Browns' Nick Chubb Takes Responsibility For Collapse Against Jets

The New York Jets benefited from Nick Chubb's decision to score his third touchdown of the game, rather than running out the clock in the fourth quarter.

Author:
Max Goodman
Publish date:
Sep 20, 2022 8:09 PM EDT

In this story:

New York Jets

Cleveland Browns

Browns running back Nick Chubb took responsibility for Sunday's historic collapse against the Jets, admitting that he should've gone down rather than scoring a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't have scored right there," Chubb told ESPN's Jake Trotter on Tuesday. "Honestly, looking back at it, it cost us the game. A lot of things went wrong, not just one thing. But collectively as a unit, as a team, we could've all done things different. But it's only a problem because we didn't win. So I probably should've went down."

Chubb broke free on a first-down play with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Cleveland had a seven-point lead at the time and New York had no timeouts remaining. Rather than effectively ending the game by falling to the turf—allowing the offense to run out the clock—Chubb crossed the plane for his third touchdown of the game.

Browns kicker Cade York missed the subsequent extra point, but still, Cleveland had a 13-point lead with less than two minutes remaining, up 30-17.

What followed was an improbable comeback from the Jets including a 66-yard touchdown pass, a successful onside kick and a game-winning drive from Joe Flacco.

"At the end of the day, I've been in that situation before and so I really can't put it on anyone but myself at this point," Chubb explained. "I think the biggest thing is I was aware of what was going on and I thought the game was over, if I'm being honest."

Chubb rushed for 87 yards and scored three times on Sunday, so the loss wasn't entirely on him. His head coach, Kevin Stefanski, took some of the blame as well.

"That's something that's my responsibility to communicate to that huddle," Stefanski said, per Trotter. "Putting yourself up potentially 14 points inside of two minutes, you should close out that game. Yes, I wish I had said that to Nick and Nick would've done it. But it does not change the fact that we had plenty of opportunities to win that game."

After Sunday's remarkable victory, Jets head coach Robert Saleh singled out Chubb's mistake multiple times.

"I've never been so happy for a missed tackle in my life. That was our only chance," Saleh said.