Little men who can hit, big men who can run, a coach who has a plan that makes sense and is willing to discuss it.

 

Welcome to the Browns’ 2016 defense and its new/old coordinator, Ray Horton.

 

His introductory – or, as it were, re-introductory – press conference on Thursday was a big hit.

 

He talked about his plans for taking a well-paid defense that underachieved to the max last season and getting it to play much closer to the level everybody had expected. In doing so, he mentioned just about every player, from Barkervious Mingo to Paul Kruger to Danny Shelton to Justin Gilbert, pointing out how he was going to try to get them to perform better.

 

Whether Horton is able to actually do that remains to be seen, but the fact he has already determined a course of action is in stark contrast to what former coordinator Jim O’Neil did – and didn’t do – in his two years on the job. O’Neil and his boss and good friend, former head coach Mike Pettine, seemed to have players in roles for which they were not suited. When things didn’t work right away, O’Neil refused to make changes in either scheme or roles, saying only that the situation would eventually improve because the scheme had a track record of success.

 

But that never happened, and neither O’Neil nor Pettine, whose defense it was, could explain why. The only reason the defense didn’t get even criticism is because the team’s offense, and quarterback situation, were so bad, and the NFL is an offense and quarterback league.

 

It was like trying to force a square peg into a round hole, and Horton is way too smart – and way too good – to replicate that nightmare.

 

Just the other day in this space, we talked about the importance of communication between the Browns’ top football decision-makers. Along with that, these men also need to be able to communicate their ideas to their players and, to a lesser extent, to the fans through the media. The fans don’t expect to get the defensive calls text-messaged to them, but, because of all they’ve been through in the expansion era, they deserve to hear at least generalities, which was, again, so sorely missing the last two years.

 

Horton, a wordsmith, always seems to be able to do that. He certainly did it in his first stint as defensive coordinator here in 2013. And to hear that again earlier this week was a real breath of fresh air that provided some hope.