Browns need to feed Chubb early and often Monday

The passing game of the Cleveland Browns is still very much a work in progress, but there is no need to work things out in real-time when they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday night. Instead, the Browns should focus on using Chubb as much as reasonably possible in their Week 2 matchup.

The reasoning is pretty simple. Chubb is one of, if not the best running back in all of football. Not utilizing his services while he is in the prime of his career would be coaching malpractice. If the Browns offense is going to be more effective than last week, they will need to lean on their running game and work to out-physical a Steelers defensive front that finds itself without Cameron Heyward. While there are still plenty of talented players on defense for Pittsburgh, the absence of Heyward cannot be understated, and the Browns must find a way to exploit it if they can.

An injury for the Browns that could also play a factor

Cleveland got their own bad news on the injury front earlier this week. Starting right tackle Jack Conklin will miss the rest of the season due to ACL and MCL tears. This puts rookie Dawand Jones in a tough spot. Jones was impressive in his NFL debut, but he will now be facing a Steelers team that has game planned for his presence on Cleveland’s offensive line. Taking this into account, as well as Deshaun Waston’s tendency to hold the ball for way too long could lead to disastrous results for the offense. Even with a healthy Conklin, this was going to be an issue with Jedrick Wills on the left side of the line. Now that an inexperienced rookie is starting opposite Wills against an elite pass-rushing duo in T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, The Browns’ passing game could have another rough outing.

It is about understanding the situation at hand and recognizing how to put players in the best position to win. Tasking Jones with a high volume of pass-blocking snaps would be less than ideal. However, this is something that could still happen due to Kevin Stefanski’s tendency to use the pass to set up the run rather than the other way around.

If the Browns are going to go into Pittsburgh and come away with a 2-0 record, they must hand a heavy workload over to Chubb. There is no reason to overthink things and try to force a passing attack that may never fully click. If they go with the latter approach and not the former, this trip to Pittsburgh could play out in a familiar, non-winning manner for Cleveland.