Chris Johnson: Reports Say Broken Tibia
Chris Johnson’s regular season ends with a knee injury, but he still might return if the Cardinals reach the Super Bowl.
Two days ago the comeback ride of former East Carolina star Chris Johnson ended. Johnson, the Arizona Cardinals running back, had been having a good season within a year of getting shot. In fact Johnson sat third among NFL rushers at over eight hundred and eighty yards on the season. However Johnson broke his tibia bone at the knee according to reports from Bob Baum of the Associated Press.
The first act of the Cardinals has been to put Johnson on the Injured Reserve – Designated to Return list which is the same list that Charles Johnson was occupying earlier this season for the Carolina Panthers. This version of IR allows a player to return after missing eight weeks of action. It just so happens that will bring Chris Johnson back in time for only one game – the Super Bowl.
The tibia is the big weight-bearing bone in the lower leg. A clean tibia break would put Johnson out for the season. Baum’s report suggests that the tibia was only chipped or slightly broken near the left knee joint.
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Johnson’s replacement will be David Johnson, the rookie running back. Early in the season there were observers who believed that David Johnson might actually be the superior back before Chris Johnson had shown his productivity. Now we will get to see if those skeptics were right.
The Cardinals sit at 9-2 right now and are the number two team in the NFC. Right now they would be due a first round bye. However they still have games with Minnesota, Green Bay, and Seattle on their schedule. The Vikings and the Packers are dueling for the NFC North while the Seahawks are trying to get into the wild card chase.
Johnson was having close to a Pro Bowl year. Hopefully he can recover from this injury and be ready to go next season, and hopefully the Cardinals sign him back.