Chris Johnson has not exactly impressed in his first three games with the New York Jets. After sitting on the free agent market following his departure from the Tennessee Titans, the former 2,000-yard rusher got a contract with the Jets in hopes that he could regain his old running form. That has yet to work out and now New York might have to make a change at the depth chart. However, Johnson believes it is simply just a case of not getting the ball enough.
Johnson's stats are quiet so far. He has 35 carries for 123 yards through three games. Contrary to some belief, Chris Ivory is not exactly stealing the spotlight from the veteran. The running back only has 33 carries this season despite some believing the Jets are favoring the younger back over Johnson. The veteran stresses that he simply wishes the Jets would run the ball more and give him more carries to prove what he can bring to the team.
"It's still early," Johnson said, via ESPN. "I know what Marty wants to do, and I know what this offense wants to do. We want to run the ball. I don't think it's time right now to go in there and talk to Marty and try to tell him what he needs to do. Of course we want to run the ball more times and get into where we run the ball 35, 40 times a game, and give us both the opportunity to get a chance to run the ball hard. I know we both envisioned probably getting more carries, not just us both getting 10, 12 apiece. Probably more than that. A lot of times, you've got to go how the game goes, and we've been put in situations where we've had to throw the ball."
Head coach Rex Ryan recently made headlines when he said that it might be time to try out Ivory as the leading rusher after Johnson's ineffectiveness, but stats show that it is merely a lack of a ground game altogether that is causing the inconsistencies. The Jets have to get better at running the ball in order to help quarterback Geno Smith.
Michael Vick recently downplayed the quarterback drama to the media making it clear that he was the backup and Smith was the starter and it would stay that way. Smith is coming off yet another inconsistent performance that has many doubting his future. A run game would help, but it will be hard to get that going in Week 4 considering the team is facing the Detroit Lions with one of the best front seven in the league.
