Nick Chubb will have to settle for a one-game match against Derrick Henry instead of a season-long competition because of his knee injury. (NFL.com)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
Because he missed four games with a sprained MCL, Nick Chubb can’t catch Tennessee’s runaway train, Derrick Henry, for the NFL rushing title this year.
Which makes the one that got away last season all the more a shame.
Recall that going into the final game of 2019, Chubb held a 1,453 to 1,329 lead in rushing yards over Henry.
With nothing on the line but Chubb’s rushing title, coach Freddie Kitchens dialed up only 13 rush attempts for Chubb against the Bengals in a 33-23 loss. Chubb’s 43 yards crept his season total to 1,496.
Needing a win over division leader Houston to earn a wild-card berth, the Titans pounded Henry 32 times. He responded with 211 yards to air-mail Chubb with a final total of 1,540.
Earlier this year, Chubb said losing the title “didn’t really bother me … just gave me more motivation” for this year.
With a head-to-head meeting with Henry looming Sunday in Nashville, TN, Chubb was asked again if it bothered him to lose the rushing title last year.
“A little bit, but it is nothing personal against him,” Chubb said. “It is more of just myself. I am not mad at Derrick Henry for getting the rushing title last year.”
Baker Mayfield said, “I think it bothers everybody else besides Nick Chubb, just to be quite honest.”
This year’s race between them is a runaway for Henry because of Chubb’s injury. But if you project Chubb’s current numbers over 11 games, things would be very interesting.
Henry has 71.7 percent of the Titans’ rushing attempts and 72.2 percent of their rushing yards. Chubb’s figures are tempered by his four-game injury and the load share with Kareem Hunt, an NFL rushing champion in his own right. Chubb has 32.6 percent of the Browns’ rushing attempts and 40.5 percent of their yards.
When Mayfield was asked if he’s looking forward to seeing the showdown between Chubb and Henry, he said, “You forgot to mention Kareem. I am looking forward to it.”
Tale of the tape
At the 2016 NFL combine, Henry, of Alabama, measured 6-2 5/8 and 247 pounds and clocked 4.54 in the 40-yard dash. He was taken 45th overall in the second round by the Titans.
At the 2018 NFL combine, Chubb, of Georgia, measured 5-10 7/8 and 227 pounds and clocked 4.52 in the 40-yard dash. He was taken 35th overall in the second round by the Browns.
Comparisons of the two backs were inevitable prior to this playoff-implication meeting of the 8-3 teams.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said: “Two great players. Derrick Henry has a very unique size for a running back. He is just tall, obviously strong and has a breakaway speed, as you see. Nick comes in a different package, if you will, but is as strong in his own right and also has that breakaway speed. They are two great players, two great players of the NFL … highlights obviously is important, but we know it is not a matchup between those two guys. At the end of the day, it is a matchup between the Titans and the Browns.”
Browns right tackle Jack Conklin, who blocked for Henry last year in Tennessee said: “It is hard to compare them. They are two very different backs. Derrick, he is special because he is just so big. He is 6-3, 250, and he runs a 4.4. That is just a giant. That is a different one. In his own respect, Nick too. He is just a different body build. Another extremely, extremely special back. They are both guys who are very good at reading the holes and setting up blocks. I think the biggest thing is if you put both of them together, they both are great at breaking tackles. You see that in the yards after contact. Both of them really excel at that.”
Brownie bits
Stefanski said that safety Ronnie Harrison, who was placed on injured reserve, will not need surgery on the shoulder he injured making a tackle on the very first play in the game against the Jaguars, his former team. The coach is “hopeful” Harrison can get back on the field before the Browns’ season is over. The good news is that Harrison played himself into a likely prominent role in the future …
The Browns had 10 players on their injury list, but Myles Garrett, in his first day back from Covid-19 reserve, was not one of them …
The only player on the active roster who did not practice was cornerback Denzel Ward (calf). Stefanski had no update on timetable for return from Covid reserve for linebacker Sione Takitaki, end Porter Gustin and end Joe Jackson ...
Titans coach Mike Vrabel has a dry sense of humor so you’re never sure if he’s joking when he answers a question. A Browns fan growing up in Akron who starred at Walsh Jesuit High School, Vrabel was a freshman at Ohio State when Bill Belichick polarized the Browns’ fan base by cutting quarterback Bernie Kosar in the middle of the 1993 season. “I didn’t like him. He got rid of my favorite player, Bernie Kosar,” Vrabel said. Vrabel later earned three Super Bowl rings playing for Belichick with the New England Patriots.