Nick Chubb made costly decision in Browns’ collapse
Jan 3, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb (24) during the first quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb inadvertently hurt his team badly late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s collapse against the New York Jets.
With the Browns up 24-17 and 2:02 left in the fourth quarter, Chubb took a carry for a 12-yard touchdown to extend the lead to two scores. The Browns missed the extra point, leaving the score at 30-17, but it certainly appeared to have put the game out of reach for the Jets.
Nick Chubb decided to run this in for a TD rather than slide down.
The Jets came back to win 31-30.
(via @Browns)pic.twitter.com/5LYhhE9yZz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 18, 2022
Even so, the game essentially would have been over if Chubb had gone down short of the end zone. The Jets had no timeouts left and could not have stopped the clock again after the two-minute warning, which would have allowed the Browns to run out the clock. That prompted some major second-guessing after the Browns collapsed and lost 31-30.
Jets coach Robert Saleh and quarterback Joe Flacco both admitted that they seized the mistake as soon as it happened.
Both Robert Saleh and Joe Flacco are very thankful that Nick Chubb scored that late touchdown instead of running out the clock.
Flacco: “I’m thinking: Ok that’s not what you’re supposed to do.” #Jets
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) September 18, 2022
On the list of scapegoats, Chubb has to be pretty low here. Cleveland’s defense gave up two touchdowns in the final two minutes. The hands team failed to recover an onside kick after the first one. Plus, if Cade York hadn’t missed the aforementioned extra point, Cleveland could have at least had a chance in overtime to salvage the game.
Still, this is why some advocate for going down short of the end zone to burn clock. There are times when it is completely justified to do so, and it has burned players before. Chubb would have been better off doing so here, but that is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight.