What Could All These Rams Coaches Mean for the Saints Defense?

by Dave Cariello on Feb 8, 2012 6:00 AM CST

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*

Talk amongst yourselves.

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The Rams had some people that could rush the passer, but

I got the impression that, in 2011, they had no choice but to find a way to get to the QB since they went through an ungodly number of CBs to injury. Couple that with the fact that opponents knew their defensive secondary was weak, it basically set the stage for a passing frenzy in their dome especially. Not sure if the stats bear my theory out, but it would seem passing against St L would have been the thing to do in 2011 with new CBs joining the team weekly.

"We've established the run; we've established the pass. Now all we have to establish is another championship!" (And a Defense!)
"Some say the glass is half empty;
Some say the glass is half full.
I say- 'are you going to finish that beer'?"
I've learned so much from my mistakes...I'm thinking of making a few more!"

by Philinwood on Feb 8, 2012 6:33 AM CST reply actions

the resilience that the secondary showed after the rash of injuries..

gives some promise to the hire of this new secondary coach guy..
always a good thing if he can make wine with water..

as a side note, chris long is not an elite pass-rusher..
their front four was somewhat adequate on the inside (although quite suspect against the run)
the good passing defensive stats with good number of sacks, are a testament of this crazy theory that i’ve been driving thru yall’s skulls..
QB pressure comes from a combination of a steady pass-rush and solid blanket coverage on the back end.. (i have posted this at least 5 times and no one cares to dispute it..)
the immediate, electrifying pass-rusher off the edge is rare.. only a few teams have those players.. and a lot of times they get neutralized by crafty blocking schemes (such as ours)

by the 9th plague on Feb 8, 2012 7:23 AM CST up reply actions 5 recs

Agreed....and Rec'd

I guess I can go anywhere I want. If only I knew where to go-Layne Staley

by AcquiredPanic on Feb 8, 2012 11:23 AM CST up reply actions

7th best in passing yards and 7th best in sacks

…without an elite pass rusher. This sounds like the vindication of your theory. And if the Saints can improve that much from last season to this, and continue to be a top-3 defense, it looks like Lombardi time again. (Of course, it looked like Lombardi time again in 2011. These things happen.)

What! shall we curse the planets of mishap
That plotted thus our glory's overthrow?

by MtnExile on Feb 8, 2012 12:11 PM CST up reply actions

Can we be better than 2011?

That’s a question that worries me. I truly believe last year’s team was better (on offense at least) than the 2009 team. What really hurt us this time was that our 13-3 record wasn’t good enough for a bye and homefield like it was in 2009. If we had had the no. 1 seed again, we’d be hoisting another trophy. Now we have to find a way to keep Nicks and Colston on offense. If we can do that and SpagNOLA works some magic on our defense, we’ll be right back in it next year. It’ll definitely be to our advantage if we can secure the 1 or 2 seed next year.

"As soon as Tony (Dungy) said we had no chance, I knew we had 'em right where we wanted 'em"--Coach Sean Payton right after Super Bowl XLIV with the Lombardi Trophy firmly in hand. WHO DAT!!

by David "Satch" Kelly on Feb 8, 2012 4:12 PM CST up reply actions

Take those "bad stats" with a grain of salt.

Of course the defensive stats are going to look bad when you have an offense as horrible as the Rams was during that stretch. Its common sense that your “D” is going to give up yardage and points if they are on the field for 75% of the game.

by The Irish Assassin on Feb 8, 2012 12:25 PM CST reply actions

I think it's a good hire

I went back to his stats with the Giants. Yeah i know he had a lot to work with there. I also liked the fact that he worked under Jim Johnson at Philly. I had a lot of respect for Jim. Looking forward to see what he can do.

Backroads

by Robert Brady on Feb 8, 2012 3:44 PM CST reply actions

I think we're looking at a recipe change and it looks like this

You’ve got a few ingredients in the mix, coaches, coordinators, and players and a rockin’ twelfth man most of the time. I can remember days that Sprint would have loved the dome for their pin drop commercial and bud definitely loved it for beer sales (well, that probably hasn’t changed) – about the same time period, now that I think about it. Anyways, last year’s meal didn’t have a strong enough flavor of coach, so’s that’s being fixed. It just didn’t seem to have the mix of right coaches, and coordinators to enhance the flavor of the players. Please, no twss or hs, as I blush easily. And, SP is fixing the mix to suit the taste of a 19-0 season and I think that could taste very fine indeed.. Hey, if you’r going to predict, why go all squeamish, right? I mean, home dome superbowl and all. A city that can go nuts better than any city in the world. Can you imagine the pin drop if they don’t go??!?!?! We all need to have the vision that Drew held for the city in 2009. He had a vision for the city. Now, maybe we can have a vision for our team that’s done nothing but knock down obstacles for, what, going on a decade, now? Of course, actually, from a city standpoint, it would probably be more beneficial if out-of-towners were converging from two teams instead of one. Well, we win any which way but loose. Well, even win that way! ;~)

Whew! Can’t say this post makes a lot of sense but it sure has a lot of passion in it. Yeah, I’m going to go drink another coffee, now. hehehe

;~j

by singleblow on Feb 8, 2012 6:09 PM CST reply actions