JOE WOODS PRESS CONFERENCE – IT JUST KEEPS GETTING MORE INTERESTING
By STEVE KING
Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.
And in the terms of the revitalization of the Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers rivalry, that’s a good thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing.
During New Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods press conference Woods said that, in being raised 20 miles north of Pittsburgh, he grew up a big Steelers fan. He also said his professional mentor is Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin.
That’s the same Mike Tomlin who, only days earlier, jumped feet-first into the Myles Garrett-Mason Rudolph feud by saying that the Steelers are “hacked off” about the accusations the Browns defensive end made in a recent ESPN interview that the Steelers quarterback called him the N-word during their fight at the end of Cleveland’s 21-7 win on Nov. 14 at FirstEnergy Stadium.
So, Woods, whose best player – and the Browns’ best player overall – and the man around whom he will be building his defense, is the same man who has the coordinator’s mentor “hacked off.”
Hmmm.
Now, to be sure, Woods, of course, had nothing to do with anything that happened in that game a little over three months ago. He was three time zones away, helping coach the defense of the San Francisco 49ers on the team’s journey to the NFC championship and a near-victory in Super Bowl 54.
That’s all well and good, but like it or not – and I’m sure that Woods and perhaps even Tomlin as well, don’t like it at all – the new boss of the Cleveland defense has been tossed directly into the middle of this bubbling controversy as the teams continue to go back and forth over the nasty, egregious and unfortunate end to that game, taking the focus off the Browns’ big win and instead placing it onto something so sinister and distasteful.
This is clear – crystal clear – and yet it’s only the third full week of February. The last season just ended. How much saucier will it get as the 2020 season approaches and, still better, in the days leading up to the teams’ two games against each other, especially the one back at the scene of the fight, in Cleveland?
We can only guess at this point as Joe Woods press conference makes things even more interesting.
- More Cleveland Browns news:
- Alex Van Pelt hired – Is it the same old story?
- Myles Garrett vs Mason Rudolph – The rivalry is back
- Video: Myles Garrett working out
- Good Move – Kevin Stefanski making good moves
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