Out with one Ryan, in with the next.
A week after beating Rex Ryan’s Jets, the Patriots are getting ready for his brother, Rob, Dallas’ defensive coordinator.
The Cowboys are visiting Foxborough on Sunday. Rex and Rob talk the same game, look pretty darn alike — and run similar defensive schemes.
“There’s definitely some carryover,”?Pats coach Bill Belichick said yesterday. “I wouldn’t say they are exactly the same, but there’s definitely some carryover. Both [are] based out of the 3-4 but use a lot of different looks. Both defenses use a lot of multiple defensive backs.”
Last year, Rob Ryan ran the Browns defense that held New England at bay in a 34-14 Cleveland win. Like this week, Ryan’s team was coming off a bye in that one.
And don’t think that’s where the connections between the Dallas coordinator and the Pats finish.
Ryan was a relatively obscure linebackers coach with the Patriots from 2000 to ’03, helping them win two Super Bowls. The Pats had one of the best defenses in the NFL then, with Ryan coaching stalwarts like Tedy Bruschi and Willie McGinest.
New England staff members that were there then don’t remember him having the long hair or outspoken personality he sports now. But Ryan surely learned a lot in his years with the Pats.
Maybe the Pats should worry that will come back to bite them this weekend.
