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Nick Chubb is taken off the field after suffering a knee injury on Monday Night Football.
For some Buffalo Bills fans, Nick Chubb’s devastating knee injury on Monday Night Football evoked some bad memories.
The Cleveland Browns running back was carted off the field during his team’s September 18 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the third consecutive Monday Night Football game that saw a major medical event. Last week’s game saw Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffer a torn Achilles against the Bills, and last year’s final Monday Night Football game is one Bills fans will never forget — Damar Hamlin’s on-field collapse that led to a long hospital stay and a canceled game.
Other Bills fans recalled a very similar injury suffered by a past Buffalo running back, which offered a glimmer of hope for the long recovery Chubb could now face.
Bills Fans Wince at Nick Chubb’s Injury
Chubb was hurt in the second quarter of Monday’s game, going down hard after being tackled by Minkah Fitzpatrick. Chubb’s injury was so severe that the Monday Night Football broadcast opted not to show replays, which led some Bills fans to recall the trauma of Hamlin’s collapse.
“Announcers wont show Nick Chubb injury but will replay Damar Hamlin dying on the field?” one fan shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
As CBS News noted, the crowd audibly gasped when a replay was shown inside the stadium.
Others pointed out the strange circumstances of the last three Monday Night Football games, with a significant injury in each and the Bills involved in two of the three.
Others noted that Chubb’s injury was reminiscent of another former Bills running back, Willis McGahee. In his final season at the University of Miami, while playing in the Fiesta Bowl, McGahee suffered a nearly identical knee injury but was able to recover and was later drafted by the Bills.
Recalling McGahee’s injury gave hope to some fans, as the running back was able to recover and went on to rush for 8,474 yards with 65 touchdowns over the course of his 10-year NFL career.
“The Monday night left knee injury of Browns RB Nick Chubb — who already had a horrific injury to the same knee at Georgia — immediately gave people flashbacks to the catastrophic injury Miami RB Willis McGahee suffered in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl,” the account College Sports Only shared on X. “Hopefully Chubb can come back from it the same way McGahee did.”
Nick Chubb Fears Out for the Season
While there was no immediate prognosis for Chubb, the severity of the injury led to immediate speculation that he could miss the remainder of the season. As Pro Football Talk noted, analyst Troy Aikman said the injury was “as bad as you can imagine.”
The report pointed out that Chubb already had trouble with that knee during his time in college.
“It is the same knee Chubb required reconstructive surgery on while at Georgia,” the report noted.
Chubb had 10 carries for 64 yards at the time of his injury. The Browns went into the game looking to move to 2-0, keeping pace with the undefeated Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North.
Nathan Dougherty is a sports reporter covering the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions for Heavy. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty
