METAIRIE, La. -- Sean Payton gave defensive coordinator Rob Ryan a reprieve this year, bringing him back for a third season despite the New Orleans Saints' collapse from fourth to 31st in the NFL defensive rankings.
But one of the conditions of Ryan’s probation was to simplify his playbook.
Ryan has been known throughout his career for having a complex scheme -- sometimes for the better, but too often for the worse because of the kind of assignment and alignment errors that plagued the Saints last season.
Payton responded with an emphatic, "Yes," when asked Thursday if New Orleans is simplifying that scheme.
"That’s something we talked a lot about in the offseason. It’s something we have to do," Payton said.
Payton has praised Ryan’s passion and work ethic, even offering him the ultimate compliment last season that Ryan could’ve worked for Payton’s mentor, Bill Parcells. But Payton’s frustrations with miscues like pre-snap penalties or substitution errors were evident a couple times when he was caught on camera shouting at Ryan on the sideline.
The Saints talked about simplifying their scheme early last season -- and it seemed to work in a Week 3 victory against the Minnesota Vikings. But it turned out to be more of a Band-Aid than a permanent fix.
This season, they appear more committed to the switch. Defensive end Cameron Jordan told reporters last week: "At this point, I know two or three of the base packages we have. This time last year, we were like 20 schemes in."
"You know, you’re playing snaps in man or snaps in zone," Payton explained. "But in order to play with speed, improving the fundamentals and all the little things, I think you gotta ... reduce the amount."
The change is particularly important in the secondary, where the Saints were plagued by blown coverages and missed tackles last season.
Safety Kenny Vaccaro thrived in a jack-of-all-trades role in 2013, moving all over Ryan’s defense. But Vaccaro made too many assignment errors last season when he made more of a permanent switch to strong safety.
Vaccaro explained that the defense was full of reads and adjustments based on offensive shifts -- which often led to players still trying to adjust while the ball was snapped. It didn't help that the Saints were constantly shifting in new players because of injuries and demotions.
"A lot of the busts were mental things," Vaccaro said. "What makes it complicated is having a huge playbook. And then also checking everything based on what the offense is doing."
Vaccaro said now the approach when the offensie goes into motion is: "We’ll stand here. We’ll wait. And then you gotta beat us.”
"We’re playing faster, I’ll tell you that," Vaccaro said.
Payton’s decision to bring back assistant coach Dennis Allen seems to have been motivated by the same idea. Allen, who was the Saints’ secondary coach before he spent the past four years as the Denver Broncos' defensive coordinator and the Oakland Raiders' head coach, is known for being extremely detailed.
Payton created a new role for Allen as a "senior defensive assistant." Sometimes Allen addresses the entire team in meetings, but he primarily works with the safeties.
Ryan hasn’t been asked specifically about simplifying his scheme. But he has acknowledged more than once this offseason that changes are necessary.
"Hey, when you finish 31st in the league in defense, I got a lot to clean up ..." Ryan said last week. "It’s my fault. And we’ll see if it happens again. It ain’t going to."
Ryan and players have also stressed dating back to last season that their mentality is every bit as important as the scheme.
Although cornerback Keenan Lewis acknowledged that under the simplified scheme, "you don’t have people out there worrying about three or four things to do," he quickly stressed, "The playbook had nothing to do with us losing last year. You still gotta go out and execute."
"I think we got too caught up on what people were saying early in the season, who we were, and honestly I feel as though we let that get the best of us last year," Lewis said. "It humbled us a lot going into this season, because we know we’re better players and we know we’re a better team."