Austin Hooper Breaks Down Odell Beckham TD Run With Jim Rome

Cleveland Browns tight end Austin Hooper was a guest on The Jim Rome Show on Monday, coming off their big win on the road against the Dallas Cowboys.

One of the topics that came up was naturally, the play that sealed the victory, the end around to Odell Beckham for a 50-yard touchdown.

Hooper confirmed that it was the same play they ran in the first half that went for 23 yards. The Browns got the look they wanted from the Cowboys defense and opted to run it again. Hooper played it differently the first time as opposed to the second play.

The play was designed not to block Aldon Smith. In the first half, Hooper opted to block him in spite of that, deciding that he couldn't just let Smith get a free release. In the second half, he ran it as it was prescribed and Smith almost blew up the play in the backfield, but Beckham was able to get away from the tackle, found the tunnel set up by the Browns blockers and was able to get up the sideline for the touchdown.

The reason Smith wasn't designed to be blocked was two-fold. First, the play is supposed to be fast enough where the front side end can't get to it. Moreover, especially that late in the game, the expectation was that Smith would pinch, going inside to try to stop the run in hopes that the Cowboys would get the ball back down 41-38 late in the game.

Both Wyatt Teller and Jack Conklin blocked down on the play, which opened the door for Smith to have a hole to pinch into the backfield virtually untouched, but the end around would make his angle irrelevant because Beckham would be past him. Smith didn't pinch, instead going straight up the field, which gave him the chance to make the play, but Beckham was able to escape it and score.

Hooper also caught his first touchdown pass as a member of the Browns in the win.