Browns weigh need to tackle Titans' Derrick Henry low, without repeat of Nick Chubb injury

BEREA — Ogbo Okoronkwo was asked on Friday the question that has been lingering around the Browns locker room since Monday night. In the process, it led the defensive end to answer the question has arisen about what awaits on Sunday afternoon.

The initial subject was about the hit — more like a roll — by Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick into Browns running back Nick Chubb's left knee. Chubb sustained a season-ending injury on the play, while Fitzpatrick's execution of, if not also his motives behind, the hit have come under criticism from some corners of the football world..

However, along the way, Okoronkwo couldn't help but look at the challenge Browns defenders will find themselves in on Sunday afternoon when they try to tackle Tennessee Titans All-Pro running back Derrick Henry.

"The nature of the game is very violent," Okoronkwo said. "It's a bang-bang game and those bigger backs require you to go lower most of the time if you don't want to get embarrassed. I don't think that Minkah had any ill will with that tackle. And just like if we go low on Derrick, we're not trying to hurt him. We're just trying to win the game. But like I said, the nature of the game is very violent, but that's the game we play."

Chubb and Henry aren't necessarily similar in stature. The Browns back is 5-foot-11, 227 pounds, while the Titans star stands 6-3, 247 pounds.

Henry has averaged 4.7 yards on 1,790 career carries and 81.5 yards in 104 career games. Chubb has averaged 5.3 yards on 1,238 career attempts, and 84.6 yards in 77 career games.

"What you mean, he look like me," defensive end Myles Garrett, who stands 6-4, 272 pounds, said of Henry. "He look like me one inch shorter and 15 pounds lighter. So I mean a guy that is physically impressive. He's a hell of a football player, been doing it at a very high level for a while now."

Where the two are exactly alike is in the physical way they run the football. Neither back, two of arguably the top three to five running backs in the NFL when healthy, can seemingly be brought down by just one tackler.

That leads to the question of how to bring a back like them down. Which goes back to Fitzpatrick, who was coming in low while Steelers linebacker Cole Holcomb had him up high.

"You got to come with a head full of steam and take those legs out," Garrett said of tackling Henry. "Got to go for the ball, got to make sure he doesn't get those five steps into the ground and keep him off track. Once he's going downhill to get to that second level, it's very hard to stop. That's been that case for all of his career."

The Browns have actually done a fairly good job in keeping Henry from going downhill. The Titans back has rushed for 164 yards and one touchdown on 49 carries in four career games — two of those starts — against Cleveland, with 115 yards and a touchdown on six catches.

Henry's best performance came in the Titans' last trip to Cleveland to open the 2019 season. He ran for 84 yards on 19 carries and a score, while he scored on a 75-yard screen pass late in the third quarter.

Chubb was closing in on the goal line on a 3-yard run when the gruesome knee injury occurred. Part of what stopped him was Fitzpatrick's hit, something Garrett believes was the definition of when everyone's doing something right can end up going wrong.

Something Garrett admits the Browns are trying to avoid a repeat of should they be in a similar situation with Henry on Sunday.

"Minkah didn't do anything illegal," Garrett said. "He was playing the game how it's supposed to be played. It was very unfortunate which happened, Nick getting held up but just having, just planting his foot and the hit and all that. That's not unlike what corners around the league do. This is something that's very common.

"And we're not going to do anything illegal to take Henry down. We're just going to go after the ball, hit his thigh boards, try to take his legs out and keep the guy safe and healthy, but we're going to do our best to chop him down as well."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Derrick Henry creates test for Browns not to repeat Nick Chubb injury