CLEVELAND — After undergoing MRI testing and scans, running back Nick Chubb has been diagnosed with a severe knee injury, which will require surgery and end his season. The specifics of the damage to his knee has not yet been disclosed.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry are working on options in the running back room.
Chubb suffered the injury in the first half of the game, rushing toward the end zone when he was hit awkwardly in the knee by Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, which was so brutal a replay couldn't be shown on the broadcast. It aired once inside Acrisure Stadium and drew a hush over the crowd.
The Browns running back was poised for a major year, with expectations he would be more involved in the passing game to add to his high production on the ground. Through his first six quarters of football this season, Chubb was averaging 6.1 yards per carry and had notched 170 total rushing yards. He caught all four of his passing targets in Week 1's matchup with the Bengals.
The loss of Chubb is something felt around the sports world, but especially by his teammates.
It ******* hurts. I mean, that's our brother. That's my brother and we've been together for a long time. It's a blow for the whole team. And we don't want his injury to be in vain and we got to push on. That's what he wants us to do and if he had any choice in the matter, that's what he would do. So I just got to continue to fight and use his motivation.
He's part of the heartbeat. He's one of the leaders. He does a lot. I know the guys are going to step up and try and fill some of those shoes. It’s going to take more than just Jerome, Pierre's going to be back there, sure we’ll get some other guys up as well. It's going to take a lot of guys to try and replicate that, but you look at a guy that you want your teammates to be, you want 53 Nick Chubb personalities on the team and you'd have a pretty dang good team.
Obviously it's a huge loss. Nick is like the engine of the team. You know what I mean? The best player on the team. It's tragic, very unfortunate. I'm very sad for Nick, sad for this team losing Nick. Not only is it not ideal, but this is a tragedy.
I'm hurt for Nick. In a way, he's the heart and soul of our team. You guys see it when he's out there running the ball. So just knowing I've been through an injury like that, it was kind of scary. I just literally said a prayer because I was just so hurt for him. I feel like you guys see it too, the whole team is hurt. Just really sad for my guy.
Stefanski said that Chubb is "disappointed" but was back in the building on Tuesday—a big lift for a team so weighted down by the injury. Now, they're looking to move forward in honor of Chubb.
"We will support him in every way, best way we can honor who Nick Chubb is, is to perform," Stefanski said.
With Chubb out for the season, running back Jerome Ford moves into the role of RB1. On Monday night, Ford was able to step up in Chubb's absence, rushing for 106 yards on 16 carries—his night highlighted on a 69-yard rush that put the Browns on the goalline.
Ford, who has been mentored by Chubb and is very close to him, said seeing his teammate hurt was devastating, but vowed that "every game, every practice, making sure we're going hard for Nick."
"I was just hoping that he was okay and then getting up and seeing that he was not okay, it kind of hurt seeing somebody work their ass off, off-season, in-season the way he worked, like, man, he deserves it all, he deserves the success that he has and to see him go down like that kind of hurt," Ford said after the game. "I pretty much tried to give it all I got for Nick today."
With a short week and the Titans coming to Cleveland for Sunday's game, the Browns know how important is it is to rally through Chubb's injury and "turn the page."
"I think everyone, you guys, our fans know how important Nick is to this team, but Nick wants this team to go perform. Nick wants his team to go practice. Nick wants his team obviously to go win, but more than anything, he wants his team to make sure that the focus is on doing the things that we need to do to go win games. So that's what we'll do very quickly," Stefanski said. "You have to turn the page, like I told you guys last week, you got to let those wins go really fast and you got to let those losses go really fast. You get rid of those—win, lose or draw. In this case, we're disappointed but have a great opportunity with an AFC opponent coming to our place on Sunday."
