CLEVELAND — As the brutal reality of losing star running back Nick Chubb for the rest of this season sunk in, the Cleveland Browns only needed to trace the recent history of their next opponent to know that everything could turn out OK.
The Tennessee Titans have been there, done that.
Two years ago, they lost Derrick Henry halfway through the schedule when he broke his right foot. Not only did Tennessee survive the rest of the regular season without its rampaging running back who had rushed for more than 2,000 yards a year earlier, the Titans somehow flourished, finishing 12-5 to earn the AFC’s No. 1 seed for the playoffs.
The Titans didn’t panic after losing Henry, who in 2021 was on course to lead the NFL in rushing for the third straight season.
The Browns, who host the Titans on Sunday in a matchup of 1-1 teams, can only hope to be as stoic without Chubb, the four-time Pro Bowl selection who incurred a season-ending and career-threatening injury to his left knee during Monday night’s road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The sight of seeing the 27-year-old back in tears while being carted off shook many of his teammates.
It was the kind of moment that can define a season.
“You can’t replace 24,” Browns offensive guard Joel Bitonio said, referring to Chubb’s number. “But I think we have pieces that we can try and put together, a puzzle that can look similar to what we did with Nick.”
The Titans were in a similar scramble mode in 2021 after Henry went down, but they stuck with their run-first, run-often approach, and with Dontrell Hilliard and D’Onta Foreman filling in, the team finished fifth in the league in rushing, averaging 141.5 yards per game on the ground.
Cleveland defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz watched it. He was a senior advisor in Nashville that season, and he was impressed with how Titans coach Mike Vrabel failed to let Henry’s loss overwhelm his team.
“He stays the course,” Schwartz said of Vrabel. “He’s very resilient that way, and it flowed over to the team. Part of that job of the head coach is to make sure everybody knows, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK, we have a plan, we have good players behind.'”
The Browns didn’t have much time to process losing Chubb, who was injured in the second quarter of the 26-22 loss to the Steelers. Jerome Ford, a fifth-round draft pick in 2022, came in and caught a 3-yard touchdown pass one play after Chubb’s horrific injury. Ford later ripped off a 69-yard run and finished with 106 yards on 16 carries.
Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski plans to use Ford as his featured back, and the Browns brought in some insurance Wednesday by re-signing Kareem Hunt, who spent four seasons in a tandem with Chubb before the team elected not to retain him.
While the personnel might be different, the Titans don’t expect the Browns to stray from their ground game.
“It don’t really matter who’s back there,” said Tennessee defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, a two-time Pro Bowl selection. “You know they trust their offensive linemen. At the end of the day, it’s about how are we going to be able to hold up against their offensive line against the run game.”
Meanwhile, the 29-year-old Henry has rushed for only 140 yards so far this season, but it’s more than likely only a matter of time before he gets rolling. Once he does, look out: At 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, there are few more intimidating sights than Henry at full speed.
“He’s a guy that you can stop nine times in a row, and in the 10th time, he can go 90 yards for a touchdown,” Schwartz said. “We’re going to tackle well, we’re going to have to be physical, and we’re going to have to get hats to the ball. Tackling Derrick Henry isn’t a one-on-one thing, it’s an 11-on-1 thing, and we have to have that mentality going in.”
Henry is 97 yards from passing his “running back superhero,” Pro Football Hall of Famer Earl Campbell, for second place on the franchise’s career rushing yardage list.
“For me to be mentioned with his name is like a dream come true,” Henry said.
The Titans beat the Los Angeles Chargers 27-24 in overtime last Sunday in Nashville, with both the team and veteran starter Ryan Tannehill rebounding from a 16-15 road loss to the New Orleans Saints in the opener. And while Tannehill, who’s in the final year of his contract, was much better in the second game, the Titans aren’t doing enough to keep the 35-year-old quarterback upright.
Only six teams have allowed more sacks through the first two games this season than the Titans, with Tannehill being taken down eight times, including five sacks by the Chargers. One of those was the fastest sack by a defender this season as Kenneth Murray needed only 2.31 seconds to get to Tannehill.
Tennessee’s offensive line already had four new starters before rookie left guard Peter Skoronski had an appendectomy on Sept. 16. Vrabel knows the Titans’ front five will have their hands full this week against a rebuilt Cleveland defensive line led by end Myles Garrett, a four-time Pro Bowl selection.
“I don’t think there’s too many guys walking the earth like Myles Garrett,” Vrabel said of the 6-foot-4, 272-pounder, who had 16 sacks each of the past two seasons. “So we’ll be in for a huge challenge.”