'I Am Ready': Joe Woods Confident As New Broncos Defensive Coordinator
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - Former Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is a tough act to follow. He was entertaining, loved by fans, popular with his players -- and most importantly, successful -- coaching a defense that won a Super Bowl just over a year ago.
If there is any good news for new defensive coordinator Joe Woods, he has been on staff the last two years and he's seen what works. So his job now is to keep the Denver defense on top.
"Wade Phillips is going to be one of the best defensive coordinators ever to coach in the history of the NFL, and the first thing for me is I can't try and be Wade Phillips," Woods said. "I have to be myself. What Wade did; he was great, but now it's an opportunity for me to just be Joe Woods and be the best defensive coordinator I can be."
CBS4's Mark Haas asked Woods what the biggest adjustment is going be after his promotion from defensive backs coach to the coordinator position.
"Overall, just the whole organization, the communication of everything we do throughout the offseason, throughout training camp, and then into the regular season, the game plan," Woods said. "It is a process you have to go through. I am ready for it, you know it's my 26th year coaching; I've been with a lot of different defensive systems, defensive coordinators. I've seen it done a bunch of different ways, so I am ready."
"Joe has been a secondary coach here for two years, they have been first in pass defense the past two years. All four guys had made one Pro Bowl under Joe, so keeping Joe, keeping that system intact was very, very important," head coach Vance Joseph said.
"I'm very excited to work with Vance," Woods said.
It was reported there was a rift between the offense and defense last season, but Woods said that wasn't really the case.
"We have competitive guys on defense, we have competitive guys on offense … that was just those guys trying to hold each other accountable," Woods said. "I don't think there was a rift -- at least I didn't see it -- I don't think it will be a problem."
But whenever there was an issue last year, it always seemed like Aqib Talib was right in the middle of it, and at the same time, having an all-pro season.
"So with Aqib … the biggest thing for me is just being honest with him; just telling him the truth, whether he is doing something good, something bad," Woods said. "As long as I'm upfront with him … he is a highly-competitive guy. As long as you tell him the truth … you can always work things out with him."
Working with the "No Fly Zone" though, is no longer Woods' only concern. He also has to worry about fixing the run game, and making sure he gets the most out of Von Miller.
"Well definitely we want to put Von in a position where he can rush the passer -- that's what he does best -- he's unblockable when he's at his best," Woods said. "We have to come up with different schemes where we can move him around."
As for fixing the run defense, Woods says they will be evaluating three things: How they coached the players during the week, the plays they called during the games, and then the execution from the players. Woods says he thinks their struggles were a combination of all three.
