Raiders don't need to look far for Shell's successor

	Rob Ryan's defense was perhaps the only thing that went right for the Raiders in 2006. Brian Bahr/Getty Images
	RELATED • GALLERY: One and done coaches

Now that it's done, and the two-win debacle of Art Shell's second stint as Raiders head coach has mercifully ended, there's only one little remaining problem on the horizon in Oakland: Now what?

Having burned through three coaches in the five years since Jon Gruden took his smirk and his visor to Tampa Bay, who could Al Davis possibly entice onto the trap door that is the Raiders head coaching job? I mean, now that the aging Raiders owner has been forced to pull the plug on a first-time head coach (Bill Callahan), a veteran coaching re-tread (Norv Turner) and a guy he has both hired and fired twice (Shell)?

Yeah, sure, Jim Fassel and Mike Martz are probably both faxing their resumes to Davis as I write this, and there's always a chance Nick Saban is getting itchy to leave Alabama (after first denying any interest in Oakland). But if I were counseling the always mysterious leader of the Silver and Black, I wouldn't advise him to spend much time looking everywhere for his next member of the hired-to-be-fired set.

I would just go down the hall of the Raiders team complex and ask defensive coordinator Rob Ryan if he has the stomach for the job? Hey, in Oakland, it can't hurt giving the job to a guy who roughly has the same build as John Madden.

We'll keep it simple for you, Al. What's the one thing that actually went right for Oakland in 2006? What worked? What wasn't part of the problem? That would be the Raiders defense, which was led by Ryan, the team's respected third-year defensive coordinator.

This season, while the Raiders offense was driving to all of 12 touchdowns -- one every five-plus quarters, like clockwork -- Oakland's defense was actually playing some pretty darn good football. The Raiders ranked first overall in pass defense (150.8 yards per game), third in total defense (284.8) and their 17 touchdown passes allowed ranked seventh in the league, ahead of the vaunted Chicago defense, which surrendered 18. Ryan's unit had 34 sacks, 18 interceptions and held half of its 16 opponents to 20 points or less -- a pretty fair accomplishment given that Oakland's offense turned the ball over an NFL-high 46 times, producing many short fields for the Raiders defense.

Ryan, 44, did his job a heck of a lot better than Shell or offensive coordinators Tom Walsh and John Shoop did theirs. Why not reward him with the opportunity to fix the whole mess in Oakland? He could hardly do worse than Shell, whose 2-14 record represents the worst Raiders season since 1962, before Davis even arrived on scene with that slicked back pompadour he sported in the '60s.

The Raiders have finished last in the AFC West in four consecutive seasons, and are an NFL-worst 15-49 in that span. They set a franchise low for points this season (168), they've lost 14 consecutive division games and are 2-22 in the AFC West since the start of '03.

Ryan obviously has good coaching bloodlines. He's the son of Buddy Ryan, the former longtime NFL defensive coordinator and Eagles and Cardinals head coach. He's also the twin brother of Rex Ryan, himself a highly respected defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens. Moreover, Rob spent four successful seasons on Bill Belichick's coaching staff in New England ('00-03), helping the Patriots win a pair of Super Bowls as their outside linebackers coach.

Andy maybe, if the Raiders promote him, they could be in line to get both Ryans in the package deal. With Rob Ryan as Oakland's head coach, I don't see how the Ravens could turn down Rex Ryan's request to join his brother's staff as assistant head coach/defensive coordinator. Sounds like a win-win to me for the Raiders.

And in Oakland, where two wins was all they got this season under Shell, that almost passes as progress all by itself.