LANDOVER, Md. -- It's not fair to pin all of this on Rob Ryan. It would feel like too many others are being exonerated for the New Orleans Saints' historically bad defense if one guy becomes the scapegoat.

But the time feels ripe for some sort of radical change heading into the bye week.

The Saints' defense went from bad to embarrassing in Sunday's 47-14 loss to the Washington Redskins.

They allowed 394 yards in the first half alone, and they are now on pace to give up the second-most yards in NFL history (424.7 per game). The only defense that was worse? The 2012 Saints.

Saints coach Sean Payton was on suspension that year, but he fired coordinator Steve Spagnuolo once he was reinstated after Spagnuolo had spent just one year on the job.

When asked Sunday if he would consider any personnel or coaching changes, Payton shot down the question. "We're sitting here after a game, and we're not going to discuss any of those type of changes, certainly not right now," he said.

But Payton didn't sugarcoat what has been happening on defense.

"Listen, it's obviously a concern," Payton said. "It's hard to win."

Safety Kenny Vaccaro said, "I like Rob," and stressed that it's not the defensive coordinator's fault that the Saints got torched repeatedly by the screen pass Sunday, since that's all about quick recognition and players getting to the ball.

Vaccaro did recognize the need for some sort of change, saying, "I don't know necessarily what's going to happen. But we've got to get better and we've got to win these games. We can't allow this to keep happening."

When asked if he thinks change is necessary to the coaching, scheme or personnel, Vaccaro said, "I just want to win. Whatever Coach Payton and (general manager Mickey Loomis) decide to do, I just want to be in a position to win and have fun."

The Saints (4-6) are on pace to shatter the NFL record for the highest opponents' passer rating allowed (116.5).

Washington's Kirk Cousins had a perfect rating of 158.3 Sunday while throwing four touchdown passes. The Saints have allowed 14 TD passes in the past three weeks, including six by Eli Manning and four by Marcus Mariota.

Ryan deserves as much blame as you want to heap on him, because everyone who has their hands in this mess deserves blame.

He has had ample opportunity to scheme his way out of it, and things have only gotten worse.

Ryan doesn't deserve all the blame, though.

For one thing, he's not running the defense he wants to run.

Payton kept Ryan this year because he likes his passion and his work ethic. But he pretty much forced Ryan to throw away his super-sized playbook because the Saints were almost as bad in 2014. They were plagued by assignment and alignment errors, so Payton demanded a simplified scheme based on a single-high safety and press-man coverage from the cornerbacks. He also brought in senior defensive assistant Dennis Allen to be a better fundamental teacher for the secondary.

The Saints also overhauled the roster while bringing in bigger cornerbacks and young players throughout the front seven. They have three rookies starting.

And more than anything, they have been plagued by injuries. They've been plucking linebackers off the street for the past three weeks, which led to a lot of their issues against Tennessee and Washington, in particular. They were missing four of their top five linebackers for most of Sunday's game.

That was part of the reason why the Saints were getting torn apart by screen passes through the middle of their defense. But then again, veteran defensive backs Vaccaro, Jairus Byrd, Keenan Lewis and Brandon Browner all gave up big plays. And defensive end Cameron Jordan appeared to be the one called for a costly defensive holding penalty.

"I don't feel like [Ryan] deserves no blame. We gotta find a way. Players make coaches, period," said Lewis, who suffered a knee injury Sunday. "It ain't all his fault. Everybody keeps throwing the blame just on him, but it ain't just him. We're a team."

Jordan ducked out of the locker room without talking after he sat with his hands over his head in apparent frustration for a few minutes. He later tweeted his thoughts, accepting his share of the blame:

Fully Disgusted...Wish we didn have a bye...No need to look at the film that score says enough...Must become a way better unit startin w/ me

— cameron jordan (@camjordan94) November 15, 2015

So there is plenty to go around. And even if the Saints do make the switch to Allen, a former defensive coordinator and head coach who always has felt like the replacement-in-waiting, it's hard to imagine that will solve much. Allen has had his hands in this mess too.

But Ryan is on the hottest seat of all.

And that's a bad place to be when change is so desperately needed.