BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns in decline Nick Chubb took the blame for Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets, saying he should have dropped instead of scoring in the last two minutes.
Chubb’s 12-yard touchdown run with 1:55 to play put the Browns at 30-17. Rookie kicker Cade York then missed the extra run. But with the Jets already out of time-outs, the Browns could have kneeled and ended the game there if Chubb hadn’t scored.
Instead, the Jets became the first team in 21 years to overcome a 13-point deficit in the final two minutes of the game.
2 Related
“Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have scored there,” Chubb said on Tuesday. “Honestly, looking back, 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 all have done things differently. But it’s only a problem because we didn’t win. So I probably should have failed.”
After Chubb’s touchdown, the Jets answered in the second play of the ensuing drive. Quarterback Joe Flacco found Corey Davis wide open down the sidelines for a 66-yard touchdown.
The Jets then recaptured the onside kick and Flacco quickly drove New York back into the field, capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson to put the Jets at 31-30 with 22 seconds left.
Nick Chubb’s 12-yard touchdown with 1:55 left Sunday put the Browns at 30-17, but by failing to stop before the end zone, he gave the Jets, who had no timeouts, the opening they needed to face their unlikely to make a comeback. Nick Cammett/Getty Images
“Ultimately, I’ve been in that situation before and so I really can’t trust anyone but myself at this point,” said Chubb, who rushed 87 yards and three touchdowns against New York. “I think the most important thing is that I was aware of what was going on and I thought the game was over, if I’m honest.”
Two years ago, Chubb stepped out of bounds on the 1-yard line after a 59-yard run in the closing seconds against the Houston Texans. The Browns knelt with the ball to secure the 10-7 victory.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said he made a mistake by not telling Chubb on Sunday to go back down.
“That’s something that’s my responsibility to communicate with that group,” Stefanski said. “If you’ve potentially got 14 points in two minutes, you should close that game. Yes, I wish I’d said that to Nick and Nick would have done it.
“But it doesn’t change the fact that we had enough chances to win that game.”