BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Joe Woods isn’t getting much sleep these days.
His tired eyes tell the story of the sad state of affairs on his side of the football.
“They’re red,” Woods said moments after sitting down for his weekly press conference.
Woods has spent plenty of time looking in the mirror this week trying to solve a multitude of problems, but with his defense reeling, fans calling for his job and Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots on the schedule next, he won’t be getting much sleep heading into the weekend either.
If it hasn’t been one thing, it’s been another this season for the Browns defensively.
Blown coverages, miscommunication, technique issues, missed tackles and of course injuries have conspired for quite the mess and led to a disappointing 2-3 start to the season.
“I promise everybody, we're trying to do everything we can [to fix it],” Woods said.
Cleveland enters Week 6 ranked 19th in overall defense, 28th against the run, 14th against the pass and 17th in turnover ratio.
Big plays have become a weekly occurrence and fed-up fans would love to see Woods, who is in his third season with the team under head coach Kevin Stefanski, fired yesterday.
He knows it too.
“I don’t worry about it,” Woods said. “You can't and I've been around in my coaching career, just different people that maybe they listened to it more and I’ve seen what it’s done to them. I just believe in what I'm doing. I believe in the coaches that I have around me, just because of the stuff that we've done. I believe in the players, and I just feel like if we all work together to correct the issues that we’ll get it headed in the right direction.”
External frustration is hard enough to tune out. Internal frustration is even more difficult to, but Woods explained why experience has taught him how critical it is to do so on both fronts.
“Nervous, you know trying to be perfect,” Woods said. “And this game is not going to be perfect. They're going to catch big passes, they’re going to catch big runs. But for us, if we execute our technique, then those type of plays have to be perfect.”
Woods is investing his energy and focus on finding solutions rather than trying to protect his job.
“I am just telling the truth, I don’t worry about it,” Woods said. “Like I know it is a problem, and to me in the NFL, it is fair. The NFL is fair. You have an opportunity. I feel like the organization provides us with good players on defense at all three levels. Right now, we are not performing well. There are stretches where we are doing good things, but we are not consistently playing well for 60 minutes. It just comes with the territory.”
Multiple defensive breakdowns led to the Browns blowing a 30-17 lead with 1:55 remaining in Week 2 to lose to the Jets 31-30.
In Week 4 the Falcons trucked Woods’ defense in the second half by ripping off 172 yards on the ground.
Last Sunday, it got even more embarrassing as Cleveland surrendered a whopping 238 rushing yards and 465 yards in total offense.
“Disappointing obviously the last two weeks with the rush yards,” Woods said.
In response to allowing a combined 544 yards rushing over the last three games, Woods put together a reel of 15 or so plays from the loss to the Chargers and had his players watch it before Thursday’s practice.
“I went back and I watched every missed tackle we had, and I put the tape together,” Woods said.
During individual and group work the last two days, coaches and players utilized a variety of pads and sleds for extended tackling drills since there is no live tackling during the team portions of practices in season for safety reasons.
Every position group – defensive linemen, linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks – went through a variety of drills to refine their techniques.
“I think we have to understand, you have to have a tackling plan, and understand what type of tackle that you need to make,” Woods explained. “Do I have the guy in the hole and he has nowhere to go? Or is he in the open field. I’ve got to put myself in position and get the guy on the ground.”
Woods believes it isn’t just one specific thing contributing to their problems but he also believes it can still be fixed, much like it was a year ago when a slow defensive start turned into dominating performances down the stretch.
“It is frustrating. I would say disappointing at times but not discouraged,” Woods said. “I do believe we have the talent to be a top-five defense. I have said that from the start. It is my job to get us there. We are addressing issues. We are trying to fix it.
“Part of it fundamentals. Part of it is scheme. Part of it is just guys doing their job. It is a little bit of everything. We all have to get on the same page, give them a good plan and then we have to go out on Sunday most importantly and execute. Believe in it and execute.”
The Browns have invested heavily in their defense with proven players at every level, yet they’ve been woefully inadequate on the field.
“I feel good about the guys that we have,” Woods said. “It’s just we have to play better.”
