Dallas Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan Speaks

We have known for exactly one month that Rob Ryan, former defensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns, will take charge of a Dallas Cowboys defensive unit that was historically bad in 2010. But until Thursday we hadn’t really had the chance to hear him speak. I guess it really didn’t feel that “official” to me until now.

Let me start by saying that this is definitely the son of Buddy Ryan. In fact, Rob probably emulates his father a bit more than twin brother Rex, head coach of the New York Jets. Just based on appearance, Rex looks like a guy who might do your taxes. Rob looks like a guy who might…well, “rob” you in a dark alley.

Buddy more resembles the latter, takeaway the appearance of someone who would probably throw a punch at you behind a truck stop. Buddy did exactly that as defensive coordinator of the Houston Oilers in 1994 so this is not some crazy theory of mine.

Since I did not start following the Cowboys closely until about 1981, I can’t say that I remember the provocative circumstances created by late Washington Redskins head coach George Allen from 1971 through 1977. My first true Dallas villain was definitely Buddy Ryan, hired by the Philadelphia Eagles following a run to the Super Bowl XX championship as defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears.

From the time he ran up the score on Tom Landry I was amazed at how much I suddenly despised anything and everything Philadelphia…or Pennsylvania for that matter. The Steelers are from there too.

In fact, by the 1994 regular season, just months after that punch thrown at Kevin Gilbride at the Astrodome in Houston, I was thrilled to see Buddy Ryan back at Texas Stadium as head coach of the rebuilding Arizona Cardinals. This time, however, Buddy did not have the better team. Dallas won 38-3 and it still brings a tear of joy to my eye.

But times have certainly changed. According to Rob, Buddy now wears a Cowboys hat and I tend to believe him. See, Buddy didn’t really hate the Cowboys himself. He wanted his Eagles players to hate the Cowboys the same way Allen wanted his Redskins players to hate America’s Team. It’s the old “us against the world” ideology that works so well in certain competitive situations.

If you can’t beat the top dog, then you’re not going anywhere meaningful.

Think back a couple of years to the introductory comments made by Rex Ryan upon being named head coach of the Jets. The key phrase I remember is "I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's, you know, rings."

Poppa Buddy used to begin a new head coaching stint with “You’ve got a winner in town.” Like him or not, he was right.

Are you aware that Buddy Ryan was part of the defensive staff of the New York Jets in Super Bowl III? This ended up as arguably the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. Ryan was a big part of it. I recall a brash quarterback named Joe Namath predicting a New York victory in that contest. Either way, you can’t deny that the Jets were confident that they could win, which they certainly did.

When asked Thursday at Valley Ranch about repairing the Cowboys’ broken defense, Ryan stated, “Hey, I'm not here to farm anybody else's land. I'm going to do a great job and you're going to see that."

Bleacher Report’s Freddy Blair recently wrote that swagger is not a talent but rather a result. If you paid any attention to the glory days of the 1990’s Dallas Cowboys, you understand this as fact. That team did not care about the legacy San Francisco created in the 1980’s heading into that first NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park following the 1992 regular season. They all but took a leak on it before the 1993 rematch when head coach Jimmy Johnson guaranteed a Dallas victory just days before the game, this time in Dallas.

If Rob Ryan can really bring that to this Dallas defensive unit then things are going to get better and in a big hurry. This swagger thing is not something that Wade Phillips was able to generate, ever.

I also think that it’s good that rookie head coach Jason Garrett has an imposing figure on his staff that also has football in his family and obviously a much greater coaching history.

Garrett can copy other great coaches by silencing his assistant coaches but he’ll only get away with that for so long. If he keeps screwing around with this silly spread stuff that can’t get the short yards, especially in the red zone, look out. Ryan is not the kind of guy that will sit back and watch both his efforts and his player’s efforts go wasted because he’s working for a guy that’s great at trigonometry but can’t tie his own shoes.

Going against the establishment is a good thing, even though it makes many uncomfortable. It can threaten those with undeserved benefits because they don’t really know how they got those in the first place. Therefore, they have no idea how to get them back when some brash boat-rocker comes in, changes the culture and ups the bar.

Just look at how some reacted to the first stated theories about the world not being flat …whoops.

About the only thing Ryan said Thursday that concerns me is that he seems to think Jay Ratliff will be fine remaining at nose guard. Obviously this would appear to be the wrong direction, based on history, but I do not think that this particular forum was intended to discuss future personnel changes.

I will admit that his refusing to comment on potential interest in massive Shaun Rogers, recently released from the Cleveland Browns, makes sense given the pending lockout of NFL players in wake of labor unrest. But the Cowboys absolutely must get bigger in the middle of this 3-4, unless of course, Ryan really is a well-disguised Superman.

Bill Parcells and Wade Phillips were both scholars of the 3-4 defensive scheme yet both failed to put a contending defense on the field.

Can Rob Ryan do what the first two could not? At the very least he says he can…and will.