DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum What Joe Woods can do this year

Everyone knows the plan to get Garrett, Clowney and McKinnley all on the field together to give offenses fits on trying to double everybody, but that is just part of the problem offenses are going to have if JOK is who everyone thinks he is. JOK should be blitzing a lot on his own right, but because his coverage skills are so good, he also allows Joe to blitz anyone else that he wants to on the field and have Joe shift to their coverage area.

Offenses are going to struggle just trying to figure out who to block and that should lead to a lot of unblocked pass rushers.

No wonder Joe was so happy on draft day! His job got a lot easier with that pick.

our defense was clearly the weak link last year... I'm hoping our secondary is vastly improved... having a solid DL should really help...

Hopefully, he can get us to win a few possessions against the Chiefs.
One or two more possessions won per game would be a MASSIVE improvement. The thing is, we added enough on paper to win more than that.

Last year's defense was cobbled together especially the secondary. The depth was thin across every level of the D. Still, we weren't terrible on 1st and 2nd downs. But, a chronic problem of giving up conversions on 3rd down remained.

I'm hopeful that this year's D will get more stops on 3rd down. Be it by pressure, coverage, disguise, or match-ups. I think we have the talent and the depth to play many styles and schemes of defense. I'm excited by the potential.

I try not to set myself up for disappointment by setting my hopes too high. But here's the thing. We have the same coaching staff as last year. Continuity is there.

Now we all saw what happened last off season. Last off season the main focus of investment was the O. With Covid, there was no in person practices to speak of. A rookie HC with an entire new system. The entire system was pretty much implemented via Zoom. Yet we played against several teams who had the same coach and same systems for years. And the results were crazy good!

This year we have the same situation only this year we have invested in D talent and will have in person practices with time to implement they system in real time. Now Woods has the talent with the skill set he wanted to implement that system.

I have no question whether that D will be improved by quite a bit. The only question is by how much. And if last years turnaround by our O is any indication, the sky is the limit.

Kind of restating what you're saying....

Joe Woods had one excuse for the defense holding the team back last year, and that was the pieces that he had to work with. I'm pretty sure that's not an excuse anymore. I think he is entitled to a grace period as his guys get acclimated to him and to each other, but for the defense that time is much shorter than offense (and the offense went through much of the same thing last year and had it pretty much nailed by midseason).

Given that it's the defense, and there are plenty of guys that did go through last year here, I'd be willing to give Woods 2-3 games to iron out the kinks.

I think we're close but not quite on the same page here. I don't think our offense was a finished product at the end of last season. A drastic improvement yes. But I think the best is yet to come this season.

I sort of feel much the same way about what the defense will do. I do expect improvement by week four or five, not week two or three. But as far as getting it to its full potential I think that will take longer.

Maybe it's more a question of semantics here than anything else.

I kinda see what Woods did with a D that wasn't all there last year.

The additions of Newsome, Johnson and and Troy Hill alone will be an improvement. Add in Delpit and JOK, this could be fun to watch

Man, if that ain't an understatement, lol

I'm pretty sure we were the worst in the league on 3rd and 4th downs. Teams didn't even have to really try hard on first and second, because it was an almost guarantee that they'd convert on 3rd or 4th. I seem to recall some OC's stopped punting against us; they didn't respect any aspect of our D, especially when Myles was out.

This year should be really, really different. Not even the fact of who we added, but simply the fact that we won't be starting Sendejo in the secondary. Not hating on him as he played his heart out over and over and over, but he just wasn't good enough. Teams knew that if they wanted to convert, it was a REALLY SOLID gamble to just go after him.

That's nice of you.

Stefanski doesn't seem like the type that pulls a early plug. Joe gets the season unless the players revolt. I think Joe is the DC for the season, and we will be fine unless a bunch of guys go down with injury.

Even if I were in any sort of position to have any say over Wood's employment, that's not what I meant. I solely meant complaining as a fan won't start from me until 3 games worth of poor defensive performance.

There is definitively no way, barring a complete and catastrophic collapse of the defense, that Woods doesn't get AT LEAST the entire 2021 season.

I think that unless he shows a consistent penchant for coaching/calls on defense that cost us big games down the stretch, he's here through 2022, at the very least.

Just for perspective, there are 4 returning starters from last year's defense;

Myles Garrett
Denzel Ward
Malcolm Smith
Ronnie Harrison

That means 7 starting positions will be filled by guys who either weren't on the team, were not starters, or were inactive for a variety of reasons. I don't know how long it will take for the defense to gel. I'm hoping that the experience of guys like JJ3, Hill, Jackson, Walker, and Clowney will hasten the process, but I do expect an adjustment period.

I know. That is why I winked.

I am not all that worried about the D pulling together. It isn't nearly as complicated as it is for a offense, and no matter what is said, it is still mostly a read and react deal for those players.

I am not trying to minimize what a D tries to do but I don't see this as a big obstacle. Offense has issues of timing that aren't as critical on D since they spend their time reacting to what the O is attempting to accomplish.

lol! Missed the wink.

Barring injury, I just don't see how this defense won't get better.

Maybe JOK and Newsome become busts? Our DT situation comes up dry and run defense becomes a liability? Still hard to see guys like JJ3 and Hill playing badly. JJ3's leadership is gonna be massive. Still hard to see how another year of continuity won't help, or how Walker (and his leadership) wouldn't be an immediate upgrade over Goodson. So even if our rookies are bad, the defense should still see improvement IMO. And if our rookies are good... watch out.

I think we finish a top 15 defense this year and coupled with the offense, should hit around 12 wins.

That happens to me a lot. No prob, bro.

Reading some of the replies, seems people forget that the Browns defense held a high scoring offense against the Chiefs to 22 points. With a injured riddled D

The ref blew a spearing call when Sorenson went head to head against Higgins ! That call made, the Browns score from the one or 1/2 yard line. It's a 24 -22 win for the Browns !

Not what Joe can do, but what them players can do !!

Ya and. We're gonna miss what's his name.

Johnson shuts down Andrew's tight end Baltimore then shuts down Kelce KC Browns go 15 wins 2 losses

To be fair, Mahomes did leave the game in the 3rd quarter. He looked unstoppable to that point and had put up 19 points. Henne only managed 3 points.

I don't know about all that. The most high-powered offense in the NFL produced FG, FG, Missed FG, FG on the four previous drives... One FG was from 50yds, one drive started at the CLE 25 after a Mayfield INT. Mahomes looked far from "unstoppable" to my eyes. The first drive with Henne started at 11:07 in the 4th.

If it wasn't the dreaded first game of the season I would 100% expect us to beat them.

Agreed. It isn't unreasonable to expect this defense to be a top 15 unit, or better.

I actually agree with all of this. The key I think to pulling all this off was they developed a plan collectively that had players from their end completely understanding their roll and because of the insolation and the amount of time spent by the players not so much focused on how they fit but their responsibility or job in each defensive formation, and then individual versus group alignment made certain that a player understood what they were suppose to do. They were able to switch the lack of group meetings to an advantage because in the end they as a group of coaches went into the process with a plan and they measured individual advancement within that system. The players were much more focused on their roll according to what groups they played in. Gee I think I did a poor job explaining that?

What I learned was they convinced the players that doing their job was all they needed to really know because I believe the message was always consistent.

And if you really look at it we had very few instances where we were burning off time outs because players were aligned incorrectly. Hell if a player can't even get in the correct alignment before the play starts I really question whether they know what they are suppose to do at the snap. We saw very little of that last year. It would be interesting to see on a statistical stand point how last years team compared to previous seasons. Some of that was because of the focus on individual versus group responsibility. They weren't holding up practice explaining to individual players what their roll was when things weren't right on their end. In the end it truly was great coaching coupled with a plan to teach.

If I haven't lost you yet the Browns as a team and organization have a short term plan and a long term plan. When you look at the players we have at every position group we have veteran players and a youngster that is developing. I think for instance that the Browns will say goodbye to OBJ next year and that they are in the process of grooming Swartz to take his place. Now of course pulling off that plan depends on how Swartz progresses and develops. That expands out from their in each position group. I love how they have set up this team it's truly a thing to admire. If I am right and I truly believe I am will win this year and for years after, that is why I say dynasty. I believe you all will reach very similar conclusions if you ask yourself why all these 1 year deals.

I think it's win now while allowing the youngsters to develop and learn and then clear the way for them to take over when they are ready. We are set to do that everywhere you look.

Getting lined up correctly. The importance of this is underappreciated. Not only last season but for many Browns seasons you could see plays where guys were a half-step slow to a spot on the field where if they had been there a fraction of a second earlier they would have made a play. Or they took poor angles to get to the ball.

To me, a lot of this is alignment. Anthony Walker should help a great deal with this especially with the DL and LBs. JJIII will help with the back end. The reputation of these two defenders is they have an advanced understanding of where guys have to be in order to make the defense work. As they train together and watch film and and just communicate with each other it should help the whole defense.

With a huge emphasis on basics which is where coaching comes in.

[quote]To be fair, Mahomes did leave the game in the 3rd quarter. He looked unstoppable to that point and had put up 19 points. Henne only managed 3 points./quote]


True he did, to be fair it was the Browns defense that caused him to leave, that's good Defense to be able to get to the QB and knock him out of the game, jmo

J/c

I think the NFL did us a little favor by having division games so late in the year. Our defense will have time to solidify by the Baltimore games. I anticipate us being much more flexible and versatile to handle Lamar. Multiple safeties, a better pass rush, and JOK

I heard multiple coaches last year state that the shortened preperation time last season would be worse for defenses than offenses, which I thought was interesting, because I expected exactly the opposite. But, they were right. Most defenses were struggling more last year than any year I had seen before.

Hopefully this year will result in a massive improvement.

Is it better to not have tape on our defense early but also not as many reps or reps and tape? I don’t know.

The defense should be fine, and probably a lot sooner than most folks expect. We have veteran players that were here last year in every position group. Yes, we have a lot of new potential starters, but it isn't a case of *everyone* needing to learn the D and their responsibilities. There are plenty of guys there that know the D, know their roles, and know the roles of the guys coming in. All of those extra minds will help the newer guys get up to speed quicker - plus, a lot of those new guys were here for OTA's and minicamps, so they're fully into it already and the old hats on the team that they're hanging out with already know it.

I agree with the defensive assessment. We will be better than people will believe sooner than they think Part of this is talent level is up, in part because some weaker links from last year left our yard. Another is the competition level will be higher on this squad for conditioning and drills. And Woods has some fine pieces to use this season to acid test his group.

I just watched our game vs, Dallas last year again this morning on NFL channel. Week four, I believe. We were hitting on all cylinders. Despite the announcers pining for Cowboys' success, we were tough enough late in the game. I think we are tougher on paper now.
Joe should rock this year.

So if the Browns Defense is terrible this year there will be hardly anywhere to point fingers except -at -scheme.