Cleveland Browns: Studs and Duds in Week 4 nail-biting victory

Cleveland Browns Stud: Joe Woods’ defense

Several weeks ago, most Cleveland Browns fans were ready to put Joe Woods on a rocket ship and send him to the moon. After Sunday’s performance, the latest in a string of great performances from the Cleveland Browns defense led by the second-year defensive coordinator, those fans are asking NASA to cancel the launch.

While Cleveland struggled to execute practically anything on Sunday on offense, Woods’ defense played lights out. Some would say that it’s the players finally gelling together as a unit, with several new faces seeing action on that side of the field. It’s much more than just that, though.

Joe Woods has figured out what he wants his defense to be. Going up against an offense that has a good number of weapons, with receivers Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen on the outside and a workhorse running back in Dalvin Cook, it was going to be difficult to truly shut down their offense.

That’s exactly what the Browns defense did, however. Woods called an excellent game, sending blitzes at the perfect time and playing aggressively when the situation might usually call for a more conservative approach. Late in the fourth, with the Vikings looking to tie the game, Woods called one-on-one coverage on the outside against the Vikings best receivers, trusting his defensive backs to not get beat in the biggest moments of the game.

Having that sort of trust in your defenders is exactly why Woods is the right man for the job as defensive coordinator. Woods’ defense will retain its top-five rank in the NFL after their solid outing on Sunday, and look to build on their performance in Week 5.