Chuba Hubbard — Week 3: Nineteen Carries, Eighty-Two Yards
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Hubbard carried a season-high 19 times for 82 yards — 18 on his 10 first-half carries, 64 on 9 after — and runs of 3, 11 and 16 took Carolina from its own 47 to the Cleveland 23 on the drive that put it ahead 18–13. He caught all 4 targets for 28, including a 30-yarder late in the half, and was stopped on the two-point try, in a 21–18 loss to the Browns.
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13 to 12, Browns, six 49 left in the fourth quarter, first and 10 at the Carolina 47. Chuba Hubbard went behind the left guard three snaps in a row: three yards to midfield, 11 to the Cleveland 39 on second and seven, and 16 to the 23. The 11 was worth +1.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 6.5 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. The 16 was his longest run of the day. Two snaps later Bryce Young hit John Metchie from the eight, and Carolina led 18 to 13 with four 29 left. Hubbard got the two-point try up the middle and it failed, and Cleveland answered with the touchdown that won the game.
The line: 19 carries, 82 yards, no touchdown, three first downs, six of the 19 successful, −2.5 expected points on the carries; four targets, four catches, 28 yards, one first down. The carries went nothing, one, two, nothing, three, one, two, three, five, one, six, three, nine, 11, two, three, three, 11, 16. 10 before halftime for 18 yards, none longer than five; nine after for 64. Three came on third down: two yards on third and 19 in the first quarter; one yard on third and two at the Carolina 39 with four 20 left in the half, a yard short, after which Young's fourth-and-one throw fell incomplete and Cleveland scored a touchdown from the Carolina 47 plays later; and 11 around left end on third and one with nine oh two left in the third, converted. The 30-yard catch was second and 10 at the Cleveland 46 with a minute four left in the half, short middle to the 16, with roughing the passer added on, and that drive ended in a field goal. The other three catches went for two, −4 and nothing, the nothing on second and 10 with a minute 40 left, Carolina down three.
Carolina called 23 designed runs, and Hubbard had 19 of them; AJ Dillon had the other four. Jonathon Brooks, who had four and five carries the first two weeks, was not there: Carolina put him on injured reserve with a core muscle injury before the game, and NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk reported he would need surgery and miss at least six weeks. 19 carries is Hubbard's most this season, after 10 12.
Back in June the preview had Hubbard on the watchlist: a bet on the memory of the season before last after a collapse to 40-second per game, in a committee built to shift toward Brooks, which made it a usage question. Week 1 was 10 carries to Brooks's four and two touchdowns. Week 2 was 12 to five and a fourth-down touchdown catch. Sunday the committee had one member, and the usage question answered itself for as long as Brooks is out: 19 of 23. Three games, 41 carries, a hundred 84 yards, and for the first time no touchdown. Carolina is home to the Lions on Sunday night the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
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