and say, `I didn’t have a good game.’ That’s kind of (bleeping) obvious. I’m sure there’s times where you put your work out there that sometimes it doesn’t work out like Pulitzer Prize stuff either. Only difference is, you guys, when you’re out there, you can hit spell check. After I call a bad one, I can’t hit spell check. That’s a big difference.

I’ve seen a lot of things out there, written, and there’s styles of play, guys, that are different. Our style of play is putting our players, which we have a strong belief in, to win one-on-one matchups and that’s how we’re best. Last year we lost six games by giving up one offensive touchdown, something like that. We’ve played Denver five times in a row, before last week, where we hold them to 19, 18 points a game, probably play them better than anybody does. So it didn’t go well. But I’ve seen Tampa, ah, let’s play Tampa. The three worst plays we had last week, we were in `2.’

There’s a lot of people that want to be experts at my job and I understand that, it comes with the territory and when the whole stadium is booing my name, I kind of got the message. Understand this, guys. There’s a chain of command that we have here in Oakland, and I’m just going to say it, that story is wrong and I usually don’t read the press, especially after a (expletive) game. But that’s all on me. I put the game plan in. I run the defense, and it’s all on me. The meeting with the owner, during the week _ I meet with Mr. Davis in the offseason, guys. That thing is just (BS) and I want to make sure you got it right. I meet with the owner in the offseason. He’s the boss, he’s the man that hired me, and that’s been well-documented. I don’t meet with him on game plans or come up with all this. Hell, it’s amazing when things like this come out when we have a bad week.

Let’s just be honest about it. Put it on me, that’s where it belongs. I’m the man that runs the defense. I’m the man that played Tampa 2 three times and went to (bleep). OK, that’s me. I’m that guy. I’m the guy that that had a max pressure in the teeth of max protection and they hit a triple move on our corner, DeAngelo Hall. That’s not on him. That’s on me, for just a poor call. So put it on me, and that’s OK. You guys do a great job, but if it’s just not right I just can’t not say anything.

It’s been too long. I’ve been here five years, and I’m just going to tell you how the mode of operation works. I’m hired to be the coordinator. That’s what I do. If it goes great, that’s great. If it goes like (bleep), you’ve still got the same damn guy up here. I’ll be the same guy up in front of you next week when we kick ass. But I’ll be the same guy if we stumble again. Hell, I’ve been through some tough times. Look at this (removes hat), I’ve got gray. This is that National (bleeping) Football League.You’re not going to be on point every week. Am I pissed off about Monday night? You’re damned right. It’s on me, and come on, guys, enough’s enough.

Hey, my last name is Ryan. Why aren’t you blitzing more? Well, a Ryan won’t even blitz _ and we will blitz _ but a Ryan won’t blitz in a max protection and all close receivers. Nor will anyone else. Nobody else will. The great documented Tampa coverage teams, and there’s some out there that had just as (expletive) weeks than I did. You can look ‘em up. Detroit, Tampa, Indianapolis. All of us lost.

Our style of play is what it is, and that’s me. That’s Rob Ryan’s style of play for our defense and for our players. Do we have great players? Yes. Every one of those guys, DeAngelo Hall, who seems to be under attack, Nnamdi Asomugha, who nobody gets a completion on. What, did they hit a hitch route on him? C’mon guys. Put it on me, let’s not make up some (BS). I’ve been here five years, let’s just get it out on the (bleeping) table, and get it done with. I’m man enough to do that.

Our whole team is disappointed. We have excellent players, guys working their ass off, and it didn’t go well. And I’m not telling you how to do your job because you guys are great journalists. (Bleep), we had one Ryan in journalism, my older brother, and that lasted for like two months because he’s a starving journalist, a football coach. Guys, I’ve been around this business a long time, the Ryans have six Super Bowls, I’ve won two of them, I’ve been on defenses that have been in the top one or in the top three, for sure, in run defense at least a couple of times, in pass defense — hell, I did that here — in total defense, in turnovers, in sacks. OK, come on.

I’m not some incompetent guy standing up here and I’m getting a little bit tired of this (bleep). Put it on me for a bad performance but it ain’t going to be that way every week, all right, and just come off our players. Just put it on me where it belongs and get off our players, OK?

Q: You are bothered because the players are under attack?

Ryan: Sure, you’re damned right. It’s all on me.

Q: What about the perception you don’t blitz enough?

Ryan: I’m going to blitz but I’m going to blitz when it’s smart to do it, just like you guys will put in a picture with your story when it’s the right thing to do. (Bleep), I don’t know. I know my business, I don’t know yours.

Q: And that whatever you do comes from you and not Al Davis?

Ryan: It comes with me and it comes with our assistant coaches. Hell, Don Martindale has been with me for five years. We get paid to make decisions and when it goes astray, just know where to put the blame. Put it on this damned guy in front of you that is just as disappointed as anybody out there and more so. This is my profession. That’s why I was embarrassed by it. That’s why I felt like it was my opportunity to face the music, OK? When we kick ass, that’s cool. I don’t want it. Bu we’re going to get there, guys. We’re going to get there.

We had a bad game. Say whatever you want to say. We were trying some different things, and they didn’t work. Did we get outschemed? Hey, say whatever you want to say. I’ve played this Shanahan a long time who is damned good. They got a good staff over there. Did he hit a couple of plays on me? You’re darned right he did. It’s the NFL, OK? But that’s just the way it is. I just want to make sure that the story is legit, OK, and I’ll be honest with you.”

Q: Just to be clear, Al Davis doesn’t have a week-to-week say on the game plan?

Ryan: Not on a week-to-week basis, absolutely not.

Q: Occasionally?

Ryan: “When I deal with Al Davis, guys, it’s in the offseason. And here’s the thing: Al Davis knows football. And I’ll have four-hour conversations with him in the offseason about everything in this league. About offenses, about players, about scheme, about everything, but during the week, guys, (bleep), I don’t have time to talk to my wife, OK. If I’m going to make one phone call, it’s going to be her, all right? That’s the truth. I’m just telling you the truth. I literally had one conversation with Mr. Davis last week, and it was about Fred Wakefield.”

Q: That’s why we ask you, because we aren’t privy to your weekly goings on . . .

Ryan: OK. I understand that. I just want to say the truth. There’s one Rob Ryan as far as I know and I’m the guy and I would know. That’s just the way it is, and I’m going to tell the truth. I’m a smart man but I’ll say I’m too dumb to lie. I’m going to tell you the damned truth and that’s the way it is. To sit here and say, well, I don’t know what the hell to say, what was really said. I saw one article and I’m like, (bleep), when the shit is it going to stop?’ Maybe if we play good defense. OK, we’ll stop it next week, then. Alright, let’s go. That’s the way it is, all right. If I don’t blitz, then there’s a reason for it. If I do, there’s a reason for it. If we get beat for a damned touchdown during an all-out blitz, well, then, obviously, I had a poor call. If I hit them for a safety or whatever, all right, it was a good call. But, guys, everything I do up here is educated. It may not look like it when you give up 41 points, all right, but it’s the truth.

I’m doing the best job I can and I know it’s good enough to win with. My legacy is going to be with this Ryan name, we’ve been in six Super Bowls, won five of them, five different teams, that’s no accident, OK? That’s no accident. Did last week look like the (bleeping) ‘85 Bears? (Bleep) no. Come on. You know we didn’t (bleeping) look like the (bleeping) Bears. OK? But (bleep), maybe it looked like the (bleeping) Patriots when we won the Super Bowl and went out there and laid an egg against Cincinnati at Cincinnati, who had a (expletive) team and beat the (bleep) out of us the first game. OK? Maybe it looked like that. That’s the way it is. All right guys?

I just want to set it straight because, damn, I’ve been here five years and you know what, I don’t think people necessarily have the right story. I know you guys are doing your best. But (bleep) I can only speak for me. I can’t speak for everybody on the team. I’m disappointed but I just wanted to tell my side of the story for once because there’s so many other things that come out where I have to read it and take it and I just want the truth as I know the truth. There you go.

Q: Anything lacking effort-wise on your players part?

Ryan: Not in effort. Sometimes it looked like we were stuck in mud, I swear, the speed of the game. Denver makes you play an adjusting style of game but we’ve done it before and it just didn’t work out. We were giving up big plays and that’s just not our style and what you don’t want to do against Denver. That was happening and it was damned disappointing. We don’t want to play a game like that. Again, that comes on me. They got us in a couple situations where they got us in a couple different coverages and we just didn’t execute.

Q: How do you make the adjustments for the Chiefs?

Ryan: Every week you deal with a different offense and a different style. There will be copycat plays but you go and correct them and that’s what you do in those hard meetings, come to Jesus meetings that we all have to have when things don’t go well. I know we’re on point. We’ve got great players. They’re pros. They’ll work. We’ll get better. We’re all disappointed with how things went. Can it be fixed? Hell yeah. And we gotta do it. (Bleep), we will do it.

Q: How much communication do you have with Lane during the week?

Ryan: We’ve had good communication this week. He talked about a front that I’m actually running this week. We talked about this could be a good front to run against Kansas City. We have communication, but understand, my job’s to be the defensive coordinator and Lane’s the head coach. He’s got a million hats, I’ve only got one. Eventually the whole thing comes down to me being a better coach and doing a better job.

Q: What happened with Hall and Royal?

Ryan: A lot of that was me playing loaded coverage over there but the routes went deeper than we were anticipating and so it looked like he was playing soft when he was actually a deep third player. Usually we get up there in their face and press but I was trying to bait their young quarterback with the big arm into a loaded zone and hell he threw right through it. A couple of those plays were definitely on me. The one max pressure where we hit our head the guy had a triple move on him and shit I don’t know who could cover that. Willie Brown, maybe, back in the day. That’s just the truth.