Cleveland Browns' Three-Headed Rushing Attack Giving Team Smashmouth Identity

In just one year, the Cleveland Browns have gone from a pass-first offense that featured Josh Gordon to a team built around three talented running backs.

To quote Terri Hatcher's character in Seinfeld, when it comes to the Browns' three-headed rushing attack, "they're real and they're spectacular." These backs played a crucial role in Cleveland's dismantling of the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in their Thursday Night Football matchup by a final score of 24-3—the Browns' first division road win since 2008.

Ben Tate, Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell make up this cast of polished tailbacks.

As you know by now, Tate spent the first three years of his career backing up Arian Foster down in Houston, though he missed his rookie season because of an ankle injury. He was brought to Cleveland because he fit the zone-blocking, cutback mentality of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who held the same position in Houston before Tate's arrival in 2010.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

West and Crowell on the other hand were two rookie backs who came into training camp and earned themselves the right to contribute.

West spent his college days at Towson, an FCS school. In 2013, he ran for 2,519 yards and 41 touchdowns on 413 carries. We throw the term "workhorse" out there a lot nowadays, but in college West embodied that word and everything it stands for.

The Browns couldn't pass on his talent, so they went out and nabbed him in third round of the draft.

Crowell's story was different. He played at the University of Georgia and at times looked like a world-class runner. Despite having all of that ability, he encountered legal trouble in 2012 and was dismissed from the program. He would eventually enroll at Alabama State before going undrafted last May.

The new regime in Cleveland took a chance on Crowell, and so far it's worked out beautifully.

For better or worse, these three guys represent everything we now love about the 6-3 Browns. They are a hungry group of runners who have found a way to complement each other.

The battering of the Bengals was a great platform for a national audience to catch a glimpse of each back. West shouldered the bulk of the work rushing the football 26 times for 94 yards and a touchdown. Crowell registered 12 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown, while Tate had 10 attempts of his own for 34 yards and a touchdown.

You didn't miss read that paragraph. All three halfbacks scored tonight.

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Watching head coach Mike Pettine and Shanahan rotate these guys in was the most entertaining part of the night. Not only did they gash the Bengals defensive front, but they also proved to be integral parts of this redesigned offense.

It's easy to get caught up in the offensive renaissance currently taking over football. Spread offenses, uptempo attacks and downfield assaults have hypnotized audiences. Not to be overlooked, what Shanahan has done in Cleveland may be the most jaw-dropping feat of them all.

He's taken a roster equipped with a journeymen quarterback named Brian Hoyer and a handful of wide receivers who didn't make a ton of fantasy football rosters this past summer and somehow turned them into the NFL's 14th-ranked offense.

Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan's Grant & Danny Show tweeted how impressive the 34-year-old coordinator has been:

That transformation alone is worth making him a head coach in 2015.

Shanahan is doing what any great coach would do: He's basing his scheme off of the strength of the Browns roster. That strength of course is the offensive line.

Though it does take creativity, it's not rocket science. When you have an adroit yet powerful offensive line, you want to line up behind them and run the football. With West, Crowell and Tate all playing well, that's exactly what the Browns have done.

We are now a few weeks away from Josh Gordon's return to an offense that's been doing just fine in his absence. But before we can breakout the bottles of celebratory champagne, general manager Ray Farmer told the media that Gordon won't "disrupt" the offense that's been put in place, per Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer.

If you believe Farmer, then you believe that the 2014 Browns are truly committed to running the football. As long as that's the case, the three-headed rushing attack of West, Tate and Crowell will remain perhaps the most important component of this offense.

Unless noted otherwise, all game scores and information come courtesy of ESPN.com.