May 19, 2013

Ray Horton on Barkevious Mingo: “I want him to be a dominating player.”

May 16, 2013 by 5 Comments

Following mini-camp on Thursday, defensive coordinator Ray Horton met with the media. When asked about first round pick Barkevious Mingo’s weight (a popular topic for discussion lately) Horton talked about what he wants from the linebacker.

“I want him to be a dominating player,” he said. “Weight? Some guys are too big, some guys are too small. Some guys aren’t fast enough, some guys aren’t slow enough, but they learn how to play. We want athletic players. He is an athletic football player and that’s what we want him to be.”

It was clear from Horton’s comments that the Browns are focusing on the very basics of the defense during the mini-camp and aren’t going to rush Mingo’s progress.

“It’s a totally different defense so there is a lot of adjustments – terminology, drops, the way I call games, the way I ask them to learn the defense,” Horton said. “Right now I am just asking them to trust me and trust the defense and they are doing that. We are pleased with where we are at day three of OTAs.”

Not only are Mingo and Jabaal Sheard learning a new defensive system, but a new position as well.

[Related: Browns betting on defense and hoping for offense]

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While We’re Waiting… Tribe Trends, No Free Pass For Chudzinski, and Eliminating MLB Playoffs?

May 5, 2013 by 1 Comment

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

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Leading off, Michael Hattery at IBI takes a look at some early season trends with Tribe hitters Lonnie Chisenhall and Carlos Santana, “I think in Chisenhall’s case we have all been struggling with confirmation bias, being that we highlight his plate discipline as the reason why he struggles when he struggles. And if you just look at his strikeout-walk ratio it is easily justified. However, his O-Swing% changes are positive and perhaps cause issues for the assumption about Chisenhall’s plate discipline being the key issues so far. This would be a second consecutive season of improvement for Chiz, and this statistic should stabilize with a slight shift to either side over the rest of the season. O-Swing% will always be a statistic worth monitoring for the lefty and hopefully its positive gains will start to effect his overall production.” [Indians Baseball Insider]

Over at Cleveland Wins!, Jim says that Rob Chudzinski will get no free pass from the Cleveland fans, “Rob Chudzinski and the team is the only logical way for the Browns to start to wash away the dirt and cleanse the organization. We all know that it is the wins and losses on the field that ultimately determines their success or failure. So Chudzinski sets in the unenviable position of being the only logical redemption for the rocky and perilous start of the Joe Banner era and the easiest one for him to blame if things don’t go well. He has a proven Head Coach standing right below him running the Browns offense and a defensive coordinator that might be a bit more committed to his rise up the coaching ranks then the Brown’s success.” [Cleveland Wins!] [Read more...]

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The Browns, analytics, and finding market inefficiencies as an organization

March 5, 2013 by 7 Comments

Banner and HaslamYesterday, I wrote about how I thought that the analytics revolution in Berea would be subtle. Today, I’m going to suggest some practical ways that analytics could be used inside the building to help the Browns. More often than not, it will be supplemental reports to help increase confidence levels in decision-making processes in an effort to reduce the frequency of inevitable mistakes. Put simply, there are so many decisions made in the NFL that you’re going to mess up sometimes. Why not do everything you can to mess up less often?

Teams will need scouts forever, so don’t think that scouts will ever be antiquated. Let’s just say that the Browns decided they desperately needed to find 3-4 linebackers in this draft from rounds three through seven, you know, hypothetically 1 . Wouldn’t it be worthwhile to take all the best 3-4 linebackers, put them in a data set with their heights, weights, various combine stats, NFL years played, NFL dollars earned, and more? Then all of a sudden you’ve applied some filters to an unmanageable list and let your scouts concentrate on a more focused group of players. That’s a no-brainer and most scouting departments do this kind of stuff already, I’m guessing. Add a few more layers of complexity, start getting creative with the variables and that’s where the next competitive advantage comes from. If you’re truly in sync as an organization you’re spending your time becoming an expert with a group of players that you aren’t competing with the whole league to get. That’s what Pete Carroll did. [Read more...]

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  1. Ha. Hypothetically. [back]

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Pluto: The 3-4 Switch And Where Guys Fit

February 3, 2013 by 10 Comments

Terry Pluto in his Sunday morning’s “Terry’s Pluto’s Talkin’” column, he outlines some of the thoughts from the Browns’ front office about current players and how they may fit into the Browns’ switch to new defensive coordinator Ray Horton’s 3-4 attack-style defense.

“On the line, the Browns believe Phil Taylor can play over center. He did that at Baylor in a 3-4. Ahytba Rubin played a lot on the line in Eric Mangini’s 3-4 in 2009-10. So he can do the same here.”

This seems to make sense, as hopefully the Browns can find a way to get two playmakers like Taylor and Rubin together on the field as much as possible and maintain some sort of flexibility.

“The new coaching staff loves Billy Wynn as much as the old staff, and believes he can easily be a 3-4 end. They also believe 320-pound John Hughes can add depth at tackle or end.”

With just three defensive lineman in most sets, it’s really going to showcase the team’s depth there, especially with the third and sixth round selections from last year in Hughes and Wynn.

“In the traditional 3-4, the nose tackle is directly over the center and the two ends are lined up against the offensive tackles. In that setup, the guards are free to block the two inside linebackers. That’s why D’Qwell Jackson struggled in the 3-4, compared to being in the middle in the 4-3 and could use his speed because he wasn’t hit on his first step.”

This has long been one of my biggest concerns with the 3-4 switch, neutralizing D’Qwell Jackson as he tries to keep blockers off of him.

“Horton’s 3-4 often has a nose tackle lined up on the shoulder of a center, either right or left. The hope will be that Jackson can “hide” a bit behind a massive player such as the 335-pound Taylor, then make plays. I still wonder if Jackson will be as effective.”

Related: Browns Film Room: What Does A Ray Horton D Look Like?

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Some Browns bits on Alex Smith, Leroy Hoard, Ray Horton, Ozzie Newsome and more

January 30, 2013 by 15 Comments

1986-browns-newsomeThere’s not one topic I feel like talking about today as we endure a week of Super Bowl and Hall of Fame propoganda. The Browns introduced their defensive coordinator Ray Horton yesterday, but even that was putting a cap on old news. With that in mind, I thought I would just combine a bunch of things into one post today…

Alex Smith to the Browns?

So Brandon Weeden thought he dodged a bullet when the Browns failed to land Chip Kelly, I bet. I hope he didn’t spend too much time sighing with relief because the Browns quarterback rumors are flying fast as the Browns are being linked to the 49ers’ own displaced QB Alex Smith. It makes some sense because as we all know, new coaches tend to gravitate toward familiar players, and Google is full of pictures of Alex Smith sitting next to Norv Turner. That’s also why we were treated to a lot of Chud-fueled Derek Anderson news a few weeks back.

So, is it good or bad for Browns fans? [Read more...]

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Cleveland Browns Film Room: So what does a Ray Horton defense look like?

January 30, 2013 by 18 Comments

“We’re going to look like an aggressive, forward attacking defense that has big men that can run and little men that can hit. I’ve seen that on tape and that’s the most important thing to me is what do we look like, not what we line up in. We may be a 3-4 on one snap. We may be a 4-3 on another snap. I guarantee we’ll be a 5-2 sometimes and we’ll be a 4-4 sometimes. We are a multi-front, attacking defense and that’s the most important thing, not what player lines up where, how he stands, what stance he’s in.” – New Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton

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If you watched the press conference yesterday introducing new defensive coordinator Ray Horton, you know one thing is certain.

We have new buzzwords.

No fewer than seven times coach Horton referred to his philosophy of “little men that can hit and big men that can run”. He is convinced that if you have those two things you can be quite flexible and adjust to whatever the offense likes to do and take that away.

It sounds much better than him saying “I run XYZ defense and we will have to find players to fit this system. It may take a while. It’s a process.” [Read more...]

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Ray Horton: Norv Turner was coming with me to Arizona

January 24, 2013 by 14 Comments

New Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton sounds like an upfront and honest guy. You want the truth, he will give it to you.

On an interview with Burns and Gambo on 620 KTAR Phoenix, Horton said that he had a plan in place had he gotten the head coaching job in Arizona. When asked if Norv Turner would have come to the Cardinals with him as his offensive coordinator, Horton said “unequivically.” Horton went on to say Norv’s wife wanted to go to Arizona as well, to be closer to their daughter in San Diego.

Horton also said he was surprised but not shocked that his “good friend” Bruce Arians didn’t keep him on as the DC in Arizona when he was hired, but he wishes them well and he is not the least bit bitter. Horton said “Bruce and I are friends and will remains friends.”

Lastly, Horton said he is “not shocked, but disappointed” that he is still not a head coach in the NFL.

[Related: Projecting to 2023 – Can sports remain relevant forever?]

 

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Chud, Norv, Horton, and Lombardi: The Future’s In Their Hands

January 19, 2013 by 26 Comments

chudzinskiThe speculation is over. With the exception of a few positional assistants, the Browns have their personnel and are sculpting out their direction for the next few years as we speak. Some of the hires made by owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner have been overwhelmingly popular while others are decidedly not. With a shift in offensive and defensive philosophies and the corresponding personnel changes required to fit them, there’s no shortage of topics surrounding our Browns right now. Here’s my point of view on just a few of them. [Read more...]

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A Look Into Ray Horton’s Defensive Philosophy

January 19, 2013 by 24 Comments

A big h/t to @MikeAmmo for digging this video out of the vault. Two years ago, when new Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton was hired on as Arizona’s defensive coordinator after being Pittsburgh’s defensive backs coach under Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau, he sat down and talked about his defensive philosophy on the Arizona Cardinals’ website.

http://www.azcardinals.com/videos-photos/videos/Ron-Wolfley-Sits-Down-With-Ray-Horton/5763a7fd-9827-4a02-b194-666f751c3495

 

The highlights included his desire to have “big guys who can run, little guys who can hit” to make his defense successful as well as being a 3-4 defense on first and second downs and a 4-2 D on third downs. All of what Horton said seemed to fit right in line with what new Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski said about wanting an attack style defense. Horton’s D utilizes a variety of zone blitzes and its main goal is to put pressure on the quarterback. Given the Browns’ current personal, that will take some acquisitions in the offseason.

Related: Lombardi Has A Lot To Prove For Browns Fans

 

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While We’re Waiting… Ray Horton, Buckeyes in East Lansing, And Eastern Conference All-Star Reserves

January 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

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Leading off, the Browns have hired former Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton, who they interviewed for their head coaching vacancy, for the same position. ESPN AFC North blogger Jamison Hensley had his reaction to the news, “Cleveland gets a coordinator who knows how to make quarterbacks feel uncomfortable. In 2012, Horton’s second year as the Arizona defensive coordinator, the Cardinals held quarterbacks to a 54.3 percent completion rate (third-best in the NFL) and picked off 22 passes (second-best in the league) while allowing 20 touchdowns. Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson combined for three touchdowns, 11 picks and a 23.4 QBR score against Arizona.” [ESPN AFC North Blog]

The Buckeyes are in East Lansing for a Saturday night Top-20 matchup with the Spartans. Kyle at Eleven Warriors has a preview as the Buckeyes look to keep pace with the other 1-loss teams in the conference, “It’s the same old Michigan State. Solid guards, plenty of scoring threats and imposing low-post players. Keith Appling, Branden Dawson, Adreian Payne and Derrick Nix are all names familiar to college basketball fans. These two schools have become the class of the Big Ten over the past decade, and last season highlighted that fact. Ohio State and Michigan State got together three times and each game matched the hype, including the Big Ten tournament championship game, which had the feel of a Final Four. The Buckeyes and Spartans also had the look of a rodeo. In three games, 101 fouls were called.” [Eleven Warriors]

[Read more...]

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NFL Rumor: Ray Horton expected to be named Browns defensive coordinator

January 18, 2013 by 33 Comments

The off-season drum continues to beat on for the Browns. Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the Cleveland Browns might have gotten Ray Horton as their new defensive coordinator.

And so ends the saga of Dick Jauron and if he would be retained in Cleveland. But another saga that many Browns fans had been fearing starts again. According to Jeff Schudel Ray Horton coaches the 3-4.

So who knows what that means for the Cleveland Browns and their abundance of defensive linemen. The biggest question of all is for someone like Jabaal Sheard who might soon have us bemoaning the miscasting of Kamerion Wimbley in the 3-4 as a linebacker as opposed to a 4-3 defensive end.

[Related: A new coaching staff could mean a change to a 3-4 defense. Are the Browns ready for that?]

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NFL Rumors: Arizona’s Ray Horton potentially landing in Cleveland

January 18, 2013 by 15 Comments

While all has been quiet on the defensive coordinator front in Berea, CBS Sports’ Jason LaCanfora speculates that the Cleveland Browns’ future defensive coordinator will be Ray Horton.

Presently employed by the Arizona Cardinals, the recent hiring of Bruce Arians as their new head coach means that is increasingly less likely that Horton is retained. In a game of musical chairs, Todd Bowles will be ushered out of Philadelphia — with Chip Kelly looking to bring in his own coordinator — and potentially to Arizona, leaving Horton with options after a reported “heated exchange” following the hiring of Arians.

Horton, who did an otherwise excellent job in 2012 while the Cardinals’ offense fell apart, was considered a strong candidate to replace the fired Ken Whisenhunt as the next head coach.

It was Ray Horton who was not only interviewed early on by the Browns, but had his name in the mix for the head coaching gig at a time when Penn State’s Bill O’Brien and Syracuse’s Doug Marrone were still considered candidates.

He was hired by the Cardinals in 2011 after working seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers (2004-10). He is a 3-4 defensive coordinator from the Dick Lebeau tree.

[Related: WFNY Podcast – 2013-01-17 – Craig and TD talking Browns]

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Browns coach search and why the excitement over Chip Kelly was justified

January 9, 2013 by 41 Comments
Joe Banner will have some decisions to make in Cleveland

On to the next one…

Despite all my criticisms of the Browns’ media handling in the hunt for Chip Kelly, I fully supported their chase of him as a coach for the Browns. The idea of Chip Kelly coaching the Browns was awesome. There’s no guarantee that Chip Kelly was going to be anything more than a complete bust. That’s pretty much the case for any coaching candidate. It drives me nuts that in order to talk about Chip Kelly in Cleveland that we constantly had to talk about Butch Davis because, you know, they both coached in college. That connecting of the dots is probably about as lazy as you can get from an intellectual standpoint.

You just can’t tell me with a straight face that a defensive specialist with experience as defensive coordinator of the Cowboys and head coaching experience at the U is the same thing as a guy who was almost solely an offensive coach on his way to becoming head coach at Oregon. That’s just the resume side of things. The fact remains that each candidate is a completely different human being. Even two doctors who went to the same medical school are completely different, and their training and professional background will be far less diverse than two guys like Butch Davis and Chip Kelly.

[Read more...]

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NFL Report: Trestman interviewed today in Cleveland

January 8, 2013 by 20 Comments

According to Tom Withers, the Browns have interviewed Marc Trestman-

“Trestman interviewed with the Chicago Bears for eight hours Monday night and arrived at the Browns’ facility in suburban Berea late Tuesday morning, said the person who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the search. He is the fifth known candidate to interview with the Browns, seeking their sixth fulltime coach since 1999 after firing Pat Shurmur last week.

Trestman was the Browns’ quarterbacks coach in 1988 and their offensive coordinator in 1989, when Cleveland appeared in its third AFC title game in four years with quarterback Bernie Kosar. Trestman has extensive background as an NFL assistant, working with eight teams, most recently Miami in 2004.”

The Browns have now interviewed Trestman, Chip Kelly, Ken Whisenhunt, Ray Horton, Bill O’Brien, and Doug Marrone, who was hired by Buffalo. Kelly and O’Brien decided to stay with their college teams.

[Related: Saban to NFL, no thanks]

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Reports: Browns rebooting head coach search without Chip Kelly

January 6, 2013 by 45 Comments

What a difference two days and a lunch running into dinner makes.

The Browns’ contingency has left Arizona where they interviewed Chip Kelly on Friday among many others this week. According to various reports, including ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, they are heading back to Cleveland to regroup and continue the coaching search with Kelly’s name crossed off the list.

This too, from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, seems to hammer it home.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who originally reported that the Browns and Kelly were close to an agreement, says that super-booster Phil Knight is pulling Kelly back to Oregon.

So, where do the Browns go from here? Bill O’Brien and Doug Marrone, who the Browns interviewed as well, are now off the board in addition to Kelly. That leaves former Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt and Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton as the two candidates the Browns have interviewed that are still in play.

It’s certainly possible that the Browns open the search back up again with several other viable candidates still out there.

[Related: NFL Rumor: Chip Kelly could stay at Oregon]

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Browns fans split on Chip Kelly and Bruce Arians as favorite coaching candidate

January 2, 2013 by 24 Comments

As the Browns start to interview candidates and whittle down the list, I was curious where Browns fans were on the list of candidates. I posted the question to our Facebook page to let everyone weigh in, and two candidates emerged as the favorites.

Some of the comments were interesting too. [Read more...]

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NFL Rumors: Browns Interested in O’Brien, Horton, Marrone

December 31, 2012 by 14 Comments

Rumors continue to swirl around the Browns’ head coaching vacancy.

From Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports, four teams, including the Browns, are interested in interviewing Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien. At 43 years old, O’Brien was 8-4 in his first year at Penn State after five years as a wide receivers’ coach, quarterbacks’ coach, and offensive coordinator under Bill Belichick in New England.

Kent Somers of AZCentral.com is reporting that Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton has three other suitors as well, one of them being the Browns, in addition to his current team. Horton has been defensive coordinator for the Cardinals for the past two seasons. Prior to that, he was an assistant in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Washington.

Finally, Adam Schefter reports that both the Bills and Browns will interview Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone for their opening. Marrone has coached the Orange for the past four seasons, posting a 25-25 record with a 2-0 bowl record. He was previously the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints from 2006-2008.

Related: Kelly is Browns’ “Clear #1 Choice”

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