Cleveland running back Nick Chubb took little glee in running roughshod over the Falcons.
“This is the same game we always play no matter who the opponent is,” said Chubb, of Cedartown and Georgia. “I know that is my hometown, but I’m just prepared like any other game.”
Chubb rushed for 20 times for 176 yards and scored on a 92-yard romp through the Falcons’ defense, the longest run in Cleveland Browns history.
“It was a great job up front,” Chubb said. “Those guys blocked hard this whole game. It was wide open. I remember just running through and seeing just the safety left. I saw (Antonio) Calloway blocking the corner and he was doing a tremendous job of that. After that, it was wide open to the house.”
Falcons free safety Damontae Kazee came in low for an arm tackle, but missed.
Chubb gladly took his play in the Browns’ history books next to Jim Brown, Marion Motley, Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner.
“It was definitely very special to be in this place with so much history and so many other great running backs and to be a part of it and breaking records, it’s a great feeling,” Chubb said.
The Browns were not playing Chubb early in the season. He was fine with contributing on special teams.
Like at Georgia, he had to wait his turn.
The Browns eventually started to use Chubb and traded Carlos Hyde to Jacksonville.
“It’s always great to win, no matter what it takes,” Chubb said. “I’m willing to do anything they ask me to do. When I was not getting many carries, I was taking advantage of the ones I got. I was just trying to help the team any way I could. That still the same now that I’m getting more carries. I’m going to make the most out of all of them.”
Chubb drew on his experience in Athens at the onset of his pro career.
“That’s funny that you say that because this is the same pattern of my freshman year at Georgia, just waiting behind Todd Gurley, then getting my chance and taking advantage of it,” Chubb said. “That is kind of repeating now. I learned from that situation and it’s repeating itself now. When you do get a chance, you have to take advantage of it.”
The Browns went to a inverted wishbone attack in the second quarter. They were driving the ball until an errant halfback pass was intercepted by Falcons free safety Kazee.
“We were moving pretty good, but then we had a bad play and a bad throw I guess,” Chubb said. “But you can tell that (offensive coordinator) Freddy (Kitchens) loves his running backs because he got us all involved in that package.”
On one play, Duke Johnson pitched the ball out to Chubb.
“Yeah, that’s tough,” Chubb said. “I was very hesitant because I’m not sure what he’s going to do with it. Either pitch it or keep it.”
Chubb, who’s not known for his pass catching ability, caught a 13-yard touchdown.
“It was a screen pass,” Chubb said. “I had to stay very patient. I hide behind my blockers and I caught the ball. I was wide open and it was off to the end zone.”
Chubb believes that his transition to the NFL is going along smoothly.
“It’s like everything from Georgia is happening here,” Chubb said. “I had a coach get fired, but he got fired at the end of the season. It was tough because you come in with a certain guy as your head coach and you become fond of him and you learn his ways of coaching and you’ve got to go a completely different way. At first, it is tough. You have to switch your mindset and buy in to the new coach. It takes a while, but when everybody finally buys in an resettles, great things start happening.”
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