Cleveland running back Nick Chubb sustained a grotesque knee injury in the second quarter of Monday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, putting Jerome Ford into the Browns’ backfield as the No. 1 ball-carrier.

The former Alabama running back stepped up immediately by scoring his first NFL touchdown on the snap after Chubb was carted to the locker room, then tacked on a 2-point conversion run as Cleveland took an 11-7 lead with 14:02 left in the first half.

Ford’s first NFL touchdown came on his first NFL reception – a 3-yard toss by quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Ford joined the Browns in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft from Cincinnati, where he transferred after playing his first two college seasons with the Crimson Tide. Ford ran for 37 yards on seven carries before being redshirted after four games in 2018, then had 114 yards and three touchdowns on 24 rushing attempts in 2019 before leaving for Bearcats.

Ford ran for 1,319 yards and 19 touchdowns on 215 carries and caught 21 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown for Cincinnati in 2021, his final college season. But he played only 14 offensive snaps as an NFL rookie.

When Cleveland drafted Ford, its running-back depth chart included Chubb, coming off three consecutive Pro Bowl selections; former NFL rushing leader Kareem Hunt and D’Ernest Johnson, who had 245 rushing yards in two emergency starts in 2021.

Ford had eight carries for 12 yards as a rookie. He made his contributions for Cleveland on special teams, where he had 30 kickoff returns for 723 yards, the most in the AFC in 2022.

In 2022, Chubb made the Pro Bowl again with 1,525 rushing yards. But Hunt and Johnson are no longer with Cleveland.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.