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All the sudden it just went dark. A Friday night frenzy of information, flowing through Twitter and out onto the interwebs, titillating St. Louis Rams fans with news that flamboyant Rob Ryan would be the team's new defensive coordinator. But then the world said not so fast. So what's happening now?
The Rams and Ryan are still involved in some level of negotiations; TST can confirm that. What stage those negotiations are in is anyone's guess. Howard Balzer tweeted on Saturday that Ryan was still the favorite to land the Rams defensive coordinator job.
Hearing that Rob Ryan to the Rams is definitely happening.
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) January 12, 2013
He later walked that back, noting that nothing had happened yet.
Ryan responded on Saturday that he had not spoken with the Rams and was, in fact, still on vacation. The whereabouts of his van were unknown.
I'm seeing a variety of reactions from Rams fans on the possibility of the team hiring Ryan. His defenses never stood out, but, as he pointed out, he inherited a Dallas defense that was among the league's worst. The Rams have considerably more defensive talent that his Cowboys team, and his previous stops were in Cleveland and Oakland, two places not well known for astute personnel management.
There were similar thoughts about Jeff Fisher when the Rams hired him. There were even people that wanted to give Spagnuolo another year. More than a few Rams fans bristled at the move. But, so far, the decision to hire Fisher seems to have turned out pretty well for the Rams who nobody expected to be 7-8-1 just a year after winning two games.
Let's go back to something Balzer said about Ryan:
Lots of angst among Rams fans about Rob Ryan. Bottom line: He's a good coach. Do people think if he wasn't good Fisher would be interested?
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) January 12, 2013
Chill people. Wait and see what happens. This isn't the same old Rams team that was capable of making only bad decisions. The Jay Zygmunts, Tony Softlis, Georgia Frontieres and Billy Devaneys are gone.