LeBron James sends prayers to Nick Chubb as Browns RB suffers horrific game-ending injury - "Praying for the absolute best"
Tonight's Monday Night Football double-header has been marred by a horrific Nick Chubb injury.
The running back was performing a rushing play in the first quarter of the Cleveland Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers when he was hit in the left leg by safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. The hit broke Chubb's leg ending his game and potentially his season.
Game announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman had promised the injury would not be shown on air, but it still was anyway, as shown below:
Buck also noted that the fans at Acrisure Stadium cheered Chubb's name as he was carted off the field. After play resumed, his backup Jerome Ford scored a receiving touchdown, but there was little joy to be had:
The Browns then connected on a 2-point try after a defensive false start nullified a kick attempt.
Basketball superstar LeBron James, who was born in Akron approximately 40 miles south of Cleveland, reacted to the injury:
Nick Chubb’s brutal injury is not his first
As it turns out, this is not the first time Nick Chubb has suffered a season-ending injury.
Back when he was in college, the then-Georgia Bulldog was considered a very promising prospect after tallying 1,547 rushing yards in just eight starts in his freshman season. Then, as a sophomore, he tied Herschel Walker for most consecutive games with at least 100 rushing yards in program history against Alabama.
But exactly a week later against Tennessee, Chubb hurt his knee during his first play of the game. That prevented him from breaking the record and put him out of the rest of 2015. Ahead of his 2016 return, he revealed how he rehabbed his leg:
“I took taekwondo throughout the spring and kicked a lot of dummies and stuff like that to put some pressure on my leg.”
Chubb would become the second-most prolific rusher in both Georgia and SEC history that season. He was drafted 35th overall by the Cleveland Browns two years later and has since made four Pro Bowls and an All-Pro team and was a key component of their 2020 playoff run