As mentioned in my article on Isaiah Crowell yesterday, Terrance West is currently among the NFL’s top 10 rushers after week 1 of the regular season. In coach Pettine’s press conference yesterday we learned that Ben Tate would miss “a few weeks" with a knee injury and that West will be replacing his role in the offense as the starter. While this is bad news for Tate, the good news is that rookie running back Terrance West looked “solid" running behind the first team offensive line vs. the Steelers in the 3rd and 4th quarters. He showed good vision, decisiveness and the ability to plant and get up field quickly.

What West will need to focus on will be pass pro blocking and catching the ball out of the backfield. West may also need to do a better job at “finishing" plays more consistently. These are things that many rookie backs need to and can learn and these are things that West has shown the ability to do. Now that he’s the starter he just needs to improve the consistency of which he does them and show that he can adapt to new defenses along the way.

The difference between the first half and the second half on Sunday was literally “night and day". And by my calculations in my article yesterday:

The Browns ran the ball 78.5% of the time to the right side of their line and at the left side of the Steelers defense on Sunday. During the first half the we only ran the ball 9 times: 6 times right and 3 times left. During the 2nd half 90% of the running backs’ runs went right (18 times) and out of all those running plays in the 2nd half, 94% came while in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2TE, 2WR) and 13 runs (72%) came while in the pistol formation. Of our 2nd half running plays (24 runs), 18 (75%) were run from the “no huddle" vs. a first half where we saw zero no huddle plays.

Kyle Shanahan picked a weakness and kept exploiting it and the team kept executing. Terrance West was able to rush for 100 yards and 6.5 YPC on 16 total touches. He showed the ability to extend plays bursting for (2) 20 yard gashes – one in a key 4th quarter drive. West hit the hole quickly, decisively, and showed some good moves in the open field but also showed that he can dial back some of the stutter stepping run downhill. That being said, at times he did show the ability to play with a low pad level and gain extra yards after contact, which are both things that will be called upon and expected in the Browns offense.

2nd Quarter – Making 2 Steelers Miss

21 Personnel, Hoyer under center

At the snap West and Agnew immediately break right for the pitch out. Agnew is tasked with blocking the ROLB off the edge. Bitonio and Mack will double the NT; Greco will slide to take the LDE and Schwartz will move into second level to seal the inside ILB.

By the time the pitch arrives to West, you can see Schwartz is using his left arm to press the LDE back in towards Greco as he looks for Shaizer, the ILB. Mack has inside leverage on the NT and is pressing him back towards Bitonio. Agnew is cut blocking #93. West see’s this block immediately.

You can tell he see’s it because he stops here, on a dime as soon as he secures the ball. He plants his foot in the ground and stops.

His momentum helps him to sink his hips and get low . . .

Here you can see all those blocks discussed above executed perfectly except Agnew’s block, which has forced West to explode out of his crouching stance and juke back around #93 to the outside using his quickness and lateral agility.

Boom, one missed tackle. . . now his eyes are up field. You can see Mack and Bitonio have their man sealed; Greco has his man stood up and engaged. Schwartz has Shazier blocked and is pressing him outside but he’s trying to turn back inside.

Greco’s man gets off his block as West turns the corner here, as does Bitonio’s man. Again, this play wasn’t designed to sustain the blocks this long. If Agnew makes the block, West may be a lot closwer to the first down marker at this point in the play. As is stands, he’s not and is fighting to make this a positive yardage play.

Again, West uses his vision and his lateral agility to plant his foot here after getting the LDE to bite hard on his outside line. This set up and quickness allows West to juke passed yet another defender.

Boom. The stop, plant, cut and go – mostly laterally here – is executed and allows West to beat his second Steeler and obtain 3 more yards of real estate.

Here you can see West gathering himself, protecting the ball, and begin to get his pads low so that he can fall forward upon contact. Greco is “boxing out" Jarvis Jones on the backside, keeping West free from backside pursuit by essentially sealing the lane.

There it is, West is able to turn a run for a loss into a 6 or 7 yard gain here by showcasing his vision, stop and start ability, lateral quickness and burst in tight spaces.

Here are the Vine videos:

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10 Yard Run to the Right

12 Personnel; pistol formation

This is an inside handoff. West is looking at the ILB and will scan over towards the SS where Barnidge is pulling across the line to block their LOLB, which is the key to making this play work and creating the lane. Thomas is 1 on 1 on the back side and has a perfect seal already. Bitonio also is 1 on 1 and is in great position. Mack and Greco are doubling the NT pushing him back inside when the flow of the play it inside out. Schwartz is engaged and has outside should position on their LDE. Meanwhile Dray is free to help push the LDE back towards Schwartz if needed on his way to seal #94.

West now has the ball in his hands and has yet to make a cut. The middle of the formation is cluttered with bodies, and with Steeler ILB. The pistol allows West to freeze these players, if only for a fraction of a second, which helps him set up the run to the outside and allow his TE to get around to the LOLB #93 to seal him at the bottom of the lane. Meanwhile Gabriel is about to engage Polomalu and begin to push him inside and out of the play.

Boom. . . here’s the step leading into his cut. You can see that Greco has now passed the double team solely over to Mack and Greco has now engaged and is blocking one of the ILB. Meanwhile Schwartz and Dray seal the top of the lane and Barnidge has now made his way over and is now in position to block #93 along the bottom of the lane. This is all happening at the same time West is about to hit the hole.

A key block here is Gabriel on Polomalu, as well as the double team on the LDE between Dray and Schwartz and then Barnidge’s ability to stick with and seal out #93 from the lane. West shows his burst through the hole here and the vision to wait and pick the right time and hole to do so. He also sees that Gabriel is pushing Polamalu inside and so once he clears the hole he knows to continue past the block then cut back up field.

West is now free and clear of the DL and Gabriel has Polomalu sealed and West is running free into the second level.

If I’m Mike Pettine, I want to see a more decisiveness from West here in the open field. Instead of stutter stepping and trying to juke these defenders, I want to see him either attack the crease, cut back inside or outside, but not stalling in the middle of the field. Keep running downhill behind your pads.

Again, here’s where he stops his momentum by trying to stutter step vs. making an earlier decision to continue either outside or inside.

West does lower his pad level and protect the ball as he absorbs the tackle and falls forward inside the 10 yards line and into red zone.

Here’s the Vine video:

27 yard Run to the Right

12 Personnel; Pistol formation

The key to this play is Bitonio pulling across the line and sealing the SS, Polamalu. Also key is Barnidge getting the block on the inside LB. Here you can begin to see Mack, Thomas and Greco all block down, away from the flow of the play, creating the inside lane with Bitonio and Barnidge beginning to pull through the gap to seal the secondary.

Bitonio is now approaching the gap, Schwartz has outside leverage, allowing the LDE to move inside because the play is moving away from that flow. Barnidge is helping to ensure he continues that way and doesn’t break back up-flow. Blocks on the back side look good and plenty of time and space for West to observe and patiently pick his time to cut and go – all just as he’s getting the ball in his hands.

Bitonio is now in place to engage and block Polomalu with Dray helping to seal inside. The lane that West picks here is so small, but this is where he plants to cut and get up field into that crease.

Where did he go? Yep, like I said, this lane is really small but West see’s it and burst through the trash and into open space on the other end. It’s also at this point that the WR realizes that West is making it through the hole and starts to get his head around to the DB. Getting a block on the DB is key to the big gain here and allows West to make one last cut and man to beat until he finds greener pastures.

Boom, West is past the trash, sees his WR setting up the block and realizes the DB has taken one step inside in pursuit. West is setting up the cut back to the outside.

West plants his foot and makes his cut to the outside around the block from his WR, Hawkins.

Like I mentioned above, Hawkins block could have been better but West is able to break the tackle here with some power and balance.

Here’s the part that Pettine will like, he lowers his pads and initiates contact with great leverage, protecting the ball and finishing the run strong.

Here you can see, after contact, he manages to fall forward for another 4 almost 5 yards.

Here are the Vine videos:

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20 yard run to the Right

12 Personnel; under center – with an odd twist that the 2nd WR is lined up in a 3 point stance alongside the TE on the strong side of the field (top of picture)

As soon as the ball is snapped, Mack, Bitonio, Greco all attempt to seal the entire line away from the flow of the handoff, or back towards the LT. Meanwhile Schwartz is taking the LDE which leaves Dray with the SS who’s playing up on him man to man.

Here you can see West has just received the handoff. Dray has his man sealed inside, and Schwartz is one on one with his man, #93 on the outside. This leaves both ILB free to pursue West as he begins his attack towards the outside of the formation since everything in the middle is plugged up.

This play develops so quickly after the cut. West has #28 beaten here, and will soon be jumping of Shazier while Greco makes his way towards the FS. Meanwhile Dray has a hand on his man and is looking to see where West’s next cut will be so he can block accordingly.

West is jumping over the rubbish here, while Dray begins to push his man back. Meanwhile Greco begins his line towards the FS. While it looks like West could have split the blocks and gone between them, Dray’s man is not locked up in his block and could have easily made the play on West. So West cuts it back inside of Greco and turns it to the middle of the field.

Here you can see why he chose to turn it inside vs. split the block, Greco isn’t even close to his man so while it appears there’s a lane, there’s not, plus the FS has now taken several steps towards the boundary which allows West to cut back inside.

Greco has the block lined up now, and the only real danger to West is pursuit from behind.

You can see West protecting the ball here and finishing the play. Jarvis Jones is the man making the tackle here following West jumping over the man laying on his back along the opposite hash mark.

Here are the Vine videos:

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7 Yard run to the Right

12 Personnel; Hoyer under center, WR split together on weak side. Both TE lined up on the strong side (bottom of screen)

Similar to the play before, the interior of the line turns the NT and back towards our LT and opposite of the flow of the play design. Mack is pushing his man backwards here, Greco’s job is to seal the NT who Schwartz is helping to press towards his block and seal. Schwartz will move to the next level to eventually pick up the ILB. Meanwhile both TE are pressing the ROLB and moving him outside as much as possible. Eventually one will pass the ROLB off and move onto the SS, Polomalu.

Here, Bitonio and his man are on the ground. Mack is getting ready to cut block the LILB as he comes across the field. Both TE are still working together and Schwartz is moving to pick up the RILB. Greco has his man sealed inside. All this is happening just as West is getting the ball.

Here’s a better picture. Mack has cut blocked his man, Thomas is on top of his. Greco has a perfect seal inside. Dray and Barnidge have now begun the pass off of the ROLB. West still has not cut yet and is along the same line as he was at the handoff.

West reads the Polomalu has over pursued and is protecting the sideline, meanwhile Schwartz now has the ILB sealed to the outside and this is where West makes his cut up field. This is great North/South running and quick decision making to find the lane. The man Mack cut block is still on his feet, but was knocked down. That man is Shazier who will soon become a hurdle for West.

Here you can see West just as he is exploding out of his cut. He needed to slow down to let the play develop, but also to avoid the tackle and jump over his man. Then, once he lands, he is shifty enough to immediately cut out side around the block. Watch as this all transpires.

Slight delay in the hole as Shazier comes diving in at his feet. . .

The leap over Shazier . . .

Sticks the landing, eyes are up field and senses that pressure is most imminent from his right side but that there is nowhere to go now to the left, especially since he’s lost his “head of steam". . .

Yikes. . . Polomalu falls out of his shoes on this cut back by West, showing great lateral quickness and explosion. Notice how low he is to the ground, showing good balance and pad level.

Here’s another look from the end zone cam at his position during the cut outside. . .

Polomalu is reaching but is grabbing air here . . .

West extends the stiff arm and gets tackled from behind by #93 and holds on the football, falling forward for 2 or 3 more yards.

Here are the Vine videos:

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