It has been well documented how much the Cowboys counted on Rob Ryan in 2011 to be the change that was necessary to improve the defense that was horrendous in 2010. I believe for the most part he did a pretty good job, especially considering the parts he was given to work with, and the time constraints due to that stupid lock out.

I got curious today, about how much difference having a year under his belt with a particular team might allow that defense to improve.

So I looked up some information from his previous stints as a DC with the Raiders and Browns. I checked out the year one and year two production of his units in 4 statistical categories.

The data comes after the jump...

I'll begin with the Raiders and their production in year one and year two under Rob Ryan.

(I know that volume stats are not always the best way to look at a team but I didn't want to spend too much time doing the research, and wanted to keep the stats basic)

Now we look at the Browns...

So between these two pools of data (as limited as they are), we can see that a 2nd year under Rob Ryan does your defense alot of good.

If this defense improves their pts/g by 30% like these other defenses did, we will be looking at allowing less than 15 pts/g. I personally also believe there is alot of merit to the fact that the time last year costs this defense alot. So I think we can count on marked improvement.

Granted the Browns sack numbers decreased by a significant amount, but we all have seen numerous examples of sacks being a misleading stat, and I think we would all give up the sacks for more wins, which would certainly come if we only gave up 15 pts/game.

I also firmly believe the talent level, and play making ability of this team has been greatly improved, especially in the secondary and at ILB.

As Cowboys fans, I think this is one trend we can hope continues!