Horton's thoughts on preparing for the Patriots game

[az jam]

I went back and picked up some quotes from Horton on beating the Patriots in the 2nd game this year. I know that this is old stuff but I wanted to get a feel on how Horton thinks as he may be our new HC.

To say that Arizona was prepared for Sunday's game against the Patriots would also be an understatement. After the win, defensive coordinator Ray Horton told a story from this past NFL Draft, that had him drawing up plays for the Week 2 game, while the rest of the team made the picks.

"We were doing the draft, and I was sitting there doing New England plays," said Horton. "They couldn't see what I was doing, but that's the honest truth. I was doing New England plays that we ran in this game, during the draft. We're sitting there talking about draft players, and I'm sitting there doing that. That's a true story."

The Cardinals bought into that well thought-out game plan, and will leave New England as a 2-0 team.

"Coach Horton, he definitely had a pretty good game plan together," said Peterson. "He wanted to get after these guys. He wanted to keep pressure in [Brady's] face, so we can confuse him a little bit. And that's what we did.

"Coach Whisenhunt preached about it all week, take what these guys give us. They'll give us our shots sooner or later . . . We just kept grinding, man. It was all about grinding, playing a quarter at a time, and playing for each other."

"I think we've developed a never-say-die attitude," said Horton. "We won so many close games last year -- four overtime games. So we know how to react and play in tight games. It's just a lot of hard work that paid off."


However Horton was criticized afterwards for talking too much and some felt he was boasting.


Horton has shared with the Doug & Wolf Show on Arizona Sports 620 that the Pats and Belichick had a tell in Week Two. Before tight end Aaron Hernandez was injured, the Patriots ran the ball whenever Hernandez lined up tight to the offensive line. After Hernandez was injured, it became more simple — the Pats ran the ball whenever quarterback Tom Brady lined up under center, and they passed the ball whenever Brady lined up in shotgun formation.

The end result is that the Cardinals were able to confuse Brady. “I heard through Jay Feely that he talked to Tom Brady after the game and Tom said, ‘I have no idea what you guys are doing,’ and so it did work,” Horton said.

So why was Horton being so candid? Though that question didn’t come up during the interview, the reality is that the Pats will be playing the other three teams in Arizona’s division, and it’s in the Cardinals’ best interests for the Patriots to figure out that they have a tell — and to get rid of it before playing the Seahawks on October 14, the Rams on October 28, and the 49ers on December 16.

UPDATE 11:23 a.m. ET September 20: As it turns out, Horton’s “tell” tale was a tall tale. The tendencies about which he boasted didn’t apply a whopping 21 times.


Horton felt he was misunderstood on his comments on the Patriots game by the media.


"There's no question I'm not very happy about (how the interview was perceived)," Horton said. "Because that's not what I said. I own my words, but that's not what I said. I just have to keep my mouth shut."

Semantics or not, Horton's on-air bravado didn't play well outside Arizona, especially when describing how his defense began to get in the Patriots' heads.

Some deemed it an awkward attempt at self-promotion. Even if you had cracked the Patriot code, why tell the media unless you wanted to brag?



Again, Horton is now a candidate to be the HC of the Cards. He is a strategist and probably learned a lesson on dealing with the media.
He has been in the NFL as a player and coach for the past 30 years. He understands the game. He has been to five Super Bowls and has two rings, one as a player and one as a coach. I think he will work well with a new GM and not need total control ala Whisenhunt or Andy Reid. I'm on the bandwagon for him to be the new Cardinal HC.

 

[Reddog]

I went back and picked up some quotes from Horton on beating the Patriots in the 2nd game this year. I know that this is old stuff but I wanted to get a feel on how Horton thinks as he may be our new HC.

To say that Arizona was prepared for Sunday's game against the Patriots would also be an understatement. After the win, defensive coordinator Ray Horton told a story from this past NFL Draft, that had him drawing up plays for the Week 2 game, while the rest of the team made the picks.

"We were doing the draft, and I was sitting there doing New England plays," said Horton. "They couldn't see what I was doing, but that's the honest truth. I was doing New England plays that we ran in this game, during the draft. We're sitting there talking about draft players, and I'm sitting there doing that. That's a true story."

The Cardinals bought into that well thought-out game plan, and will leave New England as a 2-0 team.

"Coach Horton, he definitely had a pretty good game plan together," said Peterson. "He wanted to get after these guys. He wanted to keep pressure in [Brady's] face, so we can confuse him a little bit. And that's what we did.

"Coach Whisenhunt preached about it all week, take what these guys give us. They'll give us our shots sooner or later . . . We just kept grinding, man. It was all about grinding, playing a quarter at a time, and playing for each other."

"I think we've developed a never-say-die attitude," said Horton. "We won so many close games last year -- four overtime games. So we know how to react and play in tight games. It's just a lot of hard work that paid off."


However Horton was criticized afterwards for talking too much and some felt he was boasting.


Horton has shared with the Doug & Wolf Show on Arizona Sports 620 that the Pats and Belichick had a tell in Week Two. Before tight end Aaron Hernandez was injured, the Patriots ran the ball whenever Hernandez lined up tight to the offensive line. After Hernandez was injured, it became more simple — the Pats ran the ball whenever quarterback Tom Brady lined up under center, and they passed the ball whenever Brady lined up in shotgun formation.

The end result is that the Cardinals were able to confuse Brady. “I heard through Jay Feely that he talked to Tom Brady after the game and Tom said, ‘I have no idea what you guys are doing,’ and so it did work,” Horton said.

So why was Horton being so candid? Though that question didn’t come up during the interview, the reality is that the Pats will be playing the other three teams in Arizona’s division, and it’s in the Cardinals’ best interests for the Patriots to figure out that they have a tell — and to get rid of it before playing the Seahawks on October 14, the Rams on October 28, and the 49ers on December 16.

UPDATE 11:23 a.m. ET September 20: As it turns out, Horton’s “tell” tale was a tall tale. The tendencies about which he boasted didn’t apply a whopping 21 times.


Horton felt he was misunderstood on his comments on the Patriots game by the media.


"There's no question I'm not very happy about (how the interview was perceived)," Horton said. "Because that's not what I said. I own my words, but that's not what I said. I just have to keep my mouth shut."

Semantics or not, Horton's on-air bravado didn't play well outside Arizona, especially when describing how his defense began to get in the Patriots' heads.

Some deemed it an awkward attempt at self-promotion. Even if you had cracked the Patriot code, why tell the media unless you wanted to brag?



Again, Horton is now a candidate to be the HC of the Cards. He is a strategist and probably learned a lesson on dealing with the media.
He has been in the NFL as a player and coach for the past 30 years. He understands the game. He has been to five Super Bowls and has two rings, one as a player and one as a coach. I think he will work well with a new GM and not need total control ala Whisenhunt or Andy Reid. I'm on the bandwagon for him to be the new Cardinal HC.

This is the one incident that concerned me about Horton's readiness to deal with the circus that is the NFL. Whiz was pretty good at this. I like Ray but when I read this it reminds me of my concerns at the time that he lacks the polish to be a HC. Think it, do it but have the savy not to share it with the media. Hey Ray as the DC, maybe you could have done some homework on how difficult some of the potential offensive players might be to defend and given some input in the war room. Heaven knows they needed the help.

 

[Mulli]

Yet,, Tannehill and Hartline lit them up? Weird.

 

[Jay Cardinal]

I am really glad you brought this up. I think it can be very telling as to where Ray Horton is in his career path.

The Bad: He is a young coach and the Patriots comments were out of line. He could learn from Belichek and compliment the other teams' players instead of focusing on what his team did to beat the Patriots. If you remember the week leading up to the game, all Belichek talked about was how good the Cards were (Fitz, D-Wash and Peterson especially). It takes the focus off of your team and makes sure you are not providing bulletin board material.

The Good: I didn't hear anything similar to this interview after the Pats game. I am sure Horton got an earful from Whiz and others about that interview. And look what he did, he kept his mouth shut about Cards defense and tactics for the remainder of the year. He allowed Peterson to run his mouth a bit, but stayed out of talking defense gameplan/stategy. I think this shows that Horton can learn from his mistakes, which we all know can be difficult to do in life. Cards need a coach that can learn from their mistakes and most importantly not repeat them in the future. The players look up to the coach and Horton looks to set a good role model for them.

 

[az jam]

I am really glad you brought this up. I think it can be very telling as to where Ray Horton is in his career path.

The Bad: He is a young coach and the Patriots comments were out of line. He could learn from Belichek and compliment the other teams' players instead of focusing on what his team did to beat the Patriots. If you remember the week leading up to the game, all Belichek talked about was how good the Cards were (Fitz, D-Wash and Peterson especially). It takes the focus off of your team and makes sure you are not providing bulletin board material.

The Good: I didn't hear anything similar to this interview after the Pats game. I am sure Horton got an earful from Whiz and others about that interview. And look what he did, he kept his mouth shut about Cards defense and tactics for the remainder of the year. He allowed Peterson to run his mouth a bit, but stayed out of talking defense gameplan/stategy. I think this shows that Horton can learn from his mistakes, which we all know can be difficult to do in life. Cards need a coach that can learn from their mistakes and most importantly not repeat them in the future. The players look up to the coach and Horton looks to set a good role model for them.

You brought up some good points and that is why I posted this. It shows that he really thinks about his game plan He was developing a strategy for the Pats game during the draft. He also learned from his mistake on being too outspoken in a interview after the game. Thee is a lot to like about Horton.

 

[binkar]

Some deemed it an awkward attempt at self-promotion. Even if you had cracked the Patriot code, why tell the media unless you wanted to brag?

I've got this impression from Horton a number of times. It doesn't necessarily bother me, because I like the confidence, but it's a little odd at times.

Here's what he said after his interview with the Rams last year:

"I think things went excellent," Horton said. "When it was over they called my agent and said they were blown away by him and he couldn't have been any better."

"I didn't have anything on paper," he said. "I didn't want to come with a big, organization book. They were all just honest answers off the top of my head."

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/car...ardinals-ray-horton-happy-interview-rams.html

He also said he thought his interview was a 10 from one to 10, that he doesn't think there is any chance he isn't a head coach this year, and then the Patriots stuff quoted above.

Like I said, it doesn't necessarily bother me, but I can see how it could rub some people the wrong way.