The external noise is deafening. Woods said he’s able to block it out.
“I don’t worry about it,” he said of personal pressure. “Like I know it’s a problem and to me in the NFL, it’s fair. You have an opportunity, I feel like the organization provides us with good players on defense at all three levels. Right now we’re not performing well.
“There’s stretches where we’re doing good things, but we’re not consistently playing well for 60 minutes. And it just comes with the territory. But for me having red eyes is about just studying, I’ve always been like that for 31 years coaching. If you worry about it, then it affects your decision-making, it affects your thought process. So I just put my head down and say, how can we get better?”
The Browns stressed fundamentals this week with extra tackling work. Although they don’t actually tackle in practice, Cleveland’s coaches put the players through drills to perfect their technique.
Cornerback Greg Newsome II feels as long as players handle their responsibility, plays will be made.
“It’s just everybody doing their job and not trying to make any superhero plays,” he said. “Stay in your gap, stay wherever you’re supposed to be and the ball will come to you. Don’t try to make a play that somebody else is supposed to make.”
To reinforce his messages, Woods put together a video of missed tackles so his players could see their mistakes in hopes that they won’t repeat them.
He’s trying methods that have worked in the past, trusting they will again.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Until then, sleep is at a premium.
NOTES: Garrett was given a day to rest. He’s still dealing with shoulder and biceps issues from when he flipped his Porsche. … Clowney (ankle, knee, elbow) didn’t practice for the second straight day and was limping when he walked onto the field to watch. … CB Denzel Ward remains in concussion protocol and seems unlikely to play at this point.