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NFL morning after: Rob Ryan and the worst pass defense ever

Sean Payton, Rob Ryan

AP

The NFL record for touchdown passes in a season won’t be broken this year. Or at least not the record for touchdown passes in a season that you’re familiar with, the one set by Dan Marino in 1984, then broken by Peyton Manning, broken by Tom Brady, and broken by Manning again. That record -- Manning’s 55 touchdowns in 2013 -- is safe.

But there’s another passing touchdown record that probably will be broken this season: The record for most touchdown passes allowed by a defense. The current record is 40, set by the Denver Broncos in 1963. (The Broncos were an American Football League team, but the NFL adopted all of the AFL’s records when the leagues merged.) The Saints are on pace to obliterate that dubious record.

Yesterday the New Orleans defense gave up four touchdown passes to Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins in the Saints’ 47-14 loss. That upped the Saints’ defensive total this year to 28 touchdown passes allowed this year, in 10 games. The Saints are now on pace to allow 45 touchdown passes this season, easily beating that 1963 Broncos record.

Two weeks ago Eli Manning had six touchdowns and no interceptions against the Saints. Last week Marcus Mariota had four touchdowns and no interceptions against the Saints. The Saints are the first defense in NFL history to allow four touchdowns and record no interceptions in three consecutive games. In all, the Saints have intercepted just four passes this season, given up 44 completions of 20 yards or more and 13 completions of 40 yards or more (both league highs), and the average passer rating against the Saints is 116.6. Aaron Rodgers is the NFL’s all-time record holder with a career passer rating of 105.8. The Saints are making the average passer they face look better than Aaron Rodgers.

There’s plenty of blame to go around between the players and the coaching staff, but the man who deserves the bulk of the blame for that is Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. When you watch the Saints’ defense play, you’re left wondering what in the world they practice all week, what in the world their game plans look like, what in the world they’re calling. The Saints don’t just look bad, they look utterly incompetent. That’s on Ryan.

Because he’s the son of Buddy Ryan (the legendary architect of the 46 defense) and the brother of Bills coach Rex Ryan (a pretty good defensive coach himself), Rob Ryan has been reasonably well-regarded in the NFL and always finds a job somewhere. The last time he was fired, he famously promised he’d find a new job in five minutes.

But the reality is, unlike his brother and father, Rob has never really proven that he’s much of a defensive coordinator. Rob Ryan has been a defensive coordinator in Oakland, Cleveland, Dallas and now New Orleans, and those defenses have never been particularly good.

Of course, he’s never had a defense as bad as the one he has in New Orleans right now. This might be the worst defense the NFL has ever seen.

Here are my other thoughts on Sunday’s games:

Lions fans can finally stop hearing about Green Bay. Every single year, when the Lions play at Green Bay, the TV announcers are sure to beat the viewers over the head with the fact that the Lions haven’t won there since 1991. The last time the Lions won at Green Bay, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton had just announced he was running for president. That is, the last time until yesterday, when the Lions finally pulled one out. Detroit is going nowhere this year, but winning in Green Bay for the first time in 24 years means the streak of futility is over, and one good thing has come of this Lions season.

We should appreciate Tony Romo. Wins and losses are overused as a quarterback stat, but they do illustrate just how important Romo is in Dallas. The Cowboys started the season 2-0 with Romo as the starter, and then Romo got hurt -- and now the Cowboys are 2-7. Dallas is 0-3 with Brandon Weeden at quarterback and 0-4 with Matt Cassel after yesterday’s loss to the Buccaneers. Other teams can win with their backup quarterbacks (the Colts are 2-0 with Matt Hasselbeck in place of Andrew Luck, and the Steelers are 2-1 with Michael Vick in place of Ben Roethlisberger), but the Cowboys have fallen apart without Romo. He’s one of the best players in the NFL.

Johnny Manziel should be the Browns’ starter the rest of the year. Manziel was far from perfect in the Browns’ 30-9 loss to the Steelers yesterday. But Manziel did complete 33 of 45 passes for 372 yards and also make plenty of plays with his legs. He looked like he has some promise, and the Browns need to stick with him the rest of the year and let him show what he can do. There’s no reason to go back to Josh McCown except that Browns coach Mike Pettine is a stubborn man who wants to stick with his preferred quarterback. If Pettine goes back to McCown, he’s putting his own stubbornness ahead of the long-term well-being of the franchise.

Elvis Dumervil had the bonehead play of the year. Dumervil had two sacks for the Ravens yesterday against the Jaguars, but what will be remembered is his facemasking penalty as time expired. If Dumervil had grabbed Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles and pulled him down by his jersey, it would have ended the game. Instead, Dumervil pulled Bortles down by his facemask, which extended the game for one untimed play because the game can’t end on a defensive penalty. The penalty moved the Jaguars into field goal range, and the one untimed play was the Jaguars’ game-winning field goal as time expired. Dumervil’s mistake cost the Ravens the game.

Peyton Manning was awful. Manning is one of my all-time favorite players, but he simply looked like he has nothing left yesterday. He completed five passes and threw four interceptions. It wasn’t just the worst game of Manning’s career, it was one of the worst games any quarterback has ever had in NFL history: He’s the first NFL quarterback since 1986 to have five or fewer completions and four or more interceptions in a game. I want to see Manning go out on top, but at Manning’s age, when you lose it, you don’t get it back. At this point, just about the only thing that could give Manning a shot at looking like the Manning of old is playing against the Saints. And the Saints aren’t on the schedule.