Chris Johnson comes through with big runs for Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chris Johnson’s magical season took a turn for the even better Monday night in the Arizona Cardinals’ 26-18 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

The eight-year veteran finished the night with 122 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries, with two in particular — a 26-yard touchdown in the first quarter and a 62-yard jaunt in the third — standing out.

Let’s go in chronological order, starting with the touchdown.

“It was a situation when I came through I kind of felt — it was a cut-back run — and I kind of felt the guy falling off of me, and as soon as I looked up I see somebody hitting me,” Johnson said. “And then I just kept my balance, and then once I spun out I see John Brown down the field giving me a block to help me get to the end zone.”

That run electrified the stadium. His other big run stunned it.

The Cardinals had the ball with a first-and-10 from their own 30. Johnson took the carry up the middle, moved to his left and appeared to be dragged to the ground by a defender. But he never actually touched the ground, and after a moment or two passed with him on top of the defender, he got up and continued to run.

Johnson was finally brought down at the Baltimore eight-yard line.

“I kind of felt like I was still up,” Johnson said. “I was just, I was waiting. I thought the ref was going to blow the whistle, and then when they didn’t blow the whistle I just shot out of there.”

Chris Johnson is a savage ! pic.twitter.com/hgU6FE3eJp

— AJ McAllen (@ajmcallen13) October 27, 2015

Johnson wasn’t the only one waiting for a whistle.

“The forward progress was stopped,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said while explaining his team did not get an explanation from the officials. “If you hit him in that situation, then you’re going to get fined and penalized. That’s a 15-yard penalty and a fine for player safety.

“The play was three seconds. He was stopped. He was sitting there, so we shouldn’t have hit him there. It was a dangerous play.”

“I thought he was down because he was down for a cool two, three seconds,” Ravens safety Brynden Trawick added. “The whistle wasn’t blown, but he was wrapped up and just held there and then he just got up.

“I thought it was dead. I probably should have tackled him. I feel like he was down because he wasn’t going anywhere.”

But Johnson did go somewhere, although the back admitted he received some grief on the sideline for being caught by Ravens safety Will Hill. However, while the Cardinals failed to turn his big run into a touchdown, they did get a field goal that gave them a two-score lead and, ultimately, proved to be the winning points.

Monday’s effort gives Johnson 567 yards and three touchdowns this season, numbers that surpass even the most reasonable expectations anyone had when the Cardinals signed the former Tennessee Titan and New York Jet in training camp.

It almost begs the question of where this team would be without him, though that’s something Cardinals coach Bruce Arians has no interest in exploring.

“We’ve got him, so I don’t hypothetically look at that [expletive],” he said. “We won it with him so it depends on who’s running the ball.

“We’ve got good runners so no, he ain’t the team. If that was the question. Is he the team? [Expletive], no.”

That shouldn’t be viewed as Arians taking any kind of shot at Johnson, because he wasn’t. In fact, when talking about Johnson’s longest run of the evening, the coach called his running back “a pro.”

“He really wasn’t down and no whistle blew, so it was a good play,” he added.

And the Cardinals’ quarterback, Carson Palmer, had plenty of praise for Johnson, too, saying the running back has meant a ton to the team.

“He’s still got it, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “That defense notices it; every defense that we line up knows when he’s in the backfield and when he’s not. Just a great player.

“I was talking to him today, for a while he was one of the most dominant players in the NFL, and he can still dominate a game like he did today.”

Apparently, and the amazing thing is how Johnson has seemingly reinvented himself as a player.

Long known for his incredible speed, he’s been more of a power back for the Cardinals. He’s not slow by any stretch, but as ESPN Stats and Info noted, his 288 yards after contact this season lead the NFL.

So really, this is not your father’s Chris Johnson. It’s the Cardinals’ version, and while he may be a bit slower than he once was, he’s more apt to take on — and bounce off of — would-be defenders.

“It’s good that he’s on my side now,” linebacker Dwight Freeney said. “I’m used to chasing him in Tennessee all those years. But Chris still has the ability to take a home run ball any time he touches it.”

Monday, on Monday Night Football, Johnson had a chance to show the rest of the NFL what kind of runner he is. The 30-year-old showed power on the touchdown run and smarts/speed on the long one, giving him a pair of carries that people will be talking about.

So, which one did he enjoy more?

“The touchdown run, because I’m known for my speed and I showed right there some power,” he said.

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