(No Longer) Joe Woods’ Defense

[daddywags]

I think Walker getting 62 (all?) snaps in week one and not being available on Sunday had some effect on how the game was called. He is supposed to be an integral part of our defense.

 

[blommen]

Could the hesitancy to implement more advanced and exotic schemes on defense be a product of the defense being as new as it is? The team is fielding a lot of Young players and a lot of players who haven’t played together before, they are still building chemistry as well as establishing good habits. With so much new shit going on, could the more vanilla approach we’ve seen so far be in service of not making the process more complicated than it already is? Wu’s snap count seems like it could be somewhat of a microcosm of this. Like, obviously Woods expects to put far more on his plate in order to utilize his skillset, but at this point it’s more sensible to bring him along slowly as the team gradualy unpacks and expands the defense.

I kinda expected the defense to look inconsistent and shaky to start the season, and so far that has born out. They held the Chiefs to, what, 2 scores in the first half? The Texans managed 7 points the entire second half. That’s obviously not the entire story, but I do think it sort of illustrates how this a defense that is very much a work in progress

 

[Vee-Rex]

I generally agree with that strategy. Give your defense as many chances as possible to make a play. Give the offense as many chances as possible to make a mistake.

I think that you can still pull off this 2-high shell coverage while being aggressive and creative.

You don't need to drop Denzel Ward into a deep zone. He can play press-man with that safety over the top. You don't need to play base pressure--you can disguise things. Move people around, drop people out.

Part of the maximizing the amount of chances for the opposing team to make a mistake is maximizing the number of things per play that team has to do. Add "Make the QB figure out this disguised coverage" and "Make the QB and OL figure out this disguised/complex pressure" to each play and that's going to cause more problem for opposing offenses.

In the same way it's free advantage for the offense to use motion, it's free advantage for your defense to try and play mind games with the offense.

Jake Burns has been studying the defense and why our 3rd down conversion % is the worst in the league. He basically says exactly what you (and we've) been saying - offenses seem to know exactly what the defense is doing. If we're not gonna blitz, we need to have deceptive coverages. Here's a good listen with Quincy Carrier and Jake Burns:

 

[Randolphkeys]

Jake Burns has been studying the defense and why our 3rd down conversion % is the worst in the league. He basically says exactly what you (and we've) been saying - offenses seem to know exactly what the defense is doing. If we're not gonna blitz, we need to have deceptive coverages. Here's a good listen with Quincy Carrier and Jake Burns:

I'm all for varying the coverages. When Woods was hired, that was an area he stressed. Hoping we see it sooner than later.

 

[CBBI]

Could the hesitancy to implement more advanced and exotic schemes on defense be a product of the defense being as new as it is? The team is fielding a lot of Young players and a lot of players who haven’t played together before, they are still building chemistry as well as establishing good habits. With so much new shit going on, could the more vanilla approach we’ve seen so far be in service of not making the process more complicated than it already is? Wu’s snap count seems like it could be somewhat of a microcosm of this. Like, obviously Woods expects to put far more on his plate in order to utilize his skillset, but at this point it’s more sensible to bring him along slowly as the team gradualy unpacks and expands the defense.

I kinda expected the defense to look inconsistent and shaky to start the season, and so far that has born out. They held the Chiefs to, what, 2 scores in the first half? The Texans managed 7 points the entire second half. That’s obviously not the entire story, but I do think it sort of illustrates how this a defense that is very much a work in progress

I think this is the optimistic view of it, yes.

The regulars didn’t get a lot of live game reps in the preseason, so if you have an optimistic view of the defense moving forward, you probably are holding out hope that Woods is intentionally keeping things very vanilla until everyone has more time to gel and get comfortable.

You could also make the case that playing vanilla *was* the right game plan against KC and the Browns just caught a couple of unlucky breaks in giving KC a couple of short fields off turnovers and then also giving up one fluke long bomb on a badly thrown ball to Hill.

On top of that, others have made the case, Jake Burns in particular, that the Browns slept walked through the Texans game knowing they were the superior team and they didn't play as balls to the wall as they have in other games under Stefanski.

I can't necessarily speak to the validity of that, but it did somewhat seem like the Browns knew they had the "9 play, 82 yard break your back and make you humble" drive in their back pocket whenever they needed to bust it out which they did to ice the game in the 4th quarter.

 

[Douglar]

Browns rewind: Progress, but still some questions. And where's the pressure?

Upon further review, snap counts and some advanced stats, here are 20 observations from the Browns' 31-21 win over the Texans.

theathletic.com

7. The Texans had open wide receivers almost all day. PFF had Denzel Ward giving up six receptions for 99 yards, which is a very un-Ward like day. TruMedia had the Browns playing zone coverage on 81 percent of the Texans’ pass plays, which was very close to the 84 percent of zone the Browns played in Week 1. Through two weeks, TruMedia has the league-wide numbers at 68 percent zone coverage.​

​

8. The Browns’ lack of pressure on the Texans’ quarterbacks was noticeable. Myles Garrett played 46 snaps, and Pro Football Focus graded Garrett as having zero quarterback pressures on 24 dropbacks by Texans quarterbacks. Garrett had a 27.6 percent pressure rate on 30 Patrick Mahomes dropbacks in Week 1. PFF had Malik Jackson and Jadeveon Clowney sharing the team lead with two pressures apiece. ​

​

9. After the game, Garrett said the Browns came in believing the Texans would go with a run-heavy game plan and were surprised by the Texans throwing so much in the first half. Garrett talked of being “pretty much stuck inside” at times and what they saw being “different than what we were game-planning for.” Those aren’t exactly controversial comments, but the results indicate that the Browns’ remade defense has played a half-step behind over the season’s first eight quarters. ​

 

[Jack Brickman]

On top of that, others have made the case, Jake Burns in particular, that the Browns slept walked through the Texans game knowing they were the superior team and they didn't play as balls to the wall as they have in other games under Stefanski.

I can't necessarily speak to the validity of that, but it did somewhat seem like the Browns knew they had the "9 play, 82 yard break your back and make you humble" drive in their back pocket whenever they needed to bust it out which they did to ice the game in the 4th quarter.

It sort of reminded me of the final Steelers game during last year's regular season where we ran the most vanilla scheme imaginable on offense, presumably to avoid giving them any good tape to work off of prior to our impending Wild Card matchup.

I'd wager it was probably a combination of the Browns playing down to an opponent, the defense still working on getting everyone on the same page, and a desire from the coaching staff to not give up too much unless absolutely necessary.

 

[MD13]

Browns rewind: Progress, but still some questions. And where's the pressure?

Upon further review, snap counts and some advanced stats, here are 20 observations from the Browns' 31-21 win over the Texans.

theathletic.com

7. The Texans had open wide receivers almost all day. PFF had Denzel Ward giving up six receptions for 99 yards, which is a very un-Ward like day. TruMedia had the Browns playing zone coverage on 81 percent of the Texans’ pass plays, which was very close to the 84 percent of zone the Browns played in Week 1. Through two weeks, TruMedia has the league-wide numbers at 68 percent zone coverage.​

​

8. The Browns’ lack of pressure on the Texans’ quarterbacks was noticeable. Myles Garrett played 46 snaps, and Pro Football Focus graded Garrett as having zero quarterback pressures on 24 dropbacks by Texans quarterbacks. Garrett had a 27.6 percent pressure rate on 30 Patrick Mahomes dropbacks in Week 1. PFF had Malik Jackson and Jadeveon Clowney sharing the team lead with two pressures apiece. ​

​

9. After the game, Garrett said the Browns came in believing the Texans would go with a run-heavy game plan and were surprised by the Texans throwing so much in the first half. Garrett talked of being “pretty much stuck inside” at times and what they saw being “different than what we were game-planning for.” Those aren’t exactly controversial comments, but the results indicate that the Browns’ remade defense has played a half-step behind over the season’s first eight quarters. ​

I have a lot of concerns about Woods obviously, and going in with a gameplan of stopping the run and then being unable to adjust to a pass happy attack makes me feel even worse. Defenses need to stop the pass at all costs against all but a handful of teams in today's league.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I have a lot of concerns about Woods obviously, and going in with a gameplan of stopping the run and then being unable to adjust to a pass happy attack makes me feel even worse. Defenses need to stop the pass at all costs against all but a handful of teams in today's league.

I read it differently. Myles talked about surprises early, not a problem that lasted the whole game. The Texans scored on two of the first three drives. That seems like what Myles spoke to, because the Texans only string to get her a few good plays here or there afterwards.

 

[bob2the2nd]

Browns rewind: Progress, but still some questions. And where's the pressure?

Upon further review, snap counts and some advanced stats, here are 20 observations from the Browns' 31-21 win over the Texans.

theathletic.com

7. The Texans had open wide receivers almost all day. PFF had Denzel Ward giving up six receptions for 99 yards, which is a very un-Ward like day. TruMedia had the Browns playing zone coverage on 81 percent of the Texans’ pass plays, which was very close to the 84 percent of zone the Browns played in Week 1. Through two weeks, TruMedia has the league-wide numbers at 68 percent zone coverage.​

​

8. The Browns’ lack of pressure on the Texans’ quarterbacks was noticeable. Myles Garrett played 46 snaps, and Pro Football Focus graded Garrett as having zero quarterback pressures on 24 dropbacks by Texans quarterbacks. Garrett had a 27.6 percent pressure rate on 30 Patrick Mahomes dropbacks in Week 1. PFF had Malik Jackson and Jadeveon Clowney sharing the team lead with two pressures apiece. ​

​

9. After the game, Garrett said the Browns came in believing the Texans would go with a run-heavy game plan and were surprised by the Texans throwing so much in the first half. Garrett talked of being “pretty much stuck inside” at times and what they saw being “different than what we were game-planning for.” Those aren’t exactly controversial comments, but the results indicate that the Browns’ remade defense has played a half-step behind over the season’s first eight quarters. ​

so basically they saw what most of the rest of us saw. Ward played poorly and Garrett wasnt able to have much impact on the QB

 

[Randolphkeys]

Pass rush concerns getting addressed:

 

[Amherstcavsfan]

Good, Joe Jackson has been a big ol nothing burger.

 

[Douglar]

Good, Joe Jackson has been a big ol nothing burger.

Pretty soon now, you know he's going to make a comeback...

 

[shoes22]

Looks like Woods can keep his job for another week...

 

[blommen]

Getting ready for the defense to look shaky against the Chargers in a couple of weeks and everybody having a collective meltdown all over again.