Cardinals RB Ellington to miss Bears’ game

The Bears have a new defensive coordinator, but the unit past year was one of the worst against the run and that could be a nice matchup for the Johnson boys.

Head coach Bruce Arians, however, had other plans in mind.

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians is sticking with Chris Johnson as his No. 1 back in the absence of Andre Ellington (knee). David Johnson has high potential, but he looks like he isn’t quite ready to take the bulk of the carries. Iupati wants to play, given that this week’s opponent is his former team, the 49ers. “There’s nothing better than having your hand in the ground and getting after it”. Despite being a durable back throughout his career, Johnson’s production has never sniffed the levels it did during his sophomore campaign, in which he ran for 2,006 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“Being 2-0 is a good spot to be in, and we feel we have a really special team”, said Johnson, whose three touchdowns are tied for the team lead with veteran receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

Arians also said linebacker LaMarr Woodley (shoulder) was sore and would be limited when practice begins Wednesday.

For those unfamiliar, NEP is our signature metric here at numberFire.

Arians added that he would coach the same way at any level. Already he is being outshone by young David Johnson.

“His role will continue to increase every week”, Arians said.

Also let’s give props to the offensive line, shall we. If you are desperate at the running back position, you may get away with him for a couple of weeks.

But ultimately, the question isn’t whether or not David Johnson can surpass Chris Johnson in the Cardinals’ pecking order. Starting full-time now, Johnson will see his numbers boosted by his pass-catching ability.

Ellington had an abysmal 2014 season as measured by traditional as well as our own advanced NEP metrics.

We all know how it goes, you can pay millions and millions, you can have a team loaded with talent, but that doesn’t promise you anything in today’s NFL.

Like I said, Johnson is a low risk, high reward player at this point in his career. And while that may have certainly played a factor in his disappointing sophomore year, the signs that Ellington would not be able to handle a heavy workload were present even in his breakout rookie season.

Arians is well known for preferring a vertical passing game, and true to form, Palmer’s average pass this season has traveled 11.02 yards in the air, the second farthest in the N.F.L. behind Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger. All this suggests that an increased workload for Ellington may not have been the right choice for him. That still doesn’t mean he’ll be effective in 2015 if he can’t stay healthy.

“It’s very deceiving it doesn’t look like he is moving as fast as he truly is”, Palmer said. David Johnson – 108-yards TO THE HOUSE!