Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell Give Cleveland Browns Offensive Identity
The Cleveland Browns upset the New Orleans Saints at home with a 26-24 victory in Week 2.
Johnny Manziel played a handful of snaps, but it was Brian Hoyer who led the game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter. Hoyer played relatively well. He didn't turn the ball over on 40 pass attempts but only had 204 total yards.
Seventy-eight of Hoyer's 204 yards came on the final drive of the game.
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Instead of relying on Hoyer through most of the four quarters, the Browns instead asked Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell to carry the offense. West and Crowell were getting snaps in place of injured veteran Ben Tate. The two backs combined for 122 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries.
West was a third-round pick of the 2014 draft. He played FCS football in college after initially attending Fork Union Military Academy and failing to meet the academic standards of Clemson and Maryland when attempting to transfer.
Despite having a very impressive stretch of football for Towson in the FCS, he was met by some inevitable skepticism as he adjusted to a much greater standard of football in the NFL.
In Week 1, West had 16 carries for 100 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was running behind a strong offensive line against a poor defensive line in that game, but he also showed off the versatility of his skill set to earn hard yards.
Against the Saints, West impressed again.
He was the focal point of the running game early on but failed to find space to work in.
While struggling to make an impact as a runner, West made up for it with some important plays as a receiver. His first came in the flat when Hoyer threw the ball slightly behind him, and West adjusted to comfortably catch it before running down the sideline for 11 yards.
On 3rd-and-12 later on the same drive, West caught another 11-yard pass.
West initially lined up in the backfield as the Browns looked to spread the field and give Hoyer an opportunity to find a receiver down the field. The rookie didn't really run a defined route, but when the Saints only rushed three players after the quarterback, he was free to saunter out of the pocket.
The running back found his way down the middle of the field and worked his way toward the sideline when Hoyer extended the play to his side of the field. He showed good receiver instincts here and an impressive ability to catch the ball while being hit.
West didn't convert for the first down, but he did set up a 4th-and-1 that he could convert.
The Browns gave the ball to West running off left guard, but the Saints a free defender in the hole after a blown assignment. West is a big back, but he didn't simply look to run over the defender. Instead he used his quickness to jump past the defender in a tight area and fall forward for the first down.
Because of those two plays, Hoyer had the opportunity to throw his lone touchdown pass of the day to Miles Austin to finish the drive.
In many ways, those two plays effectively captured West's skill set. He isn't Darren Sproles as a receiver, so he won't be exceptionally agile in space or when lining up to run complicated routes from outside the numbers, but he can be an adequate pass-catcher down the field. As a running back, he doesn't have one great trait but rather a combination of different traits to be a versatile runner.
West's physical prowess is obvious, but his ability to find and create space is what has allowed him to transition to the NFL quickly.
To start the Browns' final drive of the first quarter, West lined up in the backfield with a fullback in front of him and a tight end to the left of the formation. That tight end wasn't Jordan Cameron, who was out for this game, so the Saints had no fear of stacking the box.
Importantly, the Saints defensive line is set slightly to the right side of the offense. West appears to understand that when he gets the ball.
The Browns give the ball to West with his offensive line sliding to the left. West initially follows the linemen for a step, before planting his right foot to draw the second-level defenders inside. That step allows him to push off toward the outside where there is space.
When you transition from college football to the NFL, this kind of comfort in your action is tough to have.
West was deliberate with his movement before the line of scrimmage, showed off the vision to understand where to go with the ball and had the speed to get outside for a 15-yard gain.
That was West's longest run of the game, but the first touchdown of his career came late in the third quarter on a nine-yard run.
His first touchdown came on a similar play to his 15-yard run, as Hoyer handed him the ball as he was moving left behind the offensive line. On this occasion, the Browns line dominated the Saints front and gave West the opportunity to cut back infield instead of running outside.
West cuts back infield because he sees a defender in position to tackle him on the second level. When he does that, he needs to accelerate to escape an arm tackle from an underneath defender before comfortably finishing the play between two defenders at the goal line.
Even though West was picked before Crowell in the 2014 draft and has proved to be the better player to this point for the Browns, many analysts believe that Crowell is actually the better player.
Crowell didn't fall out of the draft because of his on-field ability but rather his off-field concerns.
His talent was on show in Week 1 when he had two touchdowns against the Steelers. He had just five carries in that game, which both made his touchdown scores more impressive and his overall ability more uncertain. In Week 2, Crowell was given 11 carries and had one reception.
On those 12 touches, he compiled 57 total yards. More than 30 of those yards came in an impressive third quarter.
That third quarter featured back-to-back runs that netted 24 total yards on the drive that West capped off with his touchdown. The first of those runs came on 1st-and-10 close to midfield and went for seven yards. Crowell initially got the ball while moving left behind his offensive line that was moving in the same direction.
As Crowell approaches the line of scrimmage, a linebacker is in place to tackle him. However, Crowell shows excellent quickness to slightly alter his angle and slip past the defender inside of a blocker coming across the field.
Crowell finished the run aggressively, but he failed to make much of an impact on the tackler, Jairus Byrd, because he lacks the same bulk and power of West.
On the following play, a 2nd-and-3, Crowell broke off his longest run of the game, a 17-yarder. When he initially gets the ball, it appears that the Saints are in a good position to close space down around him and stop him for no gain.
Just like on the previous play, Crowell shows off excellent vision to find a cutback lane.
Not only does his vision give him a clean route into the secondary, but Crowell also shows off his acceleration to get past a defender who is on the wrong side of his blocker when he does cut back. Once on the second level, Crowell uses his quickness to slip past the attempted tackle by the safety to extend the play down the field.
Crowell complements West perfectly in terms of style.
Even though both backs are only on the field because of Tate's absence, their sample sizes are limited and Hoyer threw the ball 40 times in this game, this duo appears to be the basis of the offense's identity moving forward.
The Browns didn't double up on running backs simply to address a need. If they had been drafting for need, they would have taken wide receivers. That tells you that they are high on the talent of West and Crowell.
Neither player will need to be a bell-cow back so long as the other remains on the roster. While there are concerns with Crowell's character, both players have shown enough signs on the field to this point in their careers to suggest that they can be high-quality running backs.
Even when Manziel inevitably takes over as the starting quarterback, the run game should remain a prevalent part of Kyle Shanahan's offense.
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