Chris Johnson looked like his old self again on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, running for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 18 rushes. With an impressive 10.8 yards per rush many fantasy owners are saying that the Chris Johnson who ran for 2,000 yards in 2009 is back.
Not so fast.
I myself own Johnson in both of my fantasy leagues, and I couldn't have been happier with his performance on the field this week. However, this is far from a sign that he is 'back.'
Let's keep in mind who Johnson was playing against: the Buffalo Bills. This is a team whose defense was supposed to be one of the best in the AFC, but instead has been one of the worst. The team is ranked dead-last in rushing yards allowed per game, giving up 176.9 yards on the ground per contest. It's also a team that has given up 937 rushing yards over the last four weeks (234.3 per game), while the next closest team since Week 4 has only given up 665.
Ouch.
The Bills defense has been absolutely pitiful. It seems like any running back can carve the Bills up for 150-plus yards. In fact, the only team that has failed to record at least 100 yards on the ground was the Cleveland Browns, who only ran the ball 13 times against Buffalo. What's worse is that the San Francisco 49ers put up a whopping 311 yards on the ground against the Bills when the two teams played.
Buffalo's defense can't stop a runny nose right now. Johnson is an explosive back who is at his best when he can make a man miss, and it seems like that's all Buffalo's defense can do. A large chunk of his rushing yards came on an 83-yard run for a touchdown on which the Bills simply looked reluctant to touch the Titans running back.
Johnson has been unimpressive for fantasy owners so far this season, and I don't expect that to stop after one big week. Johnson is still failing to get in the endzone, with his two scores in the first quarter of Sunday's game being his first two of the season. Jamie Harper is like a vulture in the redzone, stealing two potential touchdowns on Sunday, both of which were from one yard out.
With Johnson failing to score touchdowns and relying heavily on big plays I don't expect him to continue this productivity on a consistent basis. He's still worth a start if you took him early on, but don't bank on him putting up great numbers on a weekly basis.