Cleveland Browns: A Guide to Ray Horton-“isms”
By Joel W. Cade
The first saying comes from Ray Horton’s introductory press conference earlier this year. With last year’s defense fresh in reporter’s minds, Horton was asked if his scheme would be overly complex or easier to understand. His response is classic, “Everything is simple, if you understand it“.
“What I said to Ray is we want to be suffocating on defense because we need to be explosive on offense.” – Head coach Hue Jackson
In this one statement, Horton clearly summarized the goal of all education. Teaching, or in football lingo “coaching,” is the process of making something complex simple. Ever since Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method, scientific analysis proceeds by breaking complex parts into smaller, easier to understand pieces. Then those are linked to other small pieces increasing in complexity in order to create a unified understanding of the whole.
Related: Will the defense improve under Ray Horton?
Horton, channeling his inner Descartes, tells us that once the parts are understood, it is very simple and this method works well for Horton’s defense.
The multiple-front 3-4 scheme is notoriously complex. The complexity comes from the multiple looks the defense will provide for the offense. By lining up in multiple fronts, the defense looks to confuse the offense thereby causing mistakes. For this to work, the defense must all understand their assignments and be able to execute them regardless of the defensive front.
Horton’s staff will make everything simple for the defense, so they can understand it. Spoken like a true educator. But what kind of player is necessary for this scheme to work?
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