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The Detroit Lions set out to make life very difficult for Chuba Hubbard on Sunday Night Football.
Hubbard clearly wasn’t bothered, though, in a spectacular outing as the Carolina Panthers pulled off a statement 32-26 win — a night that looks even better for Hubbard once you dig a little deeper into the numbers.
That’s because, despite the Panthers being prolific this season passing the football, the Lions actually frequently sold out to stop the run.
Spoiler alert: They didn’t stop it.
Chuba Hubbard Stats
Hubbard’s basic stats were impressive enough. He ran 20 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.1 yards per carry including a long run on the night of 32 yards.
He didn’t even have to be a factor in the passing game this week, with just one grab for seven yards, as Bryce Young peppered Tetairoa McMillan to the tune of 14 catches.
But now consider this: The Lions had eight-or-more defenders in the box on 45% of Hubbard’s carries on Sunday night, according to The Athletic’s Joe Person.
On those runs with a stacked box, Hubbard finished with 55 rushing yards over expected.
That’s a metric from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats that basically says, OK, there are these many people in this space, this is how far a player should get — and Hubbard made that metric look silly.
He kept getting extra yards, creating extra space, shaking off tacklers.
This was Hubbard at his finest, playing at the All-American level that he did in college. And if the Panthers can pair Hubbard like this with Young throwing like a No. 1 pick and McMillan catching like a first-round receiver, Carolina’s offense can be quite dangerous.
No Backup, No Problem
The Panthers are without their planned RB2, Jonathon Brooks, because he’s on injured reserve with a core muscle injury.
That leaves AJ Dillon as the backup running back, and Dillon was given five runs as well as some passing-down work on Sunday night.
At this point, Dillon isn’t an explosive player, and he likely won’t be given a ton of work for however long Brooks is out.
Hubbard didn’t seem to mind, though. Many running backs get better the more work they get, and Hubbard certainly was a workhorse in college.
More touches come with more injury risk, but the Panthers currently seem like they can rely on Hubbard at an impressive level.
After all, he wasn’t even deterred when the Lions sold out to stop him. What should intimidate him about a few extra carries? At least the way he’s going right now, Hubbard appears to be made for this.
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Billy Heyen Billy Heyen is a Heavy contributor with focus on the NFL and MLB. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who spent his senior year following Jim Boeheim's basketball team around the country. His reporting work has also included extensive work for The Sporting News, the Sandusky Register and Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle. Adventures in sports writing have also led to in-person coverage of the Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Guardians, U.S. men's national soccer team and a variety of minor league baseball stories. More about Billy Heyen
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