There is no way that this can be laid on Crawford. For exchanges to work the incoming runner can only concentrate on the exchanges as he is moving at top speed. It’s outgoing runner’s task to know where in the zone he is, especially in the front of the zone when his head is down and he is accelerating. The outgoing guy has “eyes” due to his lower velocity and this is on Patton once again. The concept is universal.
As for Crawford slowing until they are in zone, this sounds good in concept, but in reality it rarely works, especially at this level. The downsweep/push pass leaves little room for error as the target bounces and this becomes more of an issue as the outgoing runner accelerates. The downseep/push pass takes up more of the lane as this technique requires a very unnatural articulation of the arm. The pass must be completed behind the outgoing athlete, reducing the window of exchange. When you “wait” for the outgoing athlete to get going, more often than not, he gets away. Patton presents a lousy target too, so this is even worse in his case. This is not in any way on Crawford.
Contrast this with France, who had a similar issue on their second exchange. The incoming runner had the room to run up on the outgoing guy and let him get going. The upsweep exchange allows for multiple points of change. It doesn’t need to occur behind the outgoing runner. The articulations are natural and two athletes can share a lane/zone more comfortably.
If anything this fiasco is another Brooks Johnson disaster. He may be gone, but he is the one who enforced this silliness. US coaches need to open their eyes and look around.