I'm actually not from TN. Lifelong Titan fan spanning back to the Oiler days. Loved Warren Moon and the run n shoot. And I live not far from NY Anyways, I'm not here to troll or to bother anyone. I'm merely trying to tell you all that you really don't have much of a clue when it comes to Chris Johnson. He has star power because he has 3-4 big plays a season. The rest? He's a well below average player that hurts the team more than helps it. At least that's how things have been for the Titans the last four seasons. He's always at the top of the league in rushes for yards lost. It's amazing that the yards lost seem to disappear when the backup comes in. I have nothing against Chris Johnson. He seems like a nice enough guy, although he also seems to be about himself and not about the team. Just don't be surprised when he does not meet the apparently (judging by this board) lofty expectations. And to the guy that ripped Kendall Wright. He was 7th in the league in receptions. He was 5th in the NFL in 3rd down receptions. He was money all season. If you don't know about Kendall Wright then you're not paying attention. He rarely ever dropped passes. Remember, he had Ryan Fitzpatrick and an injured Jake Locker throwing to him most of the season.
He has star power that has faded but surely not gone away from when he ran for 2000 yards. Since then, he's been a fairly durable back who's stats might not be CJ2K great, but good nonetheless. In what league is 4.0 YPC below average? And pretty sure Kendall Wright received praise in that earlier comment.
I don't think you're wrong about any of those things, but I think what we paid him and what we're using him for in our offense mitigate the issues you brought up. Ivory will get the shot to lead the rushing attack, and never gets negative yardage because he usually hits the tackler harder than they hit him. Johnson will get some 1st and second down carries, most likely later in the game when the defense has been beat up and tired out by Ivory, but he'll mostly be getting 3rd down snaps where he'll be running draw plays, screen passes, flats passes, and some short routes. All of those situations get him more space, and that is how he works the best. Ivory will be a solid 3 plus yards per carry, occasionally breaking out a 10-20 harder. That's the kind of offense that takes the pressure off of a young QB. Throw in a security blanket WR (Decker), a reliable slot guy who has the occasional big play (Kerley), Possession guy (Nelson), sleeper big play WR (Hill), and red zone threat (Cumberland), you see how he fits in perfectly. Easy passes to a RB who can potentially make something happen is a nice help to getting a rhythm going for a young QB, but Johnson won't be expected to carry the rushing load.
We didn't sign CJ to be that 2000 yard back. Most of us know those days are long gone, but he'll platoon nicely with Ivory and Powell. His real value will also be as a receiving back.
Do we play the titans again this year? i hope we do. we owe them an ass whooping. Hopefully Geno will remember he's wearing a green jersey this time. If it werent for their great field posistion everytime they got the ball we woulda seen a more competitive game cuz their offense was not moving outside of cro getting beasted by washington
the problem with everything you have stated is that it doesn't equate to him being an awful running back, it simply means that he isn't as great as his stats have led people to believe. that may be the case, but bad players do not put up those types of numbers regardless of how well the team around him has played to create a situation where he can excel. very good players can perform to an outstanding level, though, if the team around him is able to create situations where he can excel. so at the least he is a very good player, and if the Jets can create situations in which he can excel he has shown he can perform at a higher level than his individual skill level may indicate. that will certainly be an acceptable outcome to the Jets. but if you are trying to claim he isn't a good running back, his actual play clearly disputes that assertion.
so to explain to me how bad Johnson is in the passing game, you mention he catches a ton of balls, and you cite 3 examples where he was dangerous in space and/or hit a home run on a broken play.. that is exactly what I'm hoping to get out of him in the passing game! i know he's not a catch anything type of guy like Westbrook, or even LT. I also know he's not going to run for 2k yds. no one is expecting either. but he can execute a screen pass, run a wheel route, and be a viable safety valve in the flat who is dangerous if you give him space. That means defenses need to account for him at all times, freeing up others in our offense. hate to break this to you, but that is an effective addition to the Jets O. seems to me you might just be a little frustrated based on what Johnson provided compared to what Tenn paid. The Jets are not paying him to be that guy, or expecting him to be that guy. I think this change is a good thing for Johnson, the Jets, and probably Tenn..
You lost me when you called him a well below average player. The guy produces year in and year out. Well below average football players aren't top 25 in all purpose yards in the nfl every year. It just doesn't make sense. You know who else used to be at the top of the league in rushes for loss all the time? Barry Sanders. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if Sanders had the most all time. Obviously cj isn't Sanders but that stat in and of itself doesn't indicate a bad football player.
I wonder how CJ is going to respond to legit competition? If he wants to be "the Man" he has to beat out Ivory. I wonder if he'll rise to the challenge or wilt? I'm pretty sure this is going to be the 1st time he actually has another back in camp that is capable of beating him out. It's the Idzik mantra and I don't think it should be underestimated in this situation.
I'm not frustrated at all about what he was paid. The Titans could afford it. So it really didn't matter. I was frustrated by the amount of yards he left on the field. I can't tell you the number of times I'd watch a play and wonder how the heck Johnson only got a yard or only got 2 yards on a play when if he had just followed his blocks he'd have gotten 5-6 yards. The thing that a lot of you seem to be expecting and you don't get (nor should you if you didn't watch him play on a weekly basis) is that he is not a 3rd down back. He is not good on blitz pickups as I mentioned earlier and, despite the amount of catches, his receiving skills leave a lot to be desired. If the Jets wanted a complement to Ivory the two guys that they should have looked at over Johnson are Darren Sproles or Dexter McCluster. Both guys are far better receivers out of the backfield. I don't know how good they are at blitz pickup but they can't be any worse than Johnson. I also would worry if I were a Jets fan about Johnson losing focus and trying to do too much if he plays only a part-time role. With the Titans he was trying for a HR on every play. And not only did it rarely work but it cost the Titans a ton of yards. Now that he's not going to be getting carries 20-30 times a game I'd expect he'll be even more eager to try and turn the sure 5 yard gain into a 70 yard gain and end up losing yards.
Adam Dunn hits a lot of home runs. Would you consider him a highly productive hitter? There's a lot more to it than yardage. In the first post I made I gave you Pro Football Outsiders rankings of Johnson since 2010. Not only are they not good but they indicate that he's been either an average, below average or, in 2011, a way below average RB. It won't let me post the link but go to the website you can see it for yourself.
The worst case scenario is he's not worth his 4 million dollar price tag after one year and we drop him. It's clear the Jets are a little skeptical too otherwise they wouldn't have given themselves that out after year 1. And you said the titans had the money to pay for him, we have the second most cap room in the league. Very few people have a huge expectation for him. Seems like the people who have this idea are non jets fans. We just need a homerun hitter type of guy because we truly don't have one right now. And we also do have a history of giving older guys another chance and that's worked out well for us in Thomas jones and LT. We were warned then too. I understand you not liking CJ2K but you're going to wear out your welcome here if all you do here is trash our new player. Would be no different then going to your forum and trashing whoever you sign.
