One of the reasons the 2019 Cleveland Browns underperformed relative to their talent level was turnovers. Cleveland finished the season minus-8 in turnover differential, an indictment on both sides of the ball.
New defensive coordinator Joe Woods is placing a big emphasis on creating more takeaways from his unit. Largely the same personnel that produced 31 takeaways in 2018 took the ball away from the opposing offense just 20 times in 2019. That’s not good enough for Woods.
“It is all about the ball. What we do, what they do on offense and what we do on defense, it is all about the ball,” Woods said in his introductory press conference. “We have to find ways to take it away.”
Woods knows how to do just that. He was part of a 49ers defensive staff that finished 6th in 2019 in takeaways. In 2018 he was in Denver and the Broncos were 5th in producing turnovers. And he’s got a plan for how to make it work in Cleveland.
“…we will show them the tape so they know how to do it, and then it is drilled into practice and getting the guys to run to the ball,” Woods said. “You can’t create turnovers if you are not running to the ball. If we do all those things, I feel like we can have a good team when it come to that.”
