Nick Chubb runs against the Raiders. (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio -- To explain what it’s like to block for Nick Chubb, a couple of Browns offensive linemen looked back to a play where they didn’t.

It was in Oakland, during the game in which Chubb rushed three times for 105 yards. He broke two long touchdown runs. The run that center JC Tretter and left guard Joel Bitonio pointed to was the second touchdown run from 41 yards out.

“I don’t think we blocked a soul,” Tretter said. “I think he ran past all 11 guys for that touchdown.”

Bitonio called it one of the worst-blocked plays of the year. Raiders linebacker Marquel Lee practically had Chubb down in the backfield. Tretter and Bitonio got the other two linebackers but let the defensive tackle through in the process. It didn’t matter.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this is a (tackle for loss),’” Bitonio said. “Then, all of a sudden, he was out the gate for a touchdown.”

Chubb was his typical, lowkey self when the play was brought up to him.

“Just made something happen,” he said.

The second-year back is poised for a breakout season. He didn’t receive regular carries last season until after Carlos Hyde was traded and Chubb took over as the starter against Tampa Bay in Week 7. (He carried the ball just six times in the next two games after the Oakland game.)

In his 10 games as the featured back, Chubb rushed 176 times for 823 yards and six touchdowns. He broke a team-record 92-yard run against the Falcons. His running style is decisive and his speed is deceptive. On top of it all,

, Chubb faced the fourth-highest percentage of eight or more men in the box, something that should be alleviated this season.

But what about the men in front of Chubb? What’s it like to block for him? We talked to all five players expected to start along the offensive line on Sunday vs. the Titans. Here’s what they had to say.

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Hitting the hole

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Chubb finds running room against the Steelers. (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

Right tackle Chris Hubbard has gone from one extreme to the other. He blocked for Le’Veon Bell in Pittsburgh, known for his patient running style. Chubb is more of a one-cut and go back. With Bell, the timing was a little different on every play. Chubb’s style means a little more predictability.

“We know when we can get off and get on the linebackers because he’s going to bring those guys towards us,” Hubbard said.

Chubb’s ability to find a lane and get to it was a common theme from each of the linemen.

“He’s going to make the right cuts and, nine times out of 10, he’s going to be on-point with everything,” left tackle Greg Robinson said.

“He knows where he needs to go and he feels it out pretty good,” right guard Eric Kush said, “and when he does, he punches it in there.”

Bitonio said part of what makes blocking for Chubb fun is that you think you have a play blocked for four or five yards and he’ll turn it into six or eight or even more.

“If you give him daylight, you know he’s going to put his foot in the ground, find it and just take off,” Bitonio said. “That’s really the nice thing blocking for him is knowing that we opened the crease we’re trying to, he’s going to be there and then he’s not going to dance in the hole, he’s going to hit it and just take off.”

“You come off to hit a guy and then you get a reaction from the D-lineman,” Kush said, “and sometimes the one hit is all you need (with Chubb) to get a good block.”

Tretter credits Chubb’s intelligence and willingness to learn how the line is going to block with his ability to know where the lanes will open up.

“Nick’s a really smart player where you can have high-level conversations with him about how we’re going to block it and he understands what we’re trying to accomplish,” Tretter said.

Then, once he hits the hole, the real fun starts.

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So powerful, so fast

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Chubb breaks free for a 92-yard run. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

Kush used his hands to describe how Chubb runs.

“He’s pretty physical, but he can be” -- and this is the part with the hands -- “whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh, kind of bendy and then ... hit the hole with power.”

It was Chubb's first touchdown run against the Raiders, the 63-yarder in the second quarter that the Browns blocked well, that really got Tretter’s attention.

“He’s so powerful but he’s so fast,” Tretter said. “That was something that took us by surprise. That first run against the Raiders, I think he went like 60 or 70 and no one was catching him and we hadn’t seen that before.”

“Once he hits the hole,” Hubbard said, “you see him fly past you, you know it’s going to be a great play, you know it’s going to be like five to six yards each play because he’s always moving forward.”

“You don’t realize how fast he is until he gets out in that open field and makes some other people miss,” Bitonio said. “I think his initial burst is that one cut, get downhill, but he will have some wiggle on the second level, too.”

Including that run against Atlanta, when he ran through the right side and didn’t stop.

“I had my guy, he cut right in between us, I just see a lot of grass," Hubbard said. "Next thing you know, he’s running down the field, 92 yards, the longest in team history. It was one of those plays. You see that and it’s nothing but greatness there.”

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Old School

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Chubb is the type of player who shows up and does his job. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

Former Browns running back Duke Johnson said last year that he

"The way he carries himself, the way he dresses in practice," Johnson said, "it drives me crazy. His helmet, his face mask, he doesn't really wear gloves all the time. He's in the wrong generation."

“I think me and him have the same level of swag on the field,” Bitonio said. “You don’t really see any armbands or visors on Nick, he’s just down-to-Earth, give me the ball and I’m going to run it, see what happens.”

Robinson sees how that nickname pairs with Chubb’s running style.

“He shows signs of great running backs of the past,” Robinson said. “Back in the day, you used to see a lot of stuff and it’s rare that you see that in the league now.”

He’s stoic, too. Kush said that he jokes that sometimes he’s not sure if Chubb likes him.

“He’s just stone cold sometimes,” Kush said, “but he’s fun. You’ll get him to crack.”

Which is something Tretter tries to do.

“One of my favorite things to do around here is try to get him to laugh,” he said. “He tries to keep quiet. My goal is to get him to laugh.”

Chubb, as you’d expect, didn’t have much to say about it other than it’s not hard to make him laugh, but he did concede that it’s Robinson that gets him the most.

“He has one of those Kawhi Leonard laughs, you know,” Robinson said. “It’s a good one and it brightens up your day. He’s a real good guy, he brings good energy.”

Which was a common sentiment about the Georgia product. Bitonio called him one of the best running backs he’s ever blocked for, as a runner and as a person.

“Just keeps his head down, always happy, always ready to work,” he said, “never complains about anything.”

If he picks up in 2019 where he left off in 2018, his linemen, his teammates and fans won’t have anything to complain about, either.

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