Tribe top ‘Stros, celebrate in style
September 19, 2014Video: Ohio State Buckeyes idle, gearing up for Cincinnati
September 19, 2014(If you missed the Week 2 Film Room for the Browns’ defense, here you go!)
Before the season began, worries about the quarterback position, a lack of competent wide receivers, and a new offensive scheme seemed to dominate conversation about the Cleveland Browns. But, despite the first half drubbing in Pittsburgh, Cleveland’s offense has looked surprisingly competent. Even without Jordan Cameron, likely the best offensive player on the Browns, and Ben Tate, the Browns managed to score 19 offensive points while reaching the red zone four times.
As I predicted prior to this season, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan has designed a system around what Cleveland’s personnel does best: Running the ball. And despite trotting out Brian Hoyer, Andrew Hawkins, Miles Austin, and Gary Barnidge in the passing game, the Browns have had no problem finding holes for Terrance West, Isaiah Crowell, and the aforementioned Tate. Cleveland has averaged the sixth most rushing yards per game, claims the fifth best offensive DVOA, and rank first overall in Pro Football Focus’ offensive overall score.
How have the Browns managed to succeed despite a shortage of talent, especially considering their quarterback and wide receivers? Let’s jump right in and try to unearth the answer.
Isaiah Crowell + Terrance West Unleashed
In his young career, Kyle Shanahan has gained the reputation of being a flexible offensive coordinator, willing to adjust his scheme depending on how talent is distributed amongst the offense. But the one portion of his offense that has always remained of utmost importance is his commitment to the run. In two games, the Browns have run the ball on 46.21 percent of their offensive plays which is the ninth highest in the league. Against the Saints, Shanahan used Crowell and West early and often as they combined to rush for 122 yards on 30 carries.
New Orleans, like most teams Cleveland will face this season, game-planned around stopping the run. Due to the Browns’ lack of weapons at receiver and tight end, the Saints played much of the game with seven or eight defenders in “the box”. The overload forces Shanahan to become creative, but the basic idea of the zone running scheme will allow running backs to use superior vision to find creases in the defense.
Watch on the play above how West takes the pitch, looks for a hole, and finds a cut-back lane. His patience and ability to change direction, even at 225 pounds, makes him a special talent. For a big back, he is extremely agile, can cut on a dime, and avoid ankle tackles which makes him such a unique commodity for the zone-blocking scheme. I expect West to start against the Ravens, but fellow first-year Isaiah Crowell is right on his heels.
This play showcases Crowell’s speed, elusiveness, and decisive cutting, all qualities that complement West’s running style. On the run above, Crowell takes advantage of the defensive scheme which placed linebackers on the line by finding the first crease and running through it before the Saints can tackle him 17 yards later. If West took this handoff, he may have taken the extra half-second to determine which hole gives him the best opportunity. It’s not necessarily a knock, but a mere difference in their approaches to running.
Offensive Line Domination
Everyone knew the Browns offensive line would be a strength, but no one could have imagined just how important their role would be. For the Browns Offense: Shanahan Edition to work, a strong offensive line is not just just desirable, but necessary. They open the holes for running backs (which set up the passing game) and protect an immobile quarterback (which helps avoid third and longs). Although the sample size is small, the Browns have done a tremendous job taking care of the ball, and avoiding negative yard plays. Both positives stem from impressive offensive line play,
Against the Saints, the Browns could not continue the six yard-per-carry average that they attained against the Steelers. But, they did manage to open up enough room for West and Crowell, as mentioned above, which led to some big runs in imortant situations. Cleveland also had a great day protecting that was not besmirched until Joe Thomas got beat around the edge and allowed the sack with just one minute remaining in the game. Take a look at the pass protection in the second quarter.
On this play-action pass, the Browns offensive line gives Hoyer a great pocket to work in. Joe Thomas pancakes the edge rusher, Joel Bitonio and Alex Mack lock up a defensive tackle, John Greco stone-walls another defensive tackle, and Mitchell Schwartz teams up with Jim Dray to take care of a defensive end. Hoyer is able to take all the time he needs to find an open man and hit him with a strike as he attempts to do with Travis Benjamin.
I’m a sucker for great zone-blocking, so this play is near and dear to my heart. Watch as the entire line steps left and works to either push the defender to the sideline or reach around and block him back towards the inside. As you can see, the Saints have eight players lined up within a few yards of the line of scrimmage, but they are helpless trying to fight across the offensive line’s blocks.
Quick, Simple Pass Schemes
At this point, I probably can’t stress that the Browns are succeeding on offense without any true weapons at receiver, tight end, or quarterback any more. I love you Andrew Hawkins, but you are a slot receiver. Gary Barnidge, you are a heck of a pass blocker, but I’m not in love with throwing you the ball four times per game. Even though Cleveland lacks talent on the outside, they have managed to keep drives going by using a multitude of short, quick passes.
Some of the most frequently used plays include mesh routes, stick/flat combo routes, check-downs, and the ever-popular play-action passes. The first two are easily readable concepts for the quarterback that do not necessitate elite receivers or throwing ability. And, on most play action passes, Shanahan gives Hoyer a more simple read or rolls him out of the pocket, effectively slicing the area where he can throw the ball in half.
This play includes both the crossing mesh route, on the right, and the flat/stick combo. This read is simple for Hoyer who hits Miles Austin on the stick route for six yards. Both that stick and flat routes were open which makes this a simple read for Hoyer. As I will touch on below, Hoyer does not have much arm strength, so these completing these passes are a necessity for him to succeed.
Daring to Ask the Hoyer Question
You knew this discussion was coming at some point and with two games in the books, it is seems fair to evaluate Brian Hoyer and his long term potential. My viewpoint on this issue may not be popular with Clevelanders hopeful that the St. Ignatius product can be the answer at quarterback, but I am not a believer. Based on what I have seen, the Browns offense has succeeded despite Hoyer rather than because of his play. The fact that the Hoyer-led offense has put up points is a testament to the running backs, offensive line, and Kyle Shanahan’s scheme.
This topic could be debated about for 5,000 words, but to briefly explain my point of view, take a look at a few of these plays.
In this instance, Hoyer under-throws a pass to Travis Benjamin who was open enough that this play should be a fairly consistent first down. This is just one example of Hoyer being incapable of throwing the ball to anyone further than ten yards past the line of scrimmage. He has no arm strength which takes away from a huge part of the offense Kyle Shanahan wants to run. Hoyer is a solid quarterback in terms of dumping the ball off on check-downs, but when you want him to throw the ball downfield whatsoever, he has severe issues.
Take a look at another example.
Hoyer’s under-throw of Andrew Hawkins was bad enough that I could not tell who he was throwing to until I watched the play a few times. I understand that rolling out makes the throw more difficult, but quarterbacks simply must hit open receivers and Hoyer has missed too many throws, so far.
There are only two Brian Hoyers that I trust: Post-Manziel Hoyer and 2-minute-drive Hoyer. Every time Hoyer enters the game after Manziel or the game is winding down, he manages to squeeze the ball into tight windows, adds some power to his throws, and looks like a good NFL quarterback. My problem is that during the rest of the game, he relies far too much on check-downs and short, quick-hitting routes. A Brian Hoyer who could hit a 12-yard comeback route or any other 10+ yard pass would be a commodity. Unfortunately, his lack of arm strength will remain an issue as Cleveland do not possess game-breaking receivers to make up for the deficiency.
At some point, a defense will be able to stop the running game and Hoyer will be forced to throw the ball down-field on second and third and long situations. Based on what he has shown, this will be a major issue. I’m sure many of you disagree with me, so let me know in the comment section below.
Quick Hiters
- I know saying this is sacrilegious in Cleveland, but my dad grew up and raised me as a Broncos fan. Although my fandom for the Browns has surpassed that of Denver’s, I still hold a soft spot for Elway’s squad *ducks*. The reason I bring this up is because the Johnny Manziel appearance reminded me of the Kyle Orton-era Time Tebow package. Manziel appeared for just three plays, handing the ball off twice and throwing an incompletion. This is a very similar introduction to the first appearances of Tebow in Denver…. And they never worked. If you are bringing in a mobile, backup quarterback, be it Tebow or Manziel, the defense is going to stack the line of scrimmage. Next time Manziel comes in, I want Shanahan to call something creative, not a handoff up the middle.
- Moooorrree Andrew Hawkins! He may not be a number one option on most teams, but he is as close to a playmaker as the Browns have on offense. They have done a good job getting him the ball in different ways, so I want that to continue. He’s as explosive as anyone else on Cleveland’s offense.
- The Running backs can block! Hallelujah! Having rookie running backs play early in the season is most often a testament to their running ability, But Crowell and West have each shown the ability to stick their nose in and hit a blitzing linebacker. I had extremely high expectations for the Browns backfield this season, but they have surpassed all expectations.
What do you think about the Browns offense? Can they keep it up when they line up against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday? Let me know your thoughts down below in the comments section.
7 Comments
I am with you on Hoyer. The 2 GIFs you show above both demonstrate how Hoyer tends to move backward while throwing, which hurts both his accuracy and the power behind his throws.
I think Hoyer is a capable QB who can potentially fix this issue (I don’t think it’s a pure arm strength issue, I think it is mechanical. Until he fixes the mechanics, I’m not sure how to evaluate the strength behind the throws). And, he is doing enough good things
that he is helping us win these games, which is a good thing.
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I also agree with you on the Manziel package. Call a play-action where Johnny can bomb the ball downfield (or run if the defense sags backward). If you are going to use him, then actually put a threat on the play so that even if it doesn’t work the next week’s defense will feel the need to work on something extra.
Baltimore’s defense has been average across the board thus far. Very small sample size, of course, but it is interesting that football-outsiders shows that they have had minimal success in generating TFL and have struggled to tackle in the open field, which has offset their schematic advantages they generally have early in the season (same defense forever).
In particular, it is strange that teams have had much more success running right-tackle and mid-right on the Ravens than going to their left because Canty, Suggs, and Mosely all sit on the offenses right-hand side (Ngata in the middle). Running at Upshaw and D.Smith has actually been less fruitful. I am not sure if this is due to the offenses overloading, a simple small sample size glitch, or something else, but it is showing up.
It should be an interesting game to test what we have seen thus far from our offense, but this is not the same Baltimore defense from year’s past.
Aside: Can the comments on a clip/GIF be above rather than below them? Hard to follow them this way, and when read first it’s easier to view the clip.
Great breakdown, and agree somewhat on Hoyer. He does one very important thing very well, which is make the right reads. I don’t believe there was any play where you felt he got a bad read and on some he had particularly good reads. A couple of times there was simply nobody open as well. That said, his tendency to lean back on his back foot to throw sometimes – especially on deep balls – is very, very bad, and he does it even when he doesn’t have to, as if he doesn’t think his arm strength is enough to get it there.
The zone blocking has been incredible. I love the play you picked to showcase it – from where I was sitting that play looked absolutely beautiful, with this nice diagonal lane of white jerseys moving in tandem and as soon as a gap opened West shot right through it. In fact, the biggest knock I have on the scheme is the tendency for the line to move almost too quickly out toward the sideline, leaving the RBs not enough room to do much once they get through a hole. Obviously you can’t always run to the further side but especially on plays where they’re running to the same sideline of whichever hash the ball is placed on you see them running out of room. It lets the D use the sideline as an extra defender. And I love that this is the biggest complaint I have with it.
I agree with you that Hoyer is making mechanical errors rather than necessarily lacking arm strength so it’s difficult to assess. The one thing Hoyer has in spades is the mental capacity to see the field and make quick, correct decisions which is, by far, the much more difficult commodity to find in a starting QB over athleticism/arm strength.
I think the idea with Manziel packages during this game was two two-fold: for one, you provide a little motivation to Hoyer, who was struggling. For two, you force opposing defenses to game plan a little bit for Manziel, without really showing your hand on what such a package might look like. I doubt we really showed a pre-designed package with that three-and-out. It was more likely all about the “meta.”
Zone Block + Athletic and Talented offensive line = gold. What’s really nice is that we are not watching our running backs carry 3 people to get 4 yards so they will break down slower. Watching Hillis in 2010, you knew he couldn’t keep running like that for more than a couple years. You nailed my thoughts on Hoyer – He’s good, but not great. He is the best backup in the league and a fair starter. Even with Gordon and Cameron healthy, Hoyer will still hold us back a bit. I’m OK with that for now because Hoyer with this roster looks like an 8-9 win team. At this point, I think it’s fair to say that if we had Andrew Luck, people would be talking playoffs.
Excellent write up, thanks for taking the time.
I agree with you on Hoyer, and I am a big fan of his. Would love to see him do well, and not too high on JFF either. But he just has not connected downfield. Those gif’s you have are accurate, and the Benjamin ball above is underthrown as well. He has to slow down for it to hit him in the helmet.
Other than Hawkins, our receivers are pretty bad. Doesn’t Hester look like a real steal in ATL right now?
I really, really like Crowell. He’s this year’s Burfict. Stud. These two backs remind me of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Hall for the Panthers. They won a lot of ball games handing off to those two guys and have Jake throw jump balls to Smith and Mussin Mohammed. The receivers are the missing piece on this Browns team.