Cleveland Browns: Ray Horton Cannot Be ‘Fall Guy’

The notion of a ‘fall guy’ for the Cleveland Browns 2016 season is a popular one, but it’s one this team can ill afford.

In the wake of a disastrous season, currently at 0-12, there is a notion about someone being held responsible. Especially in Cleveland, there has often been this idea about getting a pound of flesh for being awful, as if it will magically make things better. Normally, this sticks to fans and some local press, but this has reached the national media, as Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports has reported on it.

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The target for this angst has been Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton. Horton has fielded questions on the subject. The defense is bad and he is a known quantity in Cleveland since he’s been here before in this position. As good as it might feel to some fans and media for Horton to be fired for about 20 minutes, it doesn’t help the Browns. It causes any number of problems for the franchise.

From a practical standpoint, firing Horton would mean hiring an entirely new defensive staff. Unless they promote from within the organization, which seems dubious, a new defensive coordinator would want to hire his own staff. A new defensive coordinator means a new defensive system, new terminology, and new techniques.

Instead of trying to build off what progress players have made (as little as some might argue that is), they’d have to learn new roles as opposed to master the ones which they’ve already invested a year. Rather than coming in with some confidence, players may have questions in the back of their mind about the stability of the organization.

Firing Horton would also mean that one of Hue Jackson’s first major decisions was a failure. Certainly, the argument can be made that Horton wasn’t his first choice. Nevertheless, it is who he hired and firing him would reflect poorly on Jackson.

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It would make a pretty sizable dent in the veneer this organization is trying to showcase. Everyone is on the same page; they have a plan and want to see it to its fruition. No one can suggest that firing their defensive coordinator after one season is part of said plan.

The concept of a ‘fall guy’ also doesn’t end well for the head coach. Unless the team is dramatically better next year, that patsy is no longer there to take the blame and suddenly the heat is on the head coach. His job becomes the one up for discussion.

It also doesn’t help the talent pool to replace Horton. Yes, the Browns can throw a huge wad of money at potential coaches, but that doesn’t mean they believe in what’s going on in Cleveland. They may simply take it for the payday and then leave, expecting that it will end with Jackson ultimately being fired.

This brings up the last point. While Horton is a popular whipping boy, he’s not done the horrible job that many seem to believe. The Browns defense is awful, but it was always going to be awful.

Cleveland’s defense has three returning starters from last year. Danny Shelton, Chris Kirksey and Joe Haden. Nate Orchard was a holdover starter before he went down for the season with an injury and Tramon Williams has been a spot starter, but their starting corners are Haden and Jamar Taylor.

The team cut virtually all its veterans and have been relying almost exclusively on rookies or second year players to fill the void. Some by necessity and some by design. Emmanuel Ogbah, Carl Nassib, Joe Schobert, Derrick Kindred, Briean Boddy-Calhoun, Tyrone Holmes and Tracy Howard are all rookies that have contributed this year. That’s seven rookies just on defense. Dominique Alexander is largely used on special teams, but he’s an eighth rookie on the defensive depth chart.

The Browns dropped a bunch of kids fresh out of college in the NFL pool to see which of them can swim. It comes as no surprise that they have had enormous growing pains. This entire season was framed around development of the young players and seeing how much better they could be.

Losing continues, but in recent weeks, the defense is playing with more confidence and making more plays. Rookies are getting better and the group is improving as a unit. In the past two games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants, the defense has kept the team in games until the bitter end.

The same cannot be said for the offense. Hue Jackson’s side of the ball has gotten progressively worse this season, despite having more talent in place. This is the biggest problem with casting Horton as the ‘fall guy’. Horton has done a better job with his side of the ball than Jackson has.

Hue Jackson, to his credit, has been out in front of everything. No matter what is happening, he puts it on himself. Some of that is merely being the captain of the ship and understanding that if it’s on his watch, it’s on him.

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The problem is more and more of the problems being raised are genuinely Jackson’s fault. For example, the Browns running game was the most productive in the NFL after the first month of the season. It was a revelation and a source of immense praise for Jackson. Since then, it has been one of the worst. Yes, injuries and so forth, but much of it is simply giving up on it.

If the Browns were to have a strength this season, it was the offense. The defense was expected to be bad, but the offense had some proven talent and an infusion of talent through free agency and the draft that had some reason for hope.

Heading into the bye week, the offense is just trying to look functional. In the past month, the Browns have scored 39 total points; not even double-digits per game. The defense, meanwhile, has had back to back quality performances against future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and could use the bye week as a springboard for their last four weeks of the season.

The best thing the Browns can do is keep this staff together. Short of small changes, if someone leaves for a different job, they shouldn’t make major changes. Instead, the focus should be on improving, just like they want the players to improve. Use the offseason to figure out what works, what doesn’t and how to maximize the good while minimizing the bad.

Reportedly, Jackson is in Horton’s corner. Whether that’s genuine or simply a front, it’s the right move politically. The longer he can keep his group together, the more options he has. Obviously, the best-case scenario is that sticking it out and working hard produces the results everyone is hoping for; wins, sustained success, so on and so forth.

There is no question that having Jimmy Haslam as the owner plays into this discussion. It’s easy to bet on him to pull the trigger and fire quickly, given that to this point, it’s been easy money. As much as he can’t be happy about the 0-12 record, Haslam must understand that this team was going to be awful and he was reason for it.

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Fans and media are welcome to demand accountability. Judging by shots of the empty seats at Cleveland Browns home games, they’ve made a perfectly reasonable decision not to attend. Nevertheless, the Browns need to resist the urge to produce a pound of flesh. Not only is it ineffective in this case, but if it’s Horton’s they want, it’s misguided and wrong. As much as the defense has struggled this year, Ray Horton has done a far better job this year than Hue Jackson has and the best move for this team is to retain them both.