(No Longer) Joe Woods’ Defense

[buzzdog]

Just no reason for the Browns to ruin your whole week.

Browns? What are Browns?

 

[Douglar]

Kevin Stefanski's offense, the Browns' third-down defense and Guardians roster protections

Does Stefanski build his offense around limited quarterbacks or does the coach's system limit his QBs? Is Baker Mayfield a system guy?

theathletic.com

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Browns are better than almost anyone at setting up third downs. They’re worse than almost everyone at getting off the field on third downs. Only Washington has allowed more total yards on third downs this year than the Browns.​

...​

There are other playoff teams with leaky defenses on third down such as the Chargers, Chiefs and Buccaneers. All three rank in the bottom 10 defensively on third downs. The difference is those three teams are in the top six in offense on third downs.​

...​

“For myself as a coordinator, you feel like you want to put the players in the perfect call,” defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. “I look at tape and just study, study, study, but in reality, you just try to put them in the best call and rely on them to make plays. … I feel like I can do a better job just in terms of our third-down menu.”​

 

[Lee]

Kevin Stefanski's offense, the Browns' third-down defense and Guardians roster protections

Does Stefanski build his offense around limited quarterbacks or does the coach's system limit his QBs? Is Baker Mayfield a system guy?

theathletic.com

​

Browns are better than almost anyone at setting up third downs. They’re worse than almost everyone at getting off the field on third downs. Only Washington has allowed more total yards on third downs this year than the Browns.​

...​

There are other playoff teams with leaky defenses on third down such as the Chargers, Chiefs and Buccaneers. All three rank in the bottom 10 defensively on third downs. The difference is those three teams are in the top six in offense on third downs.​

...​

“For myself as a coordinator, you feel like you want to put the players in the perfect call,” defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. “I look at tape and just study, study, study, but in reality, you just try to put them in the best call and rely on them to make plays. … I feel like I can do a better job just in terms of our third-down menu.”​

So basically we would win the Super Bowl if the NFL would adopt the CFL rules?

 

[Randolphkeys]

Here's an article on drop zone coverage usage this season:

Why the Browns occasionally drop Myles Garrett and other defensive ends back in pass coverage

Your eyes aren't deceiving you, there's been a handful of snaps this season when one of the league's best pass rushers has dropped back into coverage.

www.cleveland.com

The stats at the end about alignment are also interesting:


Compared to last year under Woods, it’s also worth noting that Garrett is moving around in terms of defensive line alignment at about the same rate as last season.

So far in 2021, he’s spent 487 snaps lined up outside of the opposing OT, 48 lined up over an OT, two snaps lined up at defensive tackle and once lined up at nose tackle. In 2020, Garrett lined up outside of opposing OTs 675 times, over an OT 65 times, at defensive tackle 16 times and at nose tackle zero times.

 

[natedagg]

I thought this was perhaps the best Browns defensive outperformance versus my expectations that I can remember. I thought the scheme was brilliant and the players really came to play. JOK might be the first jersey of a grown ass man that I have ever purchased. Miles was great too, and I thought he did a great job (maybe absent 1 or 2 plays) of not getting too wide and opening up running lanes.

Really the defensive unit played championship caliber defense yesterday. Hats off to them, hands down.

 

[Ohdang]

Having watched every play of this game I can't give credit to Joe Woods on this one. Definitely can't blame him for the loss either. He wasn't good or bad, he was simply fine - neutral impact on the outcome. I'll take it to be sure, but I still expect more with the talent we have and rarely see it.

Lamar Jackson being bad at throwing, and employing Myles Garrett and JJ3 is why we held them to 16 more than anything. I liked scheming the rush 5 regularly to have a guy in each gap and slow down the scrambling from Lamar, but to me that's just showing basic competency, not deserving of praise.

I don't really have any scathing criticisms of him either. I wish we were more aggressive, but I can't blame him for assuming at some point the offense could muster a up a few points and sticking with what he was doing.

The other side of the ball really shit the bed.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Lamar Jackson being bad at throwing, and employing Myles Garrett and JJ3 is why we held them to 16 more than anything. I liked scheming the rush 5 regularly to have a guy in each gap and slow down the scrambling from Lamar, but to me that's just showing basic competency, not deserving of praise.

I mean, if it was so easy to make Lamar Jackson look like a confused noob behind center without surrendering three figures on the ground, other teams would have done it in his previous four seasons.

Rushing to a judgement on either side of the Joe Woods discussion isn't impressive. The real key is analyzing what is different, what worked, what didn't.

Some areas that are different in this matchup are the gap control, as you mentioned.

More importantly to me are significant changes to personnel on the field.

He almost exclusively played two linebackers, and finally had the chance to commit to the ideal: JOK and Walker for 68 plays. TakiTaki saw the field for a few 4-3 looks, but significantly less. Both Malcolm Smith and Mack Wilson barely saw the field. This is the future for this season if JOK stays healthy, and it is transformative.

The other huge shift was starting the three safety nickel and commiting almost exclusively to the group. JJ3 and Harrison didn't see a huge change in their role, but Delpit as the nickel safety for over 50% of the snaps is a variation which worked. Greedy and Hill saw the field for only 14 snaps each as a dime look.

My biggest criticism is that Harrison continues to be the weakest link in pass defense. I'd rather see more Delpit, who unlike Harrison wasn't credited with any blown coverages.

 

[Ohdang]

I mean, if it was so easy to make Lamar Jackson look like a confused noob behind center without surrendering three figures on the ground, other teams would have done it in his previous four seasons.

Rushing to a judgement on either side of the Joe Woods discussion isn't impressive. The real key is analyzing what is different, what worked, what didn't.

Some areas that are different in this matchup are the gap control, as you mentioned.

More importantly to me are significant changes to personnel on the field.

He almost exclusively played two linebackers, and finally had the chance to commit to the ideal: JOK and Walker for 68 plays. TakiTaki saw the field for a few 4-3 looks, but significantly less. Both Malcolm Smith and Mack Wilson barely saw the field. This is the future for this season if JOK stays healthy, and it is transformative.

The other huge shift was starting the three safety nickel and commiting almost exclusively to the group. JJ3 and Harrison didn't see a huge change in their role, but Delpit as the nickel safety for over 50% of the snaps is a variation which worked. Greedy and Hill saw the field for only 14 snaps each as a dime look.

My biggest criticism is that Harrison continues to be the weakest link in pass defense. I'd rather see more Delpit, who unlike Harrison wasn't credited with any blown coverages.

Maybe my bar is set too high, but everything you said I both agree with and also feel like is common sense and not some kind of genius maneuver Joe Woods thought up that went against the grain and miraculously worked?

I expect more than the same thing many people on a message board figured out a long time ago out of an NFL defensive coordinator, which is why I said he was fine but I wasn't impressed.

I'm not sure why you think he's so good at his job when the evidence hasn't been there. It wasn't there in Denver either. I want it to be true but it's objectively not at this point.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I'm not sure why you think he's so good at his job when the evidence hasn't been there. It wasn't there in Denver either. I want it to be true but it's objectively not at this point.

The main difference between what I have been writing and what you want to read is that I'm really not jumping to a judgement. I thought people were too quick to blame everything on Woods last season. This season, I'm still analyzing what he can do with a full deck, and more importantly what he draws up when injuries hit. I'm far from saying he's great... just that fans might want to spend more time assessing the guy before ditching him.

 

[Real Deal]

Love to hate him, but gotta share the love sometimes too

 

[Ohdang]

I just watched the condensed version of the game on game pass because I didn't have a lot of time, so my reply here will be short as well.

I just wanted to mention that Joe Woods schemed up a good game today and the players played well.

I have one gripe, and it's only because this was one of those things where I thought it was an obvious situation... Mark Andrews was running way too wide open way too often, and he's a big reason that they almost came back in the fourth quarter. I'd have like that addressed sooner with an in-game adjustment, but all things considered - good game today coach.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I have one gripe, and it's only because this was one of those things where I thought it was an obvious situation... Mark Andrews was running way too wide open way too often, and he's a big reason that they almost came back in the fourth quarter. I'd have like that addressed sooner with an in-game adjustment, but all things considered - good game today coach.

A starting strong safety and the linebacker opposite JOK out. It doesn't take an NFL level coordinator to know Andrews would be the primary target in the passing game.

Haven't seen the whole game yet, but I'm happy with a win in a must-win situation.

 

[Vee-Rex]

I just watched the condensed version of the game on game pass because I didn't have a lot of time, so my reply here will be short as well.

I just wanted to mention that Joe Woods schemed up a good game today and the players played well.

I have one gripe, and it's only because this was one of those things where I thought it was an obvious situation... Mark Andrews was running way too wide open way too often, and he's a big reason that they almost came back in the fourth quarter. I'd have like that addressed sooner with an in-game adjustment, but all things considered - good game today coach.

I'm scared to heap a bunch of praise on Woods because I feel like every time I do, we end up getting torched.

But fuck it. Since the Cardinals game our defense has improved quite noticeably. We had the bad game against the Patriots but McDaniels was pretty brilliant in that game attacking our defense. There are other drives in various games where I wasn't thrilled but overall he has done very well since week 5.

Broncos, Steelers, Bengals, Lions, Ravens x2. Not the most prolific offenses but still a job well done. We'll be challenged against Carr and Rodgers coming up but I have faith in this group.

 

[buzzdog]

I just watched the condensed version of the game on game pass because I didn't have a lot of time, so my reply here will be short as well.

I just wanted to mention that Joe Woods schemed up a good game today and the players played well.

I have one gripe, and it's only because this was one of those things where I thought it was an obvious situation... Mark Andrews was running way too wide open way too often, and he's a big reason that they almost came back in the fourth quarter. I'd have like that addressed sooner with an in-game adjustment, but all things considered - good game today coach.

There was one crucial conversion to Andrews where the inside LB who should have been checking him went to the wrong side of the field.

 

[I'mWithDan]

I'm just thankful we've moved on to the more nitpicky stage with our defense and exiting the stage where we couldn't even identify a single thing they were doing well.

If we could just get our offense to not be a disaster, we might be somewhere here down the stretch.