Saints to fire Rob Ryan after disastrous defensive performances

The New Orleans Saints are expected to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan after three consecutive weeks of awful defensive performances.

The news was first reported by Fox Sports. Head coach Sean Payton is scheduled to meet with the media today at 11:15 a.m. CT.

Ryan’s firing will come less than a day after the Saints allowed the Washington Redskins to score 47 points and made Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins look elite. Cousins had a perfect QB rating of 158.3, threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns. The Redskins had 526 yards of total offense.

The week before, Titans rookie QB Marcus Mariota threw four touchdowns in New Orleans. Two weeks ago, Eli Manning notched six touchdowns, notes Pro Football Talk. In the past three weeks, the Saints haven’t had a single interception.

Fox Sports reports that Dennis Allen, who was hired as a senior defensive assistant during the offseason, could replace Ryan.

The Saints are currently 4-6 and do have a bye coming up. They don’t play again until Nov. 29 at the Houston Texans.

Update:

Although the general consensus still believes Ryan was relieved of his duties early on Monday, one Saints' player thinks otherwise.

Defensive captain Cam Jordan reiterated the fact (according to him) that Ryan was still the defensive coordinator during Monday's team meeting, via NOLA.com:

"I don't know anything about Rob Ryan or what happened to Rob Ryan, that's all speculation," Jordan said. "I know that Rob is an emotional leader of ours and as long as he's in the building he's looking to lead us to the right place."

Unless Jordan is deciding to pull a fast one on all of us, Ryan was present at the facility on Monday:

"I don't know what the what the organization will do at this point," Jordan said. "All I know is that when team meetings started, Rob Ryan was our DC and addressed us as such, and we'll leave it at that."

For now, speculation runs rampant.

UPDATE:

Payton made it official during a radio interview Monday night. Ryan has been fired.

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