Browns' Nick Chubb on fumbling issues: I've 'got to learn from it and get better'

Chubb fumbled the ball twice on Sunday to help the Patriots get out to a big lead

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Even with 131 yards on the ground, Nick Chubb had a night to forget in the Cleveland Browns' Week 8 loss to the New England Patriots. The second-year back had a horrific back-to-back sequence where he coughed up the ball twice. 

The first fumble came on his first touch of the afternoon. New England defensive tackle Lawrence Guy was able to knock it out of his arms, linebacker Dont'a Hightower scooped it up and took it 26 yards for a touchdown. Then, on the very next Cleveland offensive possession, Chubb took a handoff 44 yards before Jonathan Jones knocked the football loose for safety Devin McCourty to recover. 

"I was down," he said of the fumbles on consecutive touches. "I was down bad. It was two [fumbles] in a row and that's just something that I don't do often, so it was kind of new to me. I feel like I let the team down."

This is the second game in a row that Chubb has fumbled the football. For reference, he had zero fumbles in his first 21 NFL games. 

"It's not me, I'm just going through the spell right now," he said after the game. "I just got to get back to what I do and that starts in practice. I got to make sure I'm overemphasizing ball security and keeping it high and tight. The past two weeks somebody tapped it from behind in my right hand an I know that and I understand that. I just got to learn from it and get better. 

Chubb credited his teammates and coaches for keeping his spirits up, and the running back was able to put up some impressive totals following those miscues, which just proved to be costly. 

"it's very out of character," Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens said of Chubb's fumbles. "I think it means more to him than anything. You know, Nick had a good night. He hold onto the ball, he knows that. I'm not killing Nick Chubb, because Nick Chubb is going to be there in the end." 

Chubb's fumbles were a part of a brutal sequence for Cleveland as they also had an interception immediately after those two fumbles. The last time a team committed three turnovers on three straight offensive snaps was the 2012 Dolphins. 

"[The Patriots] got banners up there for winning the same way," Kitchens said. "I told our guys how they win is they don't beat themselves. We came in an beat ourselves."