Lost in the Shuffle: David Johnson’s redeeming performance
Lost in the shuffle of Sunday’s loss is rookie David Johnson’s bounce back performance against the Carolina Panthers.
While the biggest takeaway from Sunday’s NFC Championship loss is the Arizona Cardinals’ unexpected implosion on one of professional football’s biggest stages. However, there are a few bright moments that makes one optimistic regarding the future of this team. One of these moments was running back David Johnson’s performance against the NFL’s fourth ranked run defense on the road.
On a night where the NFL’s number one offense was having, to say it lightly, “a bad day,” a rookie third round pick who started the season third on the running back depth chart cemented his role as Arizona’s best running back for the coming years. Against the Panthers defense, ranked 6th overall, Johnson carried the ball 15 times for 60 yards and 1 touchdown, he also caught the ball 9 times, on 9 targets, for 68 yards. Even when the game’s outcome was well decided by the end of the third quarter, Johnson finished the game as the Cardinals’ leading receiver and leading rusher. He was a shell of the player who just last week ran for only 35 yards on 15 carries against the Green Bay Packers’ 21st ranked run defense.
In his first 11 games before becoming the feature back, Johnson ran for 139 total yards, and 4 rushing touchdowns. While he wasn’t able to show off his talents as a runner in those first 11 games, Johnson did show he was a dangerous threat as a pass catcher coming out of the backfield, catching 19 passes for 238 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. Before he took over the starting role full time, David Johnson was also returning kicks, and excelled at it. In 22 returns, Johnson accumulated 598 return yards and 1 touchdown.
Once Johnson was able to become a focal part of the offense, the sky was the limit. In 5 games as a starter, Johnson ran the ball for 442 yards, 4 rushing touchdowns, caught 17 passes for 216 yards and 1 touchdown, Based on his 5 games as a starter, over the course of a full regular season, Johnson was on pace to runfor 1414 yards. This would have put him in second place for total rushing yards, and just 71 yards behind Adrian Peterson for first.
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Shockingly, David Johnson was not named a finalist for the NFL Pepsi Rookie of the Year. Nominated were receivers Amari Cooper (Raiders), Tyler Lockett (Seahawks), running back Todd Gurley (Rams), cornerback Marcus Peters (Chiefs), and quarterback Jameis Winston (Buccaneers). Being snubbed of a nomination of an award he very much deserves after becoming the starting running back of a Super Bowl contending team, and shining at it, makes you question the criteria of the award to begin with.
If David Johnson’s “never give up” performance in the NFC Championship game is a preview of Johnson’s work ethic as an NFL player, Arizona’s running game is in excellent hands.