Cleveland Browns: Cam Erving Heading in Right Direction
By Peter Smith
After a preseason opener with many of the familiar struggles from his rookie year, Cleveland Browns center Cam Erving was substantially better against the Atlanta Falcons.
Cam Erving still has much to learn, but against the Falcons, he looked far more like like a first-round pick than at any point to date. This game showed much of what he’s still lacking should come from experience, as well as study, but it also showed glimpses of how much Erving can do for this offense in the future.
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The first play of the game, the offensive line blocks down to the right setting up Isaiah Crowell to counter back to the left. Erving and left guard Joel Bitonio drive nose tackle Grady Jarrett back to the second level, exactly as intended. Where Erving’s lack of experience shows is when Jarrett ends up firmly on Bitonio, Erving needs to then go find work at the next level, be it a linebacker or safety.
Instead, Erving sticks to Jarrett and ends up turning around so he’s looking back at the line of scrimmage. Had Erving gone to the second level, it might have cut off linebacker De’Vondre Campbell or safety Keanu Neal from getting in on the tackle. Crowell made Deion Jones miss and gained eight yards, but had Erving had gone second level, he might’ve gotten more.
Coming into the season, it was about knocking out the basics and there are still some of those to fine tune, but these are the details that will be critical to his development going forward.
On the third play of the game, a third-and-two situation, the Browns pulled both Bitonio and left tackle Dan France to the right. Erving’s responsibility was to block back and he had to get to Adrian Clayborn, who was lined up at the 5-tech on France’s outside shoulder– a difficult assignment.
Erving tries to take a straight line out to Clayborn right down the line. He’s able to get a hand on him, but Clayborn is going forward, so he gets across the line of scrimmage, works his way around and gets in on the tackle. Gary Barnidge got stacked up, forcing Crowell to slow down, allowing Clayborn to get to him.
More experience and savvy should enable Erving to realize he doesn’t have to try to get out to Clayborn so much. With more reps with his fellow linemen, he’ll trust he has the room to step down, break down in case a a linebacker tries to cross his face, and then step back as the left tackle gets past him. This would give him a better angle to shove Clayborn further outside and ultimately prevent him from impacting the play. It’s not a big deal in this situation, but if Clayborn were able to cause an injury or a fumble because Crowell can’t anticipate him coming, it becomes a major problem.
The first play of the second drive highlights what Erving can be for this offense. Coming out in a heavy formation, the Browns show the same guard, tackle pull they did on the third play of the game. This time going to the left and a playaction fake. Erving gets an initial block on the nose before sliding out to the right side and setting up as the sole protector as Robert Griffin III rolls out behind him.
Here, Erving’s athleticism is on the display, and he gets outside the hash smoothly and efficiently. He’s in position to cut off multiple pass rushers trying to get to Griffin, who pump fakes before keeping it and running and sliding for a first down. It’s easy to see what Erving can do for this offense once he gets comfortable and more instinctive as a blocker.
The following play, Erving blocks down to the left, taking on Tyson Jackson. He gets enough of Jackson to stop him from being involved in the play, as Crowell gains seven yards running behind the right tackle, Austin Pasztor. Erving’s hand placement ultimately prevents him from effectively reaching Jackson to seal him off from the play.
If Erving can get his hands across, in this case, getting to Jackson’s left shoulder with his right hand while his left hand punches Jackson in the middle of his chest, he can work his feet around and really wall him off from being in the play at all, as opposed to just getting enough of him.
On the fourth-and-two the Browns converted, they ran behind right guard John Greco, but Erving, Greco and Pasztor all got a good push on their respective matchups. The tailback picked up the first down without any trouble,
Obviously, Erving airmailed a snap that ended with Griffin on the receiving end of an ugly-looking facemask from Sean Weatherspoon. Those are issues that have to be cleaned up.
But from an assignment standpoint, Erving was doing his job in this game, and now it’s focusing on how he can do it more efficiently to finish plays the right way. Erving can focus more on physicality and less on thinking about what he should be doing.
Some of the issues Erving is facing are far more basic than others and routed in technique, such as the hand placement. There are still situations that need to be eliminated where he’s overextending and getting off balance.
Other issues, such as knowing when to come off the double team to go to the next level to find work, are about communication and trust. And lastly, getting the best path to cut off a defender blocking back come down to experience and feeling out what works and what doesn’t with reps and tape study.
It cannot be understated how important it is to the Browns for Erving to continue in this direction. Not only can they ill afford Erving to take a step back, they need him to keep progressing. The Browns showed some life in the running game between the tackles, and that is critical if their offense is going to succeed this season.
Erving is a wide body who is light on his feet and shows good power when he employs it effectively, giving him the potential to be one of the better centers in the league. That is a long way off right now and will require him to master the fundamentals and develop instincts. Too often, he is still thinking rather than reacting to situations, and it makes him look slower than he should.
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The Browns open up the season with games where Erving will have to face off against Bennie Logan, Brandon Williams and Ndamukong Suh. It doesn’t get more daunting than that, so if Erving can prove himself against that level of competition, the Browns are in good shape at the center position.