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Here's a bit of what was going on in Tenn after Horton's first season... Didn't post the whole article, just a piece.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Tennessee Titans are enjoying the difference that a year makes, especially on defense.

Twelve months ago, coordinator Ray Horton was busy installing his 3-4 scheme for a team that had played a 4-3 for years. The Titans went on to rank among the NFL's worst defenses.

Now they've had another offseason to study Horton's schemes, and Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau is now running the defense. They also added new players in free agency and the draft.

That combination has the Titans playing faster.

''A lot of guys are flying around out there. They know their assignments,'' defensive lineman Jurrell Casey said.

Cornerback Jason McCourty says the second year in this scheme is the biggest difference. Players know what they're doing and now can deceive offenses. link

That sounded good in June 2015, but didn't look so good in September 2015.

What you need at present. It was crappy by choice last year; little of the problems got coached out, and fundamentals that mattered were not coached up IMO. An attacking D that tackles and can cover . . . . I am willing to risk it regardless of configuration. This nonsense of wating line to drop and fail to cover when you are not getting pressure got our bones picked clean. I am OK with Horton if he attacks.

Follow the bouncing ball. (Isn't that one of Diam's sayings?).

Pit and somebody was discussing Horton. That was 2013 when Chud, Horton and Norv were here. I thought I'm remembering defensive injuries in the second half of the season.

I know that for the first 5-6 games nobody could run on us. Then it got worse. And then worse and other problems surfaced. I don't have the wherewithal to go searching 2013 to try and sort out that kind of info.

LOL That was a priceless answer. Loved it

He had his year, our defense wasn't exceptional.. isn't that enough?

I felt Horton had three things going against him insofar as the fans are concerned. One was the injuries, because everybody knows injuries are no excuse Two, in his pressers he used stats to defend the defense. He's a big stat guy. But I'm not sure he should tout them publicly as he did. Third, he made bold predictions on when the defense would turn the corner. Then it didn't happen, making him look a bit like a blow-hard.

I know those last two things rubbed me wrong and I'm guessing it did for some others too. Even if they don't remember it now I remember posters making negative remarks when his predictions didn't come true.

My take on him as a DC is that he can be very good here as we've already been in a 3-4 since he was last here, 3 years. We should come out the gate much better than we are now.

I just wonder what kind of sales job it's going to take for him to forget getting screwed-over as he, Chud and Norv were.

Are we even allowed to hire Horton yet?

I feel like I have to qualify that statement. Regardless of the players giving up on Chud, if your name is Ray Horton or Norv Turner I'm sure you felt screwed-over.

i was thinking the same thing....

It does bring up a concern. My hope is that since Hue and Ray worked together in Oakland, hopefully their relationship there will outweigh Rays previous experience here. I doubt if I would take the position myself if I were Ray.

Seems simple... Ray, the players quit on Chud. What did you do to help your HC ? Norv ! That goes for you also.

You think maybe Chuds demise had something to do with his DC & OC ?

I don't.

Depends on what other options he has... Ray has to be thinking:

1. Make sure you have the highest ranking job possible next year.
2. If you have more than one option, which one will present me best for future head coaching gigs.

That's it. And I don't know if/what options he will have.

Probably because Hue has him pegged as the #1 choice. I am not a big fan of Ray based on the last visit, but I do understand being comfortable with a hire. If Ray is who Jackson wants to hitch his wagon to, so be it.

Doesn't mean we should settle just because the last DC was a goof.

Agree, but who are our other choices? Position coaches with NO track record as a DC? Any of the other fired HCs leave a good DC candidate available other than Horton?

for ...

I detect a theme

Yep definitely a theme

I loved the Horton hire. I supported him when he got a lot of grief on the boards. However, his act got old. He boasted a lot. Trotted a lot of stats out there. Made excuses. Blamed other people. His defense quit on him at the end of the year.

This is what's eating at me.

Not a horrible choice, but I'm not excited.

I like the idea of Horton. I loved his defensive scheme and how our guys got after the QB. Every defense Horton has been a part of has been known for their attack. While 3rd downs were not very good n 2013, how much of that was due to the offense placing the defense in horrible situations? Less we forget, we had Brandon "Flipper" Weeden under center. That offense, while good, was not at the same level as Flips this year. In fact, with McCown as QB, I might actually think we could have won a few games had the O'Neil's defense held their own.

Call me optimistic....If Horton can find a way to stop the run (his struggle in 2013), we will be set with him as our DC!

Flip's offense is statistically worse than Chud's.

Horton started off as a position coach, they all do, your aware of that.

We also know what we have in Ray, and the points Vers brings up makes me not want to go down that roed even more..

There's a few guys still in the play-offs that may be a fresher scent then Ray.
Patriots...

Josh Boyer-Cornerbacks Coach... wiki
Patrick Graham-Linebackers Coach... wiki
Brendan Daly-Defensive Line Coach... wiki

Denver...
Chris Beake - Defensive Assistant... link
Reggie Herring - Linebackers... wiki
Bill Kollar - Defensive Line... wiki Fred Pagac - Outside Linebackers... wiki
Joe Woods - Defensive Backs... wiki

Arizona...
Bob Sanders-Linebackers... wiki
Kevin Ross-Cornerbacks... wiki

Carolina...
Steve Wilks-Assistant Head Coach/Secondary... wiki Al Holcomb-Linebackers... link
Eric Washington-Defensive Line... link



I find Al Holcomb & Eric Washington interesting..

Go back a page to click on the links if your interested in looking..

I've never heard of any of these guys, do any of them have any connections to Hue Jackson?

I want Hue to be able to build a program to the point that like, for example, Marvin Lewis, has had multiple coordinators over the passed few years plucked to be HCs.

I don't believe so, a couple of them have some decent resumes I feel.

I get a feeling maybe one of them could connect with Hue, but that's just my feeling..

I guess the Weed's performance has clouded my memory then . I felt much of 2013 was due to 1) Rookie HC 2) player execution over scheme and 3) in first year of rebuilding. I truly felt that Chud and that staff deserved their opportunity to show what they can do. With both Turner and Ray Horton, Chud set himself up for success. Hindsight I suppose.

With moving on to another HC in Hue, I think Horton is the strongest DC coordinator currently available and we could do worse.

I think any of our offenses are going to be average at worst. We just have a top line that just perform exceptionally. McCown can't play QB, watching him this year proved that. Our line gave him maximum protection and he played well with it. Maybe even tricked a few people into thinking he was an OK QB. Hue should do well if he can keep the line together. If he can't, we're looking at a 5+ year rebuild imo.

What about Mike Singletary or Lovie Smith as a DC ?

Browns deserve better than the like of me.

J/c...

Man I wish they would hurry up and pick a DC and a scheme so I could do another pointless and meaningless mock draft.

I don't see Lovie Smith becoming a coordinator again.

Pointless and meaningless.

And worthless, too.

That's an excuse. I hate it when the defense gets a pass because the offense struggles. If the defense gets off the field, they won't be on the field any more than the other team's defense is.

The offense has nothing to do with the defense collapsing on 3rd downs, or in the red zone. Great defenses don't worry about what the offense does, they just make plays.

I wonder if the Ravens would have won their 1st Super Bowl if the defense looked at the offense, with Tony Banks and Trent Dilfer under Center, and said, "Man, our offense sucks, We won't be able to be any good on defense because of them"? Instead, they raised their game, and were #1 in points allowed, and 2nd in yards, despite a very average offense, led by below average QBs.

Don't forget fun.

If we hire Horton we will need a LOT of linebackers. We aren't linebacker poor we are linebacker barren. The cupboard is bare. We will also need at least one 3-4 centric defensive end. A real force, not just some fat slob defensive tackle playing out of position. It will take significant time to build what we have now in to a workable 3-4 zone blitz defense. Finding four starters at LB and a true DE will take a lot of doing. Add in a strong safety, a corner to bookend with Haden if he ever recovers and building a D will take some time. Commitment to Horton and to a 3-4 zone blitz system. I'm still hoping we hire Lovie Smith instead and run a 4-3. But it is what it is. Either way we aren't going to be fixing the D in one off season. WAY too many holes.