Cleveland Browns 3 biggest matchups to watch against Arizona Cardinals
By John Suchan
Matchup No. 1: Cleveland Browns rushing attack against the Cardinals poor run defense
The news broke earlier that star running back Nick Chubb will be out for the game Sunday. This is huge news and not one that favors the Browns who have relied on their superior run game to win games this year. I’ve heard those in the Twitter-sphere mention that the other Browns running back Kareem Hunt can do a good job in Chubb’s absence. I’d totally agree with that.
However, I’ve also heard the sentiment that you don’t lose anything with Hunt replacing Chubb. Browns back up running back D’Ernest Johnson will be a valuable substitute too and help the cause.
But, don’t fool yourself if you believe that Hunt and Chubb are interchangeable. They’re two different types of backs and Chubb sees the game in front of him better than any other running back in the NFL. So there will be a serious gap come Sunday with him out of the game.
With that said, the Browns lead the NFL in rushing yards with 938 and almost 100 yards more than the team behind them in the Dallas Cowboys. The Browns are crushing the league in yards per game at 188 yards. They’ve been over 150 yards a game all five games so far this season. Last season they accomplished that 150 yards a game six times so the ground game is the name of the game for the team.
Cleveland will definitely benefit in the run game this week again because the Cardinals rank 29th against the run giving up 145 yards a game to their opponent. So I think we might see substitute running back Johnson get a good amount of carries and the team will continue to use Hunt in more of his standard role of 10 carries and several catches out of the backfield.
Hunt already has 17 catches on the season and I’d think the Browns will try some screens into the flat to give Hunt some space to pile up the yards.
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If Browns coach Stefanski decides to abandon the run early and have Mayfield launching it from the cheap seats then say “Adios” to a Cleveland victory Sunday.