For the first time since suffering the devastating knee injury in Week 2 last season on Monday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb will match up with the Black and Gold Thursday in primetime once again.
For many players, that can be an emotionally charged moment, one in which they enter with an extra chip on their shoulder and want to prove a point one way or another.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday ahead of the Week 12 Thursday Night Football matchup against the Steelers, Cleveland HC Stefanski said that he doesn’t think Chubb will get too caught up in the moment.
“I really don’t,” Stefanski said when asked if the game will be emotional for Chubb, according to video via the Browns’ Twitter page. “He’s focused. He wants to help us win any which way, and he wants to do his job. I don’t think he gets caught up in much else.”
Chubb isn’t a guy who gets too high or too low. He’s an even-keeled player, always has been dating back to his time at the University of Georgia. So nothing should change Thursday against the Steelers.
Nor should he have much to really be emotional about. It’s a team he’s played many times in his career, and he was injured on a play that he himself has said was a clean hit from safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick flew downhill inside the 5-yard line, meeting Chubb in the hole. Fitzpatrick went low to take Chubb down, and in the process Chubb suffered a very serious leg injury. It ended his season and even put his career in question at one point.
That led to discussions about it potentially being a dirty play by Fitzpatrick.
Chubb, to his credit, put an end to that talk in early June during a session with the media.
“I don’t think it’s a dirty hit at all,” Chubb said, according to video via the Browns’ YouTube page. “You know, I’m not blaming him. It’s part of the game.”
It was an ugly-looking injury, one that left Chubb’s career in jeopardy. But he has made a miraculous recovery and is back on the field producing for the Browns.
“It’s been incredible for me to watch, and I know he wants to just continue to help this football team win,” Stefanski added of Chubb. “I don’t think he has the mindset right now of reflecting on that. But for me to see what he’s gone through with those surgeries, with the rehab, getting himself in position to go play, and go help this team and go be productive, I do think it’s pretty incredible to watch.”
It is pretty incredible to see Chubb back on a football field and seemingly no worse for the wear. It’ll be great to see him in uniform again taking on the Steelers as Mr. Chubb has the respect and admiration of the franchise.
