Nick Chubb’s decision on the 1-yard line costs punters as Cleveland Browns fail to cover the 4.5-point gap

Nick Chubb’s 59-yard rush nearly ended the Cleveland Browns’ 10-7 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday. His decision to go out of bounds at the 1-yard line, instead of running into the end zone for a touchdown that would have covered the points spread, was painful for the betting public.

Chubb took a throw on a third and a 3 with 1:07 left, hit a defender and cut the left sideline and into the relief. The Browns, favored by 4.5, were hanging on to a 3 point lead. The Texans didn’t have a downtime, so Chubb said the plan was for him to take the first down and then surrender, allowing the Browns to pass the remaining seconds by kneeling.

On the Texans’ one-yard line, with no close defender, Chubb took a sharp left turn and went out of bounds. The Browns have knelt in the last two games and sealed a 3-point win for their sixth win of the season.

“I got a call from the coaches, from [quarterback] baker [Mayfield] to not score, get a first to end the game. So that’s what I did, “Chubb said after the game.” Fortunately, the race was a little longer because I didn’t think about it until the last 10 meters. “

The Browns have been heavily supported by the betting public. The line opened in Cleveland -2.5, but was put down to -3.5 on Friday and closed at -4.5 in most sportsbook.

At William Hill sports betting across the country, 89% of the money bet on the points spread was on Cleveland, according to data reported by the bookmaker an hour before kick-off.

DraftKings also reported taking a lot more money from the Browns than from the Texans. The action on Cleveland resulted in what DraftKings sports betting manager Johnny Avello called a “pretty big” swing in favor of the house.

ESPN’s odds of winning metric showed Cleveland has a greater than a 99.9% chance of winning, whether Chubb scores to put the Browns to nine with an extra point on hold, or decides to go out of bounds and leave Mayfield kneel down to escape the last few seconds.

Chubb admitted to reporters that it’s hard to give up scoring a touchdown.

“It’s the natural instinct to get into the end zone,” he said. “Something came to my mind… just stepping out of bounds. I should have just taken a knee or slipped to run the clock, but it was a split decision.”

Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said he wouldn’t have gotten mad at Chubb if he had scored. But they have a code word – “no mas” – at the end of the game to go down after a first try and not score.