Browns Week 5 studs and duds: Heroes become zeros edition

Stud: Nick Chubb, RB

Once again, Nick Chubb proved he’s the heart and soul of this team. He ripped off a 41-yard touchdown on the first drive to put the Browns up early and then after a 14-0 lead turned into a 17-14 deficit for the Browns, Chubb got back to work.

A questionable roughing the passer call gave Cleveland a fresh set of downs at the two-yard line, but Chubb only needed one attempt as he ran it in for his second score. The Browns were up 21-17 heading into the half, thanks in large part to Chubb putting up 95 yards and two scores in the first 30 minutes.

In all, Chubb had 134 yards and two touchdowns but was absent in the final minutes again. That will lead to some criticism for their coach, who is next up on this list.

Dud: Kevin Stefanski, Head Coach

There’s being aggressive, then there’s taking unnecessary chances. So far in Kevin Stefanski’s career as the Browns head coach, he’s been very aggressive but on Sunday, he took some risks he shouldn’t have.

One came midway through the third quarter right after surrendering a touchdown to Austin Ekeler. Cleveland was down 24-21 and facing a fourth-and-one on their own 34. Rather than sneak it with Jacoby Brissett — who has been great at this — Stefanski called a run with Kareem Hunt that lost four yards.

Going for it here was going to be risky no matter how it was approached but it would have made much more sense to stick with what has worked. Since they didn’t, L.A. scored on a short field goal despite gaining just 23-yards on that drive.

As we saw, every point mattered in this one, and giving up free points was costly.