49ers vs. Cardinals: Why stopping David Johnson is key in Week 8
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers visit the one-win Arizona Cardinals in Week 8, and part of the Niners’ defensive focus will be to curtail their opponent’s top weapon, running back David Johnson.
The 1-6 San Francisco 49ers will win their Week 8 matchup on the road against the Arizona Cardinals if they avoid turnovers (something the Niners didn’t do against the Cardinals in Week 5) and prevent running back David Johnson from beating them.
Johnson, who was seen as one of the NFL’s best running backs entering 2018, has had a down year amid a forgettable rebuilding campaign by the Cardinals. Despite being fully healthy after missing most of last year with a wrist injury, Johnson has totaled a mere 335 rush yards on 106 carries and five touchdowns on the ground. And despite being one of the more prolific pass-catching tailbacks in the league, Johnson has just 20 receptions over seven games for 166 yards and a touchdown.
Not exactly All-Pro production.
In fairness to Johnson, Arizona’s offense has been a mess, which eventually led to the team firing its former offensive coordinator, Mike McCoy.
Despite that, Johnson is still one of the Cardinals’ top offensive weapons. Opponents know it too, which is a prime reason they’ve locked down on Arizona’s ground game.
San Francisco will need to replicate those efforts on Sunday.
Veteran wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is good enough to keep 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh from simply loading the box and forcing rookie quarterback Josh Rosen to throw 40 or 50 times during the game. That said, the Niners aren’t exactly the best in the league at preventing damage by opposing running backs.
Sure, San Francisco is allowing only 4.0 yards per carry on the season –eighth best in the NFL. But if there is a weakness amid the 49ers defense, it’s at linebacker.
Inside backers Reuben Foster and Fred Warner will likely wind up being a dynamic tandem at some point. But missed tackles and bad angles have been more than an issue over 2018. It’s one of the reasons why Foster landed on Niner Noise’s list of five worst players through seven weeks.
Consider this:
"Over just five games played this season, Foster has missed a total of 12 tackles, per Pro Football Focus — highest among all 49ers defenders and four more than the No. 2 player on that list, Foster’s linebacking partner, Fred Warner."
Johnson has been one of the tougher tackling assignments over his career. It’s a matchup the Niners need to win, and it’s a reason why Niner Noise’s Aaron Tan cited Foster as the player needing an impact performance from San Francisco’s perspective.
Foster has been plagued by a shoulder injury, which can explain some of the regression. As a unit, though, the 49ers run defense ranks 18th in the league, according to Football Outsiders. Per their defensive-value-over-average (DVOA) metric, it’s still a liability for Saleh and Co.
If Johnson winds up having a sizable impact on the game, the 49ers are in trouble and could wind up falling again to arguably the worst roster in the NFL this season.
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The 49ers will look to contain Johnson and the Cardinals on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 4:25 p.m. ET from Glendale, Arizona.