Joe Woods the big winner for Cleveland Browns in Week 3

Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods has taken a lot of heat so far this season but after Week 3, he might have quieted some of the critics

Sometimes, it just takes a while for things to come together. After Week 3, it appears that’s the case for the Cleveland Browns defense as they had a field day (no pun intended) against Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears.

Before the game, fans were concerned about how the Browns defense would handle the challenge of slowing down the dual-threat rookie. And with how poorly they contained Patrick Mahomes and Tyrod Taylor when they scrambled in Week 1 and Week 2, it was understandable.

But in Week 3, they were all over Fields as they held the Bears to six points and sacked the rookie nine times. All of that should help defensive coordinator Joe Woods quiet some of his critics as his unit finally looked like the cohesive unit we’ve been waiting to see.

Woods was in charge of one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season and there were several excuses being made. Not only did they have a rough roster to begin with but there seemed to be one injury after another. For much of the year, he was working with a patchwork defense but this season, it was different.

Cleveland invested heavily in the defense this offseason as they used the majority of their draft picks on players such as Greg Newsome II and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. They also added Jadeveon Clowney, Takk McKinley, and John Johnson III in free agency.

In the end, it was seven new starters on defense and while the expectation was for them to take off immediately, they clearly needed some time to gel. Defense is hard to play in the NFL, especially when the communication isn’t where it needs to be — and that seemed to be an issue early on this season.

Week 3 was different as Myles Garrett had 4.5 sacks, Clowney had two, and Owusu-Koramoah had a half-sack and a couple of tackles for a loss. Johnson even pulled in a pick but it was called back due to a questionable pass interference.

With all that being said, this was a big win for the Browns but an even bigger win for Joe Woods. He quieted some of the critics and if they can continue to build upon this one, he might even win some of the fans back over.