Saints Bring on Joe Woods as Defensive Coordinator
 

It did not take Joe Woods long to find a new gig after he was fired by the Cleveland Browns and replaced by Jim Schwartz. The New Orleans Saints have already hired Woods as their new defensive coordinator after co-defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen was hired by the Atlanta Falcons, and the other was dismissed in Kris Richard.

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Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

The Saints have reportedly found their new defensive coordinator.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that the Saints are expected to hire Joe Woods after interviewing with the team last week. The Saints had co-defensive coordinators last season, but they dismissed Kris Richard and Ryan Nielsen left to become the defensive coordinator for the Falcons.

Re: Saints Bring on Joe Woods as Defensive Coordinator
 

Duplicate post.

Mods kindly delete.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

The Saints and Joe Woods have work (Brown's defense was bad in 2022) to do.

JW is a solid positions coach but we shall see what he does as DC.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Underhill is insinuating that it's a mere title and that he's more of a position coach. We'll see obviously. We saw that our co-DCs are no longer here. Can one equate having co-DCs is like having two QBs? In other words, like having none?

Nonetheless we can't argue that the defense regressed last year, for whatever reason. And we also can't argue that DA seems to be getting his band back together from his stint in Oakland. Is that a foreshadowing of things to come?

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Tackling was atrocious last year.

No pressure upfront against the most static QB's like Cousins and Brady.

Not sure why DA is so enamored with guys from his failed tenure as the Raiders HC.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

New Orleans Raiders ;)

We need a Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator :rolleyes:

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

The most glaring stat for me on defense was the lack of TAKEAWAYS.

No one could create a turnover. Ranked 31st in that category in 2022.

Maybe Joe brings back that element & mindset of swarming to the ball?

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Especially considering the offense had that stretch where pretty much every ball carrier fumbled.

Giveaways + no takeaways + bad coaching staff = loss

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

I'm not seeing that much of a regression with the defense between 2021 and 2022 in several statistical categories.

2021

Sacks - 46 - 8th in NFL
Points allowed - 19.7 - 5th
Total YPG allowed - 318.2 - 7th
Rushing YPG allowed - 93.5 - 4th
Passing YPG allowed - 224.8 - 14th

2022

Sacks - 48 - 5th in NFL
Points allowed - 20.3 - 9th
Total YPG allowed - 314.8 - 5th
Rushing YPG allowed - 130.5 - 24th
Passing YPG allowed - 184.4 - 2nd

The defense was improved in sacks, total yards allowed, and mostly in passing yards allowed from 2021 to 2022. It looks like any regression was in mainly the run defense.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Looks like Woods will likely be concentrating on his specialty, the defensive backs.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

All facts.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

What's the turnover statistic?

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Not good.

We didn't force many turnovers in 2022. Near the bottom in takeaways.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

2021

Forced Fumbles - 13
Fumbles recovered - 7
Interceptions - 18

2022

Forced Fumbles - 13
Fumbles recovered - 7
Interceptions - 7

There was a sizable drop in number of interceptions. Although, passes attempted by our opponents was down, as well. Our offense kept us behind too often to force our opponents into taking chances with the ball.

We were middle of the pack in forced fumbles at #15.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Makes sense if we couldn't stop the run like the previous year. Still, there was a stretch when we were reeling turnovers wise. Defense seemed to come around in the latter half of the season. We sucked for more than just one reason last year.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

We need to get better at recovering the fumbles that we force and our defensive backs need stickier hands. On offense we turn the ball over a lot. However, defense needs to work on creating more turnovers while the offense cleans up their ball security issues.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

I wonder what impact having Lattimore out most all of the season had on the interception numbers. His presence allows better coverage all the way down the line. We had 18 games missed between Lattimore, Alontae Taylor, and Adebo.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Still gotta fix the offense though.

A solid defense can only do so much. By the 4th, they are dawg tired.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Probably a similar impact as not keeping Ceedy as depth. We needed to be deeper at DB than DA first surmised. Taylor didn't come around until later too.

Agreed.. guess we'll see what new coaching hires on offense DA will bring in shortly... and addressing the QB situation as well, of course.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

The defense started gelling more when we got Lattimore back from injury.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

And when Taylor was introduced as well.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

K, maybe we could run them harder in training camp. I'm looking forward to this training camp to see if Dennis Allen and crew take a different approach this year, as compared to last year when they let the boys do their own thing and hoped it would come together. It didn't!

Maybe this year he'll run them in the ground. I don't believe we were well conditioned last year and that may have had something to do with the injuries. Actually, I've been fired as a College rugby coach for doing that very thing, but the ones who stuck it out were tough to beat. That team went on to fold within 2 years.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Might be all he can get.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

I think the problem might be that Dennis Allen is trying to build on his past failures. Same old staff but they expect different results. Once again, we're back to the definition of insanity. Apparently, Dennis Allen is afraid to move outside his comfort zone with established coaches that he knows who have established systems that he understands yada yada yada. If you are not growing then you are dying.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Woods worked with and under other head coaches far, far longer than he had Dennis Allen. He was a secondary coach under Allen for only four games. Four games. How is that a comfort zone, Rugs?

It's not like Allen is going out hiring every coach that was on his previous staffs in Oakland. This past season his staff was basically what Payton had hired.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Maybe its good we kept Pete Carmichael because probably if we didnt we would have replaced him with Matt Patricia or Pep Hamilton off the Texans etc. Perhaps next we will poach the 49ers strength and conditioning coach specifically to work with our QBs and RBs and draft a young Qb with the Jets QB coach to develop him.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Don't confuse me with the facts Guido.:rolleyes:

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

:D My bad, Rugs. ;)

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Here is an eye-opening stat for you Smash.

The Saints ENTIRE defense had a total of 7 INTERCEPTIONS in all of 2022.

Ceedy Deuce (remember him?) had 6. And he missed a few weeks during the reg season for the Eagles :rolleyes:.

It's hard to win when you can't create turnovers or win the takeaway battle. Joe has his work cut out for him.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

So what you're really saying is that we're a mere a player or two away from a 2 win season? And that we should stay away from signing Carr? And that SP's poaching of some the coaches won't matter, even if we get a compensatory pick or two?

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

7 picks all season tells me there wasn't much pressure on the D line (I'd like a DT in rd 1). QBs had time to survey, go through progressions, and pick our secondary apart.

I think DCarr is a pretty decent QB. Is he a franchise cornerstone? Probably not but I'd take him over Dalton and Jameis. And speaking of "offense", I wouldn't be surprised to see Ronald Curry ends up as Sean P OC either :rolleyes:

We are at least 2, or 3 seasons away from seriously competing. Right now, we are clueless with Pete running the offense.

IMO the Saints need a lot.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

When teams are able to run the ball against you and have difficulty passing the ball and usually have the lead late in games they are far less likely to turn the ball over via the pass. Teams like the Eagles were always playing with a lead and their opponents were constantly having to force the ball down the field giving up easy picks.

Our offense was seldom in a position to put pressure on the opposing team's offense to have to force the ball.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Our defense was good and our offense was bad so it makes no sense that we completely retooled the defense and kept the offense intact.

I think this Joe Woods character may have Interim Head Coach in his title next December.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Bump ...

Thought I'd bring this thread back to life.

Looking forward to seeing what Joe Woods does with this 2023 defense. Specifically takeaways. FWIW, rookies report to camp next Tuesday.

Bresee, Foskey, Miller, Saldiveri, Howden & Perry -->> GOOD LUCK.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

I was just thinking about how his teaching style might work with DA calling the shots and him implementing it. I hear that he teaches concepts and techniques well, and easily communicates his ideas to his players.

Loomis has brought in the talent to work with throughout the defense. We were a top 5-10 defense last year, and he is inheriting a good defense. It looks like he's a coach who knows that he's there for the install and not the play calls. I think he worked with DA in the past.

Re: Saints are expected to name Joe Woods defensive coordinator
 

Bump :bng:...

Saints went from a franchise low of 7 interceptions in 2022, to leading the NFL with 12 as of today (11/6/23). Source -> Jeff Duncan

I understand the defense looked spotty at times vs Bears, but they are getting takeaways. Something we could not do last season.

DC Joe Woods is coaching em up for sure.