The Browns formally announced they hired Gregg Williams as their defensive coordinator and fired Ray Horton late Sunday morning less than two hours before the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers began their playoff game.
If the Browns ousting coaches while other teams compete in the postseason doesn’t evoke feelings of “here we go again,” nothing will. After all, the organization with a 14-year playoff drought hasn’t gone without a head coaching or coordinator change since the offseason after the 2009 season.
Still, coach Hue Jackson is convinced forsaking continuity on his defensive staff was a necessary evil in the aftermath of a 1-15 season. He said the moves were his decisions and thanked the rest of the organization for allowing him to execute them.
“I know what it looks like, and I know what it feels like,” Jackson said Sunday afternoon during a conference call. “Everybody [says], ‘Here are the Browns again, changing out [coaches].’ But it’s not about that. It’s about trying to be the best we can be everywhere.
“I get what it feels like to everybody, and I respect that. But at the same time, I think everybody would be disappointed if I didn’t, as a leader, make tough decisions that I think was going to get us to where we want to go, too. It goes both ways, so you’re kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t, and I don’t worry about that. I’m worried about getting this organization, this football team, this coaching staff as good as I can get it.”
Jackson said he agonized over his decision to fire Horton but believes Williams is better suited to help create the right environment for winning a championship.
“I think he’s one of the better coordinators in the National Football League, and I think that’s proven,” Jackson said. “The guy has a ton of skins on the wall, doing this in a lot of different places with different players, with a lot of different systems, and I think I need growth over there [on defense] as fast as I can get it.
“But I truly believe in his track record and what he’s done. [The decision] hurts some people. But when I look at it at the end of the day, I have to do what I think is right to get us to where we need to be, and I think Gregg is that guy.”
Williams has coached in the NFL for 26 years, including three as a head coach of the Buffalo Bills (2001-03) and 15 as a defensive coordinator. He has guided a top-five defense five times and led the 2000 Tennessee Titans to a No. 1 ranking.
Williams, 58, also served as the defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints when they won Super Bowl XLIV to end the 2009 season. He helped the Titans advance to Super Bowl XXXIV during the 1999 season.
“I have a vision of what I want our defense to play like and look like, and I’m going to get that,” said Jackson, who calls the plays for the offense.
But Williams’ background also includes the NFL suspending him for the 2012 season because of his role in the Saints bounty scandal. Williams re-entered the league in 2013 as a senior defensive assistant for the Titans, then spent the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Rams, who moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles last year.
“We’ve had conversations about [the bounty scandal], but I think that’s behind him,” Jackson said. “That was some years ago. Obviously, he’s already paid the price for that. I think that’s behind him as well. We will not be having a Bountygate situation in Cleveland.
“He is a guy who put his head down and went back to work [after his suspension] and went back to doing what he is extremely good at, which is coaching defense. It means that someone gave him an opportunity to get back to where he needed to be, and he has shown that he is still a very good defensive mind from before all that.”
Although the Rams fired coach Jeff Fisher on Dec. 12 and finished the 2016 season 4-12, their defense played well for the most part. It ranked ninth among 32 teams in yards allowed per game (337), 10th in passing yards given up a game (233.3), 16th in rushing yards surrendered per game (103.8) and 23rd in points yielded a game (24.6).
The Browns defense ranked 31st in yards allowed per game (392.4), 21st in passing yards given up per game (249.8), 31st in rushing yards surrendered a game (142.7) and 30th in points yielded per game (28.3) under Horton’s guidance during the 2016 season.
As a result, Horton became a one-and-done defensive coordinator in Cleveland for the second time. The Browns also let him go after the 2013 season when they fired coach Rob Chudzinski.
Jackson wouldn’t commit to the Browns running a particular scheme next season, but Williams has traditionally employed a 4-3 base defense. The system has significant differences from Horton’s scheme, which features a 3-4 base defense.
Above all, Jackson is impressed with the style of Williams’ defenses and his ability to adapt his system to the players he has on the roster.
“[His defenses are] very aggressive, attacking,” Jackson said. “They make you go the long, hard route to score touchdowns. I think that’s what playing football in the National Football League is all about. I think his defenses demonstrated that they tackle well and that the ball is not thrown over their heads a ton. I think in order to be a really good defense, the characteristics I just mentioned, you’ve got to have.”
Meanwhile, more changes are looming because Williams will bring at least a few defensive assistants with him to the Browns and part with at least some of Horton’s top lieutenants.
“I don’t think you can expect a whole new defensive staff,” Jackson said. “But I’m going to allow him to bring some guys that I think are going to help sell the message and what we’re trying to create over there on defense.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.