For the first time in a long time, Chris Johnson turned heads this weekend in the Titans' victory over the Buffalo Bills. Johnson resembled the "CJ2K" that we remember in route to 195 rushing yards and two touchdowns. It was a great game, but don't expect that to be the new-old norm for Chris Johnson.
Even with his great game, the Titans rank 28th in the league in rushing, averaging just 88.3 yards per game on the ground.
Even Sunday's game against the Bills is a bit of a misnomer. Sure, Johnson ran for 195 yards, but the vast majority of those yards came on a pair of massive runs. Outside of those two breakouts, Johnson was pretty well contained by the Bills' defense.
It was great to see Johnson running down the field, and it was abundantly clear on Sunday that Johnson still has incredible speed and quickness, but the holes and lanes still aren't there. We can expect to see long runs from him from time to time, but until his linemen give him better running lanes, they'll be infrequent and inconsistent.
The Titans are in the thick of the playoff race despite netting a league worst -89 points, and their sudden resurgence is due in no small part to Matt Hasselbeck's play. If the Titans can get Chris Johnson going, they'd be a very solid team. Sunday's game was a great first step in the right direction for Johnson, but it doesn't mean he's back. Give it time though; this team's going the right direction at the moment, and that's more than any of us expected a few weeks ago.
