Cleveland Browns officially hire Ray Horton as defensive coordinator

The Cleveland Browns have officially named Ray Horton their defensive coordinator. Hopefully the results will be better than when Horton was in charge in 2013.

The Cleveland Browns have officially hired Ray Horton as defensive coordinator.

This marks the second time that Horton will be in charge of the Browns defense, having served as defensive coordinator in 2013 during head coach Rob Chudzinski’s one year in charge.

“I am really excited to be back,” Horton told the team’s website. “I love the fans of Cleveland. When I was here last time they really embraced me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met Cleveland fans in different cities. It is a great fan base.

“I am excited to come back and help (head coach) Jackson win. We haven’t worked together previously, but I think there has been a mutual respect from across the field. It’s one of those things where you appreciate the challenges from matching up against each other from opposite sides of the field.”

According to the team’s news release announcing the hiring, Horton led “one of the best defensive turnarounds in Cleveland history” in 2013.

The Browns finished 23rd in total defense the year before Horton arrived, but finished his season ranked ninth in the league in total defense, the team’s best finish since 1994. The defense held opposing rushers to 3.9 yards per carry, the team’s best effort in 18 years. (By comparison the Browns were at 4.5 this past season).

That season the Browns also gave up 25.4 points per game, including a league-high 145 fourth-quarter points. That trend continued once Horton moved on as the defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans, who gave up 26.4 points per game this past season.

There are elements of Horton’s defense that are easy to like – most notably his desire to be aggressive in getting after the opposing quarterback – but he also has a touch of Rob Ryan in him, as he talks about how good his defense is but the results don’t always back that up.

That is all water under the bridge, though, as far as Jackson is concerned.

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“He understands what needs to be done to get our defense back to where it needs to be,” Jackson said. “I wanted somebody that knew the lay of the land and understood the division, understands the culture here and understands the change that we need to make and someone who can lead our young players and develop players to get better.

“His defenses have gone after the quarterback. They have been effective in stopping the run. They had a very good pass defense when he was here. That is what we need to do. We have some of the premier passers in this division when you talk about Ben Roethlisberger, Andy Dalton and Joe Flacco. We are going to have slow those guys down to have a chance to compete in this division. That is what we expect from our defense.”

Jackson has received positive reviews for the way he has been putting together his coaching staff, so while there are some valid questions about the effectiveness of Horton’s defense, Jackson has promised that it is a new day in Cleveland.

We’ll all know soon enough if that is true in regards to the defense or if we will be seeing a remake of the disappointing 2013 season.