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(No Longer) Joe Woods’ Defense

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I’m still not feeling great about the defense, even though they played better in the second half. I don’t think it’ll be pretty when they actually have to face a team with a more dynamic offense and a better QB than Flacco or Trubinsky.
Joe Woods is not "it".

But It was good to see more man-coverage, no major lapses, Jacob Phillips stepping up and Emerson playing like a true keeper.
 
With the caveat of not having seen the All-22 yet, the defensive play calling generally seemed more aggressive than last week.

We'll find out soon enough if that was a product of facing a limited QB like Trubisky or if it's something they are going to try and commit to moving forward.

They face another limited passing QB in Mariota next week, although he does bring much more to the table as a runner than anyone else they're faced so far.

At the end of the day the defense only allowed 308 yards and 17 points. That is good enough to have a chance to beat anybody.
 
Not putting it on Woods, but the pass rush was pretty non-existent last night against a bad offensive line. Hopefully Clowney can return soon.
I didn't see much of Alex Wright these past two weeks. That's been disappointing.

I expected our DTs to be poor, but they have to make a play. They're getting one on one matchups inside. Start blowing up plays with interior pressure and the entire defense will look better.

My best takeaway from last night was Pittsburgh being 1 of 9 on 3rd down.

My worst takeaway was Denzel Ward still looking bad out there.
 
I didn't see much of Alex Wright these past two weeks. That's been disappointing.

I expected our DTs to be poor, but they have to make a play. They're getting one on one matchups inside. Start blowing up plays with interior pressure and the entire defense will look better.

My best takeaway from last night was Pittsburgh being 1 of 9 on 3rd down.

My worst takeaway was Denzel Ward still looking bad out there.
We've struggled to stop the run the last two weeks as well after being very stout Week 1 vs. Carolina

That 3rd down stat is great. Noting on Pittsburgh's two touchdown drives (7 plays 75 yards and 10 plays 75 yards) the Browns failed to get the Steelers in a 3rd down scenario. Much better performance in the 2nd half.

Not too particularly worried about Ward as he has a good track record of success and looked bad Weeks 1 and 2 last year too.
 
We've struggled to stop the run the last two weeks as well after being very stout Week 1 vs. Carolina
In the modern NFL, that's something I'll take. We're not built to have a stout run D and that's okay.

That 3rd down stat is great. Noting on Pittsburgh's two touchdown drives (7 plays 75 yards and 10 plays 75 yards) the Browns failed to get the Steelers in a 3rd down scenario. Much better performance in the 2nd half.

Not too particularly worried about Ward as he has a good track record of success and looked bad Weeks 1 and 2 last year too.
I agree. I'd rather have a known good player like Ward suck than an unknown like Emerson.

My question is--is the coaching getting the most out of Ward, Newsome, JJ3 and Delpit? That's a question I want to assess moving forward.
 
There was discussion earlier in the week about JJ III and Walker both being green dots on the field and causing some confusion. With Walker out JJ III is now the only green dot and that might actually fix some of the communication problems.
 
There was discussion earlier in the week about JJ III and Walker both being green dots on the field and causing some confusion. With Walker out JJ III is now the only green dot and that might actually fix some of the communication problems.
Except JJ III doesn't have a green dot. Phillips does
 
Except JJ III doesn't have a green dot. Phillips does

JJ III did have a green dot. Both he and Walker did. Phillips has one because Walker got hurt.

JJ III was the one who said there was confusion with both he and Walker relaying the play calls.
 
JJ III did have a green dot. Both he and Walker did. Phillips has one because Walker got hurt.

JJ III was the one who said there was confusion with both he and Walker relaying the play calls.

There’s literally only one green dot…

They were rotating it when players needed to come out.
 
There’s literally only one green dot…

They were rotating it when players needed to come out.

Rotating between who? JJ III was the green dot last season when the defense played well.
 
Rotating between who? JJ III was the green dot last season when the defense played well.
You are severely misremembering.

And this year, the only players to wear the green dot is Walker and Phillips.
 

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