Cleveland Browns: Is Joe Woods Icarus or The Didact?

Making the best of the situation

Against teams like Dallas, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, who are going to score points almost no matter what, Woods is faced with a question. How quickly does he want the opponent to score? Because they will score. Quite a bit, in fact.

In Cleveland’s Week 17 victory over the Steelers, Pittsburgh moved the ball by throwing fades to its receivers. That was pretty much it. With Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback instead of Mason Rudolph, the Steelers scored by throwing short routes. “Death by papercut” is the term for that strategy, and it was the route that Woods felt comfortable letting the Steelers take. Here are Pittsburgh’s second-half scoring drives and how long they took:

Touchdown – eight plays, 84 yards, 3:45

Touchdown – 12 plays, 68 yards, 3:25

Touchdown – 4 plays, 76 yards, 1:24

Touchdown – 8 plays, 77 yards, 1:42

The last touchdown occurred after Cleveland had taken a 48-29 lead with 2:51 to go, so it was meaningless. The long drives were something the Browns could live with, because they took a decent amount of time off the clock. The short drive featured completions of 24, 15, 25, and 29 yards, which was much too quick.

There are still questionable decisions that Woods makes, such as his insistence on dropping his defensive lineman (Myles Garrett in particular) into coverage, and taking a long time to work new players into the rotation, but he’s being asked to make something out of next to nothing, and the constant personnel changes from game to game due to injuries and COVID-19 don’t help matters.

Joe Woods hasn’t been perfect, but he more than deserves a season with a respectable roster to work with. As long as that happens this offseason (and it will), the Browns defense should be much improved in 2021.