On the Cleveland Browns’ first drive of the second quarter, the dynamics of their offense were transformed for the worse. They’d been operating smoothly on the legs of running back Nick Chubb and found themselves in scoring position less than a minute in.
Then, in one play, everything changed. On a handoff from Deshaun Watson, Chubb drove up the middle and was hit directly on the knee by Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Audible gasps fell over the crowd at Acrisure Stadium, indicating the replay was shown on the Jumbotron.
“These fans here in Pittsburgh, so classy,” observed ESPN game broadcaster Joe Buck. “They groaned when they saw the replay. When Chubb got on the cart, they were chanting ‘Chubb’ for Nick Chubb, and they gave him a huge ovation as he was carted away.”
“I am told the replay of Chubb getting injured is not to be seen,” he said.
In good taste, NBC opted not to show the gruesome replay of the injury, but it was quickly found on social media for those who love to watch train wrecks.
“Well wishes go out to Nick Chubb,” Mike Tomlin said in his Tuesday press conference. “We’re competitors, but we’ve got a lot of respect for that man, as a player and as a man. You like to compete against guys like him, you like to beat guys like him, but you certainly don’t want to see catastrophic injury.”
Leading up to Chubb’s exit, he was shredding Pittsburgh’s run defense. On 10 attempts, he’d gained 64 yards for a 6.40 average. The game could’ve ended differently if the injury had never occurred.
Chubb suffered a devasting injury to the very same (left) knee as a sophomore at Georgia. According to Draft Sharks injury history, it was a mess, tearing his PCL, MCL and LCL, dislocating the knee and suffering cartilage damage.
Chubb collapsed after leaving training table on way to cart and regained consciousness once on cart. Was taken to locker room.
— Allie LaForce (@ALaForce) October 10, 2015
The question now becomes whether Chubb, 27, will ever play again, as lucky as he was in 2015.
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