Ray Horton’s explanation of the system he’ll run as the Browns’ defensive coordinator sounded different Tuesday during his introductory news conference than it did last week in his interview with an Arizona radio station. On Thursday, Horton told XTRA Sports 910-AM he’ll use a 3-4 defense in Cleveland that will mirror the scheme of the Pittsburgh Steelers. On Tuesday, Horton backtracked from those comments, blamed semantics and resisted labeling the Browns’ new scheme altogether. The change-up seems fitting for discussions about a defense Horton promises will give offenses headaches by featuring different alignments. “We are going to be a defense that gives offenses problems,†Horton said. “Our guys can play a multitude of things. I don’t like to get pigeonholed into, ‘Well, he is this.’ We’re going to be a team that looks at the offense and tries to take away what they do best. That may mean one snap being 5-2, the next snap it may be 4-4. It will be predicated by what the offense does. We have athletes that can stand up, that can put their hand in the ground, that can run.†Coach Rob Chudzinski said the Browns will employ a 3-4, multi-front, multi-look defense which he calls a hybrid but Horton does not. “I don’t really care what we are on defense,†Horton said. “I want to know what are we going to look like. We’re going to look like an aggressive, forward attacking defense that has big men that can run and little men that can hit, and I’ve seen that on tape. “That’s the most important thing to me — 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 you 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.†Source: Akron Beacon Journal
