Chubb mad at himself for dropping passes in the loss to Chiefs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nick Chubb wasn’t ready last Monday to wax poetic on his great season and the Browns winning a playoff game for the first time in 26 years.
He was still too upset with himself for dropping two passes on the Browns’ second drive in the 22-17 loss to the Chiefs in the AFC divisional round, and a few other plays he’d like to have back, including a three-yard loss on that ill-fated drive.
“Yeah, for sure, it was tough,’’ a subdued Chubb. “It didn’t go my way at all. I can only learn from it. It happened, and I’m just mad at myself because that’s something I worked so hard to improve on was catching the ball in the offseason and up until yesterday it’s been working for me. So I can only learn from it, get back to work and when the time comes again, be ready for it.’’
Chubb admitted he was still feeling the pain of the close loss, one in which the Browns had chances to pull it out in the fourth quarter. Karl Joseph picked off Chad Henne in the end zone with eight minutes left and the Chiefs clinging to their fivepoint lead, but the Browns managed only 12 yards on the ensuing drive, and punted on 4th and 9 from their 32 with 4:09 left and never got the ball back.
Chubb was stopped for no gain on that drive and then Lorain, Ohio Anthony Hitchens dropped him for a 1-yard loss. The fourth-quarter home runs that Chubb has been known for just weren’t there as the Chiefs focused on stopping him.
“Yeah, I am down,’’ said Chubb, who rushed for 69 yards on 13 carries (5.3 average). “But it’s just those close games when you lose like that hurt way more than when you get blown out and just knowing that one drive could’ve made a difference in us going home or playing next week, and just for me personally, I hold myself to a high standard of playing at a high level every game and I didn’t do that yesterday. Had a couple of errors, so I’m down about that too.’’
But coach Kevin Stefanski urged his players last Monday to sit with the disappointment for awhile so they remember they don’t want to feel that way again next time around.
“That’s what I’m doing,’’ said Chubb, who caught only 2-of-5 targets for 4 yards. “I’m going to hold onto this feeling for awhile and get back to work later and see where we are.’’
Chubb’s biggest takeaway from the loss was that “in that moment, you have to make it happen. You can’t have any mistakes. Everything matters. It’s win or go home. I think we understand that. Next time we get the opportunity, I hope everyone fully understands that, me included. We only have that one moment, one game to make it happen, and you can’t afford to have any messups or mistakes. That’s the biggest thing if we ever get there again. That was a great lesson learned yesterday.”
Chubb, who finished the regular season with 1,067 yards despite missing four games with a sprained MCL, cracked the slightest of smiles when asked about J.C. Tretter saying last Monday that he’s ‘arguably the best runner in football.’
“Yeah, I definitely appreciate that coming from JC, who’s probably the smartest person in football too, so he probably knows what he’s talking about I guess’’ Chubb said. “But yeah, I appreciate it a lot, but it’s because of him and those guys up front that make it possible.’’
Tretter noted that the Browns are lucky to have two No. 1 backs on their roster in Chubb and Kareem Hunt, who rushed for 32 yards and a TD on six carries.
“I think Nick is arguably the best runner in football with what he is able to do with the ball in his hands, the physicality and the speed he can run with,’’ Tretter said. “Kareem is so versatile as a football player, being able to run, being able to be utilized out of the backfield and utilized in the slot as receiver.
“They just let us do so much. It’s nice having no real drop-off when one of them has to go out because you have another No. 1 back coming in. Like I said, we are built off of the run game to start, and we need to be able to run the football to open up everything else we want to do. To have two running backs that do that so well, it is really big for our offense.”
Chubb said that was one of biggest things he learned is that there’s plenty to go around for him and his close friend Hunt, who rushed for 841 yards.
“I learned that there is a way for us both to be on the field at the same time and there is a way for both of us to have a good year at the same time,’’ he said. “That is the biggest thing I took from it all is that we can still be us, share the ball and have success with it. The same thing for years to come. Just for us to keep having fun and playing and winning games together.”
Despite his disappointment over the game, he emerged feeling good about the future.
“The biggest reason is this team never stops fighting and never gives up in the face of adversity – playing a game without your head coach and without you key players and to still come out and win and to still come out and fight,’’ he said. “Even yesterday when things looked bad, we still fought to the end and never gave up. That is the biggest thing. I think it is just the beginning of this team. We just have to keep getting better, keep improving and never lose that fight.”
Heading into the final year of his rookie contract, he hasn’t thought about an extension.
“I’m just still thinking about yesterday and not really looking forward to that stuff right now,’’ he said. “Just continuing to work. It will pay off for me eventually and we will see.”