David Johnson hopes he’s gaining respect with every strong outing
Sep 18, 2016, 7:15 PM | Updated: Sep 19, 2016, 11:07 am
Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson (31) stiff arms Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Alterraun Verner (21) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
GLENDALE, Ariz. — By now, there doesn’t seem to be much David Johnson can do that comes as a surprise.
Break tackles? Sure. Stiff-arm a defender into oblivion? Of course. Look like a wide receiver when coming out of the backfield? Absolutely.
Yet, every time Johnson does one of those things that he does, people end up with their jaws on the floor.
Lucky Cardinals, right?
“It’s on purpose,” head coach Bruce Arians said of having a player with Johnson’s versatility. “You draft guys that fit your schemes. He and Andre (Ellington) fit it perfectly, and Chris (Johnson) is a heck of a pounder when you want to pound it.”
In Sunday’s 40-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Johnson gained 45 yards on 12 carries while adding another 98 on three receptions. With 143 total yards from scrimmage in the game, he became the first Cardinal to eclipse 130 total yards from scrimmage in the season’s first two games since Ottis Anderson in 1979.
He did it with a staggering array of moves, which included a vicious stiff-arm of linebacker Kwon Alexander as well as some impressive jump-cuts.
“I am just doing what I can to help out the team,” Johnson said. “Basically, when I see their leverage, some of it is instincts and just playing. I hope I can break some tackles and that is going through my head. Depending on what the leverage is, defensive back, linebacker or depending on what the position, the stiff-arm works pretty good.”
He’s gaining quite a reputation for being tough to bring down.
“I definitely hope so, I definitely hope so. I’m getting a little more respect in the league,” he said. “When I was getting drafted and everything no one knew me — a lot of guys didn’t even know I played running back. That’s what motivated me to come out and keep getting better and keep doing what I can to prove to all those guys that doubted me, and even still, now, I still get some negative stuff that’s going on and hopefully I can continue getting better, learning and getting more comfortable.”
Johnson said there was no one in particular who was still doubting him, but there were some who wondered if he could continue the success he had down the stretch last season. In a limited role as a rookie, he ran for 581 yards and eight touchdowns on 125 attempts and caught 36 passes for 457 yards and four scores.
While it’s only been two games, the former third-round pick out of Northern Iowa seems well on his way to making good on his immense potential.
As a runner and a receiver, he is proving to be a valuable and nearly unguardable weapon, even with a few blemishes on his record. In Sunday’s win, for instance, he ran an incorrect route, and Carson Palmer’s pass was nearly intercepted in the end zone.
That miscue earned Arians’ ire, and after the game, the coach said, “It wasn’t pretty.”
Johnson admitted there were far too many mental errors for his liking.
“A couple times,” he said of times Arians got on him. “I definitely had a couple M.E.s (mental errors), just boneheaded things that I know the play, I just did not do it right. And that’s one thing that I definitely have to go back tomorrow and watch and make sure I definitely get it corrected.”
While Arians may be hard on Johnson and Johnson even harder on himself, his teammates were more than willing to give him a bit of a pass. Palmer said that a couple plays prior to Johnson running the wrong route, the running back had taken a pass 58 yards. He could tell his running back was gassed.
“There’s not a weakness to his game,” Palmer added. “He’s the type of guy that if he makes a mistake, he doesn’t make it again. You don’t have to tell him things twice. He gets it. He’s a pro. He’s beyond his years in year two. He’s a special player.”
The Cardinals employ Johnson as a runner and a receiver, and his diverse skill set allows the offense to do many different things. The Cardinals will keep feeding him, of course, because they would be silly not to.
After all, as Palmer said, they have a special player, and receiver Larry Fitzgerald pointed out there are not too many running backs who can do what Johnson does in the passing game. That included a 24-yard over-the-shoulder grab down the left sideline.
“He’s making those kind of plays and also getting 15, 16 carries a game too and breaking out big runs,” Fitzgerald said. “The sky’s the limit for him and what he’s capable of doing.”
The receiver, who was not at all bashful in terms of heaping praise, then started to smile.
“We don’t want him to get too comfortable in the passing game,” Fitzgerald joked, “but when it’s there for him, we want him to make his plays, though.”
