Browns
Browns’ DC Joe Woods was unable to have certain pieces of the puzzle due to injuries last season but is now looking forward to having a fully healthy defense with plenty of depth.
“Last year, there was a whole lot of things you can say, but we have the mindset of no excuses and no explanations,” Woods said, via Forbes.com “Just based on practice time and players available, there were certain things that we were not able to get to, but now moving forward, we have already started the process in the offseason of installing some new defensive packages and some new cover schemes, just so we can dictate the tempo a little bit more.”
Ravens
Ravens LB Patrick Queen said despite the defense losing some core members in the offseason like pass rushers Matt Judon and Yannick Ngakoue, the expectations are still high.
โThose guys are are one-of-a-kind so you know we lost some key pieces. But I feel like, itโs the Ravens defense, so you know how weโre gonna come,โ Queen said on NFL Network, via Pro Football Talk. โWeโve got those new guys up front in the draft. So thereโs a lot of stuff to look out for. And we just want to be that same defense we were, a top-five defense. All the pieces that weโve got, all the coaching that weโve got added to the team โ itโs going to be a big season. And I canโt wait.โ
Steelers
Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger commented on what the team will look like this season offensively under new OC Matt Canada.
โI think this offense is going to be completely different. You will see nothing that you have ever seen in the past. And we are going to try and throw literally everything at everybody so that way we wonโt be predictable,โ Roethlisberger said, via Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. โItโs just new. In all seriousness, there is a lot of new. For someone who has had a very similar offense for a very long time verbiage-wise, itโs taking some extra studying. It is a fun new challenge. Guys are getting it and, hopefully, it translates into winning football.โ
Canada downplays Roethlisberger’s comments and says that there won’t be too many changes implemented and that the team will do things the way the veteran quarterback wants them done.
โWeโre not making drastic changes,โ Canada said. โObviously, terminologyโs changed and the ways we want to call things, but footballโs football. Football is 11 men doing their job, and the quarterback is the focal point. Itโs the greatest position in all of sport in my opinion because of all the things you have to do. Weโre going to do what Ben wants to do and how Ben wants to do it. Iโm a big believer in tempo and the changing of the tempo. If you always go fast, people get used to that. If you always walk out of the huddle, folks get used to that. Defensive coaches are smart. They study film and tendencies and all those things. Weโre certainly going to continue to use tempo and use the things that Ben is very, very good at to help our offense be the most productive it can be. The changes of tempo during the course of a game are very important, and I think Benโs good at it.”
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