David Johnson needs to lighten up on David Johnson
From parenting to pass blocking, Cardinals running back David Johnson tends to be hard on himself, and after each game this season, Johnson has talked about the mistakes he’s made.
It’s an admirable quality, said coordinator Mike McCoy, but there are times Johnson needs to relax and "go play."
“It’s easy for us as coaches after a game to stay you should have pressed this ball and stayed frontside,” McCoy said. “Well, you know what? He’s ran the ball very successfully for a long time. He’s going to make a (bad) cut here and there. I think he wants to be great and that’s what the good ones do.”
After the loss to the Bears in Week 3, Johnson said coaches were right to pull him for a play after he blew a pass protection. And after last week’s loss to the Seahawks, Johnson admitted running the wrong way on third down, which resulted in kicker Phil Dawson not kicking from the desired hashmark.
“I’m always hard on myself because I feel like that’s how I improve,” Johnson said. “Coach says I overthink a little bit sometimes … trying to do too much sometimes.
“After a game, I’m up all night thinking about the plays I messed up on. Even in practice, when I make a mental error, I’m thinking about it during practice, after practice, and I tend to do that a lot.”
Older players, including tight end Jermaine Gresham, have encouraged Johnson to move on quickly for a mistake. There is also a next play. But that’s not easy for Johnson because overthinking is part of his personality.
“That’s who I am, I’m always overthinking,” he said. “Video games, hanging out with my son. My wife is always correcting me.”
To receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Johnson’s penchant for criticizing himself bodes well for the Cardinals' future.
“I don’t know any great players who have been easy on themselves about things they felt they left on the field, on the diamond, on the basketball court," he said. "Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, all the greatest ever are the most critical of themselves.
“I watch myself, I never see anything good. I see only the negative, only the false step at the line of scrimmage, only the stepping over myself on top of a route. It’s just human nature when you’re passionate about what you do, when you care about it and you want to be the best every single time you do it. That’s how he’s wired.”
To a large extent, the Cardinals' offense is built upon getting Johnson the ball. But they weren’t able to do that in the first three games, which is why Johnson has only 187 rushing and a 3.3yard carry through the first month of the season. He’s caught just 13 passes for 104 yards. In both rushing and receiving, he’s well behind his pace of 2016, the last season in which he was healthy.
After the first month of that season, Johnson had rushed for 300 yards (4.7yard average) and caught 14 passes for 210 yards.
The Cardinals were more successful getting the ball to Johnson last week – he had 113 yards from scrimmage. In the first three games combined, Johnson gained 177 yards,
The Cardinals improved on thirddown conversions a week ago, which led to Johnson touching the ball more. The Cardinals have had only two possessions of at least 10 plays, including one that was 13 a week ago.
“That’s the way we’ve got McCoy said. to play,”