Rookie running back gives Titans a breakaway threat
Posted on Saturday, September 20, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Len-Dale White stood in front of his locker and insisted that winning matters more than carries or starts.
Rookie Chris Johnson says he and White want to become the NFL’s top 1-2 combination at running back.
Welcome to the challenge of keeping running backs happy.
Jeff Fisher said his Tennessee Titans would find a way to split the carries between White and Johnson. Through two games, they couldn’t divide the work more evenly, but the rookie is the sensation that has given this offense a much-needed boost.
“He’s a special guy with special talents, and we just have to find ways to give him the ball,” Fisher said.
Johnson, the 24 th pick overall out of East Carolina, was the fastest guy at the NFL Combine. That 4. 24-second speed in the 40-yard dash has made him a breakaway threat whenever he touches the ball. He broke loose for a 51-yard run in last week’s 24-7 victory at Cincinnati and finished with 109 yards for his first 100-yard rushing performance.
“The young running back has added a punch to them for big-play ability that’s obvious when you watch him,” said Houston Coach Gary Kubiak, who gets to try and slow Johnson down Sunday.
Running the football has not been a problem during Fisher’s tenure. Only six other teams have more yards rushing since the start of the 1995 season than this franchise, and the Titans have averaged 120. 5 yards in that stretch. It’s part of the recipe to play stingy defense and play keepaway by running the ball and the clock.
The Titans ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing offense the past two seasons, and last year it was White who started every game and ran for 1, 110 yards.
But Johnson has started the first two games this season. The Titans gave each player 15 carries in their opening 17-10 victory over Jacksonville, and Johnson has 34 carries compared to White’s 33. The difference has been Johnson’s production. He has 202 yards and an average of 5. 9 yards per carry, while White has 99 yards with two touchdowns.
“We’re not counting them,” Fisher said. “You just get a feel. They’re unselfishly rotating, and there are times we prefer to have one in the game rather than the other.” White, who saw the success that came from sharing the ball with Reggie Bush in college at Southern California, isn’t complaining.
“We’re winning football games. That’s all I care about,” White said. “I don’t care how the carries get shared around, who’s playing, who’s starting as long as we win.” Johnson also has five catches for 46 yards and a touchdown, putting him atop the AFC in yards from scrimmage.
So the Titans may lose the rushing threat Vince Young brought to the offense compared to Kerry Collins, who has fewer yards rushing in his 13 seasons than Young in his first two, but Kubiak said having Johnson in the backfield gives the Titans a threat.
“He’s giving them big-play ability,” Kubiak said. “When he’s touched the ball, he’s given them a chance to make a big play all through the preseason. He’s done it in the regular season. He did it in Cincinnati last week... and them having that speedster back there is a little bit different from that standpoint.”
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