Chubb had 32 total yards and a touchdown in his season debut against the Bengals
The Browns seek to snap a five-game losing streak when they host the 5-2 Ravens at Huntington Bank Field in Week 8.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday that the team would have to play “sound, complementary football” in all three phases in order to defeat a Ravens team that sits at the top of the AFC North standings.
Here are three burning questions that might be answered on Sunday.
Will Nick Chubb see an increase in snaps?
RB Nick Chubb made his long-awaited return to the football field in Week 7 against the Bengals, finishing with 11 carries for 22 yards and a touchdown and adding one reception for 10 yards.
Chubb played just four snaps in the second half compared to 26 in the first half, with only one carry for 2 yards.
When asked about Chubb’s potential for an increased role in Week 8, Stefanski said that the team wanted to expand his role as Chubb is able.
“I think Nick came out of the game well,” Stefanski said on Wednesday. “So naturally, there’s something that we want to grow that role.”
Even when Chubb wasn’t getting the ball, running backs coach Deuce Staley said that Chubb’s presence on the field was able to open up the game for other weapons on the Browns offense.
Staley added that Chubb’s ability to serve as a decoy for defenses speaks to the body of work Chubb has produced in his seven seasons in the NFL.
“We know what Nick Chubb has been around here. We know what Nick Chubb has been to the league as far as the work he’s put in,” Staley said on Friday. “But it has to be a mixture; of course, you want him to be a decoy, but you want him to have the ball, too. So, Coach [Stefanski] and I talk about that and, like I said, Coach does an awesome job putting him in positions where he’s going to get the ball but also be a decoy.”
Can the defense prevent explosive plays against one of the league’s top offenses?
No offense has produced more explosive plays than the Ravens this season, who have 40 runs of 10 or more yards and 21 passing plays for over 20 yards.
With QB Lamar Jackson’s ability to create plays with both his legs and his arm, RB Derrick Henry leading the league in rushing yards and a talented group of pass catchers, preventing explosive plays will be a challenge for the Browns defense on Sunday.
“There’s some games you can go up and you say, ‘Hey, if we stop the run, we win the game.’ Or, ‘If we stop the pass, we win the game,'” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said Thursday. “With these guys, you can’t say that. You say, ‘Hey, we take Lamar’s legs away, we win the game,’ doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. ‘Hey, we stop Derrick Henry, we win the game.’ They’ve got plenty of other ways to run the football.'”
The Browns defense has struggled at times this season with bringing down opposing running backs, allowing 29 plays of 10 or more rushing yards, the fifth-most in the NFL this season.
Henry and the other Ravens offensive weapons will force the Browns defense to play at their best if they are to leave Huntington Bank Field with a victory.
“They have a lot of playmakers and things like that,” Schwartz said. “We just have to play good overall team defense, and we have to play with our style and we have to be physical. It’s going to be that kind of game.”
How will Jameis Winston look in his first start for the Browns?
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73669781/2179836333.0.jpg)
Through the season’s first seven weeks, the Browns started Deshaun Watson at quarterback. That will change Sunday, when Jameis Winston will take over at quarterback after Watson’s season-ending Achilles injury suffered in Week 7 against the Bengals.
Winston has started 80 games in his career, which began in Tampa Bay where he was drafted with the first overall pick in the 2015 draft.
“I’m extremely grateful to have yet another opportunity to do what the Lord has called me to do in the NFL, and that’s to be a starting NFL quarterback,” Winston said on Wednesday. “So, I’m beyond grateful for this and I am prepared and I will do my very best.”
Winston has been used in a short yardage package in four of his five games this season, rushing for three first downs. After QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson on-Robinson left the Browns’ Week 7 matchup against the Bengals with a finger injury, Winston played a full drive for the first time this season, throwing for 67 yards and a touchdown to TE David Njoku.
Winston called his experience last week valuable and said that he has learned a lot about how to prepare as a starting NFL quarterback. Winston spent four seasons with the Saints after his time in Tampa Bay and backed up QB Drew Brees for one season in 2020.
“When I had the opportunity to sit behind Drew Brees and [head coach] Sean Payton in 2020, during the year of Covid, then I understood the importance of the process of being an NFL quarterback,” Winston said. “What does it take for a quarterback to make the plays that he should make and to not make the plays that he shouldn’t make? So, I think my evolution as a quarterback has been every year, but I believe knowing the plays not to make instead of knowing the plays that I am capable of making.”
Winston threw a league-high 30 interceptions in 2019 while also leading the league in touchdown passes with 30. He said it will be important for him to execute cleanly on offense without forcing the ball downfield.
“We have to continue to build on drives and give our defense a breather, whether that’s taking what the defense gives us – we all want to attack the ball down the field vertically. That’s explosive, that’s fun football and that’s what we’re trying to incorporate as an offense,” Winston said.
