Chris Johnson touches

[Russ Smith]

According to Alex Marvez(who?) even with Ellington active the cards coaches expect CJ to get 15-20 touches on Sunday. The comment in the article is it appears to be a "changing of the guard" in the Cards backfield to CJ as the lead RB. Basically says Arians is a if it aint broke, don't fix it kind of coach.

I certainly agree that CJ is making a strong case but will be interesting, NFL coaches tend to not like to replace a guy due to injury even if the backup plays this well. They usually take a few weeks beyond the return of the injured guy to make up their mind.

Nice decision to have to make, do I play the hot back CJ, the guy who was our starter, or the young rook who keeps busting big plays.

 

[eastcoastSUN]

I'm 100% OK with this. Actually, I'd rather Ellington not get any touches at all this week to make sure he is completely healed. CJ2K seems to still be getting his legs up to par, the old pre-gunshot CJ would have def converted the 30yd run or 40yd reception last week into TDs

 

[vince56]

I love the idea of Ellington as a change of pace back. Run the other team's defense ragged, then put the fresh-legged fast back in the game to hit the homerun.

 

[Shaggy]

I love the idea of Ellington as a change of pace back. Run the other team's defense ragged, then put the fresh-legged fast back in the game to hit the homerun.

I like the sound of that.

 

[Shane]

I'm ok with that but like to see all 2nd team touches to go to DJ

 

[Darkside]

I'm all for CJ starting, even more so this week. Against their D-line especially. CJ can convert Ellington's lost yardage in the backfield into 2 or 3 yard gains, can run between the tackles, and turn Ellington's 1 or 2 yard gains into 3 or 4 yard gains. That will be crucial in this game. Ellington has better home run potential, but in this particular game we're going to need someone to move the chains.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Ellington has proven to be brittle. He's now coming back from a knee injury that took place just 3 weeks ago? Hell no... I hope BA is of the mindset that CJ is the starter and any relief comes in the form of DJ.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I love the idea of Ellington as a change of pace back. Run the other team's defense ragged, then put the fresh-legged fast back in the game to hit the homerun.

I also love the idea of Ellington split out in the passing game. Being able to put more weapons and SPEED at every position on O could only be a good thing.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm all for CJ starting, even more so this week. Against their D-line especially. CJ can convert Ellington's lost yardage in the backfield into 2 or 3 yard gains, can run between the tackles, and turn Ellington's 1 or 2 yard gains into 3 or 4 yard gains. That will be crucial in this game. Ellington has better home run potential, but in this particular game we're going to need someone to move the chains.

We are in full agreement. Against the Rams you are going to need to get tough yards inside to open up the outside and CJ is showing he's MUCH better at that than AE is.

It's a nice problem to have for a change. Not which crappy RB should we start but which of 3 quality RB's should get the ball.

 

[slanidrac16]

B.S. If Ellington is healthy he will play.

However, the type of injury he has would be better served with another week off or a very limited role in the passing game. Ellington , in fact ALL our backs command respect as far as play action is concerned and I believe play action could be HUGE this week.

 

[football karma]

B.S. If Ellington is healthy he will play.

However, the type of injury he has would be better served with another week off or a very limited role in the passing game. Ellington , in fact ALL our backs command respect as far as play action is concerned and I believe play action could be HUGE this week.

I would rather have a 100% Ellington for the last 11 or 12 games than "not quite right" Ellington for 13 games

 

[Cheesebeef]

I would rather have a 100% Ellington for the last 11 or 12 games than "not quite right" Ellington for 13 games

I'm with ya.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

I'm all for CJ starting, even more so this week. Against their D-line especially. CJ can convert Ellington's lost yardage in the backfield into 2 or 3 yard gains, can run between the tackles, and turn Ellington's 1 or 2 yard gains into 3 or 4 yard gains. That will be crucial in this game. Ellington has better home run potential, but in this particular game we're going to need someone to move the chains.

+1

We need CJ to work the middle of the line and keep the D honest. AE can be the change of pace back

 

[CFLredzoned]

It was nice seeing such favorable downs. 2nd and 5. 3rd and 1. Or not even 3rd because Johnson got the 1st already on 2nd. You can get spoiled by that.

My biggest fear is Ellington starting and BA sending him between the tackles right off the bat. Then we're looking at 2nd and 9's. Third and 7's. 3 and outs.

I don't know what you do with Ellington. You want him in there. But if you keep running him between the tackles, it's a perfect way to lose the game. At the same time, if he's out there, you have to run him between the tackles so you don't become too predictable. And therein lies the problem and why I think I would like to see Johnson get the bulk of the carries.

 

[Darkside]

CJ is also a better blocker than Ellington. It just makes sense this game. Let Ellington rest.

 

[dreday]

I love the idea of Ellington as a change of pace back. Run the other team's defense ragged, then put the fresh-legged fast back in the game to hit the homerun.

I'm in full agreement with you.

 

[NashDishesDimes]

I agree with most that in this game, CJ should get 70-80% of the carries. In the future however, i would prefer the Cowboys timeshare system:

Joseph Randle starts, switches off drives with DMC, but Randle always gets the drives to start a half or end a half regardless.

 

[cardpa]

Can we possibly see both Ellington and CJ in the backfield at the same time? Imagine the headaches it would cause for the Ram defense. You can run CJ inside or run Ellington outside or play action because the defense would need to respect CJ's ability to run inside. You can get Ellington open in the flat with space on play action. There are a lot of possibilities with both in the backfield.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Can we possibly see both Ellington and CJ in the backfield at the same time? Imagine the headaches it would cause for the Ram defense. You can run CJ inside or run Ellington outside or play action because the defense would need to respect CJ's ability to run inside. You can get Ellington open in the flat with space on play action. There are a lot of possibilities with both in the backfield.

+1

I would like to see this also. Lots of options with this formation

 

[BigRedRage]

CJ is sturdy. He has shown he can still play and will likely be the primary RUNNING back. Then Juke can come in at the same time as him for trick plays, dual HB plays, lining up as a wideout and just being everywhere on the field like a sproles player. He will still play a lot and see lots of "touches" and CJ can hammer between the tackles.

 

[BigRedRage]

Can we possibly see both Ellington and CJ in the backfield at the same time? Imagine the headaches it would cause for the Ram defense. You can run CJ inside or run Ellington outside or play action because the defense would need to respect CJ's ability to run inside. You can get Ellington open in the flat with space on play action. There are a lot of possibilities with both in the backfield.

IMO we absolutely will. Reverses, misdirections, all kinds of fun stuff.

 

[Russ Smith]

CJ is sturdy. He has shown he can still play and will likely be the primary RUNNING back. Then Juke can come in at the same time as him for trick plays, dual HB plays, lining up as a wideout and just being everywhere on the field like a sproles player. He will still play a lot and see lots of "touches" and CJ can hammer between the tackles.

Im actually wondering if Andre can return punts? I don't like PP doing it and I'm not sure I trust Nelson right now when he gets back. Ellington has great hands and is deadly in the open field. If he's not the primary RB I wonder if Arians would consider letting him return punts. He apparently only had 1 punt return in college and appears to have zero with us so maybe not.

Seems like something he'd be good at.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Actually, I am not at all comfortable with Ellington coming back. He just doesn't seem to me to be as good a runner as CJ. I hate to waste the running downs in him.

 

[Chaz]

Wow. Have we forgotten how good Ellington is already?
It seems like it.

 

[Russ Smith]

Wow. Have we forgotten how good Ellington is already?
It seems like it.

I think he's good the problem is I think there's a diminishing returns situation with him. After a certain number of touches he starts to be less effective because his body gets beaten up.

I kind of think we ought to use him more like we used Terry Metcalf in the 70's. He got 10-12 carries, caught 4-5 passes, and returned KO's and Punts. With DJ already there no sense having Ellington return KO's, if he can return punts great if not I guess use him as a change of pace runner and receiver.

I just don't see him as a guy who's going to be able to handle a full load, he hasn't given any indication so far he can. As a part time guy he's an extremely dangerous guy.

He's like Reggie bush he was very good in the right role but when teams try to expand that role, he wasn't as good and it seems to have shortened his career a bit.