Cleveland Browns: Danny Shelton beating unrealistic expectations

Ray Horton’s famous “Big men that can run and little men that can hit” line returned after a two-year hiatus when Hue Jackson brought Horton back to Cleveland for the 2016 season.

Horton was schooled in the London, Ohio native Dick LeBeau’s zone blitz 3-4 defense. Unlike the Ryan family 3-4 defense, LeBeau’s defense creates confusion by keeping the offense guessing as to who will be blitzing and from where. LeBeau is famous for blitzing anybody and any time. What made his style unique was dropping a defender into the zone from where the blitz came.

This countered the famous quarterback rule to always throw the ball to where the blitz is coming from. The logic is that the blitzing defender leaves a hole in the defense. By dropping a player, LeBeau is famous for dropping a lineman, into that zone, LeBeau’s defenses created a lot of turnovers and confusion for quarterbacks. The genius of this system continues to this day.

Ray Horton’s style of defense is very close to his teacher. Horton blitzes less often than LeBeau, but that could be due to down and distance concerns.

For Horton, it is all about the math. If the defense can give up three players while forcing the offense to give up five, the defense wins every time. The nose tackle is the most important player in this math equation. The nose tackle’s major responsibility is to take up two offensive linemen. By taking up two linemen in the middle, the more athletic play making linebackers can pursue the ball untouched.

Let me be clear, for Horton’s scheme the nose tackle is a space-eater. His job is to take up two players in the middle of the defense. By taking a second lineman out of the equation, there is no one left to get to the second level to block linebackers. Free roaming linebackers are the death of any offensive run game. Thus, the nose tackle is one of the most important players in Horton’s 3-4 and the key to stopping the inside run game.

Although Danny Shelton has adapted to playing in Ray Horton’s defense, the fans and media still expect to see the playmaking Danny Shelton promised during the Pettine/Farmer era.

Next: Shelton Improving