Chubb injury not an issue if Browns are good
By STEVE KING
OK, so Browns running back Nick Chubb will be out approximately six weeks, at least according to one report, with a right knee injury suffered in the 49-38 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
Our RBs picked up the slack in Nick Chubb’s absence Sunday, and they'll be looking to do the same in the coming weeks
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 6, 2020
📰 » https://t.co/zXVUrPZ91T pic.twitter.com/Wqg4IjVT5M
Tough news to take? Oh, definitely. It was the rain on the parade that was still going on after one of the Browns’ biggest victories of the expansion era, raising their record to an impressive and, surprisingly good after that opening-day nightmare, 3-1. But to be honest, the severity of the injury was hardly a surprise after he writhed in pain on the ground at AT&T Stadium. It could have been much worse, such as season-ending, so Chubb and the Browns caught a break.
Still, not having a player many believe to be the second-best running back in the NFL, for a month and a half sure won’t help the Browns’ cause. No team — even the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, — would be unaffected by such a key injury.
But as much as the Browns, Chubb and the fans are disappointed by the developments, the fact of the matter is that injuries are part of the game. They happen. Players drop like flies every week.
It is “next man up,” a term that might sound like a lot of coach-speak but actually is the only way — the practical way — to look at this and move forward. Keep in mind that the Browns, playing much of the game without Chubb, still rushed for 307 yards, their most since 2009. It is also the most yards the Cowboys have ever allowed in their 60-year history.
So, then, the Browns already had a trial run with the running game minus Chubb and did very well with Kareem Hunt, D’Ernest Johnson and Dontrell Hilliard picking up the slack. The Browns want to run the ball first and foremost — it’s who they are under head coach Kevin Stefanski — and that isn’t going to change, so Johnson and Hilliard are going to have to help Hunt, now the feature back, carry the load.
All teams are challenged by injuries. Those great Browns clubs in the Bernie Kosar era during the last half of the 1980s had all kinds of injury issues, yet they continued to win throughout because of their depth of talent. This current Browns team has a lot of talent but is not as deep overall. However, if it’s deep at running back — and judging from Sunday, perhaps it is — then that’s all the Browns need to concern themselves with right now as they get ready to host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
