Where the Browns would stand if Nick Chubb wasn’t lost for the season
The Cleveland Browns lost more than a game in Week 2 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they lost perhaps the biggest part of their offense. When RB Nick Chubb went down against the Steelers and tore up his knee for the second time, there was a breath taken out of the Browns in that game. Cleveland […]
The Cleveland Browns lost more than a game in Week 2 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they lost perhaps the biggest part of their offense.
When RB Nick Chubb went down against the Steelers and tore up his knee for the second time, there was a breath taken out of the Browns in that game. Cleveland went on to lose that game 26-22.
At 5-3, the Browns are in a good spot if they take care of business. But it’s easy to imagine that they would have a better record with Chubb healthy.
I’m comfortable going out on a limb and saying the Browns very well could be a 7-1 team if Chubb was healthy. The game against the Steelers is one I see the Browns having won if Chubb was out there, they had control of the game when he left, then looked defeated in the second half.
The Baltimore Ravens handed the Browns a lopsided loss and not even Chubb would have won that game. But the Seahawks matchup in Week 8 was a 24-20 loss. Cleveland had a chance to end the game with a couple of first downs and turned the ball over on third-and-short, thanks to an interception delivered by P.J. Walker. If Chubb was healthy, they likely hand that ball to him and good things happen.
Since Chubb was injured, the Browns have learned what they have in Jerome Ford. In his first real workload this season, Ford has shown some good things, though he is not that top-tier back like Chubb. He isn’t expected to be either, but going from Chubb to Ford is a big drop-off.
Cleveland is getting 53 yards a game from Ford, compared to the nearly 85 yards per game that Chubb has been good for throughout his career. Ford has a couple of big runs that have inflated his yards per carry to four, but he doesn’t look like that kind of guy with the eye test.
Kareem Hunt was brought back and he’s been what they expected. He can give you some tough yards but he’s not going to handle a big workload. The veteran back has 196 yards rushing at a 3.3 clip.
With the time that Deshaun Watson missed, Chubb surely would have been nice to have for Walker. Unfortunately for Cleveland, you can’t go back in time.
The Browns now have to hope that Chubb can come back and be close to the same player he was, which was the best pure running back in the NFL.
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