Johnson will get a little extra work tonight against Rams
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Among veteran featured backs around the NFL, nobody is busier this preseason than the Chiefs’ Larry Johnson.
His 35 carries dwarf the workload of backs like Clinton Portis, Frank Gore and Edgerrin James. Some featured runners like LaDainian Tomlinson haven’t been fed at all.
With the exception of one drive against Arizona, during which he rushed for 39 yards, Johnson has little to show for all of that labor. He is averaging a paltry 3.3 yards per carry, worse than even the 3.5 he posted last season before a broken bone ended his season halfway through.
While those subpar preseason numbers aren’t enough to send the Chiefs into a panic, they would feel better about their running game heading into the regular season if Johnson could make some things happen in tonight’s final preseason game against the Rams at Arrowhead Stadium.
Johnson might not play much, but he will get some work.
“It’s preseason, and we’re not really game-planning for these games,” Johnson said, shrugging off his slow start. “Guys are blitzing and they’re showing their whole works because they want to show everybody they’re an up-and-coming team.
“We’re not going to do that. We’re working on fundamentals and things we need to do better. I don’t think we should be showing our whole offense to New England right now in these preseason games and then turn around and play them and they know everything we’re going to do.
“We’re keeping things under the radar.”
With that said, Johnson would desperately like to avoid a start like last season’s. He broke 50 yards only once in the first three games and 100 yards once in the first five.
His frustration with these developments was evident.
“I don’t want to go out there and have to struggle through eight games to find my stretch when I really turn it on,” he said. “I want to be able to turn it on from the get-go.”
His unusually heavy workload in the preseason is aimed at getting Johnson that quick start.
“We want him to feel comfortable with what we’re asking him to do as far as our runs,” coach Herm Edwards said. “I always ask him how much (work) he wants. The first game he said he only wanted a couple but all of a sudden he looks at me and says, ‘I’m having fun, coach. I want to keep playing.’
“There will be some guys who come out early (tonight) and he’ll be one of them. But I asked him (Monday) what he wants to do. He said, ‘I want to carry it, coach.’ ”
Johnson wasn’t surprised when told this week that none of the league’s other top veteran runners had touched the ball as much as him.
“I go to Herm every game and say, ‘Herm, I only want five runs,’ ” Johnson said. “Then we get in the game and I want to stay in until we score or we get close. I’m having fun out there. I haven’t played football in a long time going back to November last year. So I don’t want to come out.
“I needed a lot of that work to get back on point and get back into the contact. I wanted to put myself in that position. Obviously, this week, I’m not going to do a whole lot. I just want to be ready for New England.”
Johnson never really got things rolling in Miami last week, when he rushed 13 times for 36 yards. He had 10 yards in his first two carries, including a 6-yard run on third and 1 to allow the Chiefs to convert. He later had a 13-yard run but the other carries produced only short runs.
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Thu Aug 28, 2008 9:19 pm