Re-establishing David Johnson first step for Cardinals offense

TEMPE, Ariz. — Play to your strengths. That’s what the good teams do.

For whatever reason, though, the Arizona Cardinals weren’t doing that for the first half of the 2018 campaign. At least not with David Johnson. Either they were stubbornly trying to use him differently than the old regime did, or they simply couldn’t get him going within Mike McCoy’s offense behind a shaky line.

Either way, he didn’t look like himself for the first seven weeks of the season. But if his first two performances under new offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich are any indication, Arizona’s most dangerous weapon could be getting back on track.

That would be huge. And not just for the rest of 2018, when draft status is a more pertinent topic of discussion than the playoffs. But for 2019 too.

Johnson erupted for 183 total yards — 98 on the ground, and another 85 through the air — as well as both of the Cardinals’ scores against Kansas City on Sunday. And if not for Justin Houston’s interception of Josh Rosen on a screen pass in the fourth, Johnson likely would have had plenty more.

In short, he finally looked like the guy Arizona fans grew accustomed to seeing in the past.

“I thought it was a great game plan by the offensive coaches,” Steve Wilks pointed out. “I thought Byron did a tremendous job of really calling the game, getting into a flow and rhythm of the game. As we all have seen – and you guys have been here before myself – what David is capable of doing. And we saw that. He had some hard runs inside the tackles, did some good things getting outside as well as in the passing game. So I thought Byron did a tremendous job of just trying to get him the ball.”

This all came on the heels of a 100 total yards for Johnson against San Francisco the game before. To put that in perspective, he went over the century mark once in the seven games under McCoy. He’s done it both times Leftwich has been the OC.

Granted, those are 100 total yards, not 100 rushing yards. Johnson has yet to accomplish that feat in 2018, so there’s still work to be done here. But he’s always been at his best as a dual threat out of the backfield. And Sunday’s effort happened behind a tattered offensive line that was already missing Mike Iupati, and then lost Justin Pugh during the game.

“As long as David is getting yardage, and he’s getting in the end zone, I don’t care what it feels like,” Wilks said.

That’s the key – both for the present and the future. Sure, Rosen is the franchise quarterback that everything is going to be built around now. And Christian Kirk looks like he can evolve into a consistent contributor. Those are definitely positives.

On the other hand, this might very well be Larry Fitzgerald’s final season. Johnson is basically the one truly established weapon this offense has locked up past 2018, so getting him closer to resembling the 2016 version of himself is a must. And being able to move the ball on the ground just makes everybody’s life easier anyway.

“Getting that running game going really helps,” Mason Cole explained. “It takes the pressure off the offensive line. We get successful runs on first and second down, it keeps us in third and manageable. If you don’t kind of get into bad situations, you can call what you want.”

That means a better environment for Rosen to develop in too. So, while it’s only been two games, progress from Johnson is a welcome sight for an Arizona offense that has endured a lot already this season. If he truly re-emerges, it clearly gives them a better shot at winning games right now. And, more importantly, it should open doors for them to do more things down the line as well.

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