Posnanski: It’s time for LJ to take off his diapers
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JOE POSNANSKI COMMENTARY
Posnanski: It’s time for LJ to take off his diapers
Every so often as a citizen, it is important to do some community service. Sometimes this means supporting a great fund-raiser like the Harvester’s Dan Quisenberry golf tournament or buying garbage bags from kids so they can buy uniforms for the high school band. Sometimes this means writing an annual column that will tick off Larry Johnson.
It really is for the better good.
Everybody understands that Chiefs running back Larry Johnson runs his best when angry. This has been the subject of about 394 newspaper and magazine stories — the chip on LJ’s shoulder has its own press agent. Johnson, you know, made the superstar scene about three years ago, shortly after his coach, Dick Vermeil, said it was time for him to take off the diapers and play.
This made Johnson extremely mad. You would think Vermeil called him a baby or something. Oh wait, I guess you could read it that way. Anyway, Johnson hit the field like Clint Eastwood walking into the saloon at the end of “Unforgiven.”
He was running behind a well-oiled offensive line then, sure, but he also smashed into holes. He scored two touchdowns in five straight games. He was fueled by his rage, hunger, and he powered through tackles, and he fought for every yard like the football field was his inheritance.
LJ became the starter in 2005 and rushed for 1,750-plus yards two straight seasons, scored 37 touchdowns those two years, looked liked a modern day Jim Brown.
Then he became famous. Hung out with rappers. Did soup commercials. Rung the bell at the stock market. Held out for a big contract. Got a big contract. Made a grand entrance for the HBO cameras.
And, all of a sudden, guess what: It’s time for LJ to take off the diapers again.
Sunday, the Chiefs had their most surprising victory in, what, 10 years? More? They were two-touchdown underdogs playing at San Diego against a Chargers team that was looking to put a hurting on somebody. The Chiefs fell behind 10-0, and the game was so over the stadium operations people sent out the cleaning crew. Then, as you know, the Chiefs pulled off some sort of $125-a-night Vegas magic act — the defense got nasty, Dwayne Bowe and Tony Gonzalez got busy, and LJ finished off the stunning victory by gaining a few yards.
After the game, the Chiefs’ locker room was about as joyous as I’ve ever seen.
And Larry Johnson stormed off and refused to talk to the news media.
Now, most of the time, I don’t care when athletes refuse to talk to reporters after a game. That’s their business. Some athletes don’t feel comfortable talking to the press. Some feel like they’ve been burned by the media, and they want to burn back. Some players are usually accommodating, but every so often they have a bad day — that’s understandable. I’ve started working out with a trainer this week, and I’m in so much pain I don’t feel like talking to my own wife. So I can understand being a tad grumpy after getting hit by men roughly the size of Schwan’s trucks.
This was different: The Chiefs had won. They had, for the time being, saved their season. They had even moved into first place in the AFC West. It was all good. And then Johnson pulled his grumpy J.D. Salinger act. Why? Well, his own teammates, (some on the record like Brian Waters, some off the record) suspected it was because Johnson was frustrated that he didn’t put up big numbers.
This is bad. Very bad. The Chiefs win a huge game, Johnson rushes for 123 yards (most of them at the end of the game, but still) and he’s stomping around? This is like Chapter 1 in the How to be a Bad Teammate book. It might even be the introduction.
Truth is, Johnson has been acting like this all season. He had that bizarre rap-song episode where he may or may not have said “bleep Carl Peterson,” (if it wasn’t him, there are only about 1.96 million suspects in the greater Kansas City area). Johnson threw the ball to the ground in Chicago because he didn’t like the play calling. He publicly called out his coaches with his own version of the Nixon Checkers speech, (“It’s not a chess game,” he said. “It’s checkers. When they’re looking for the run, you pass. When they’re looking to pass, you run.”)
In other words, LJ has been a pain in the neck all season. And it’s one thing to act the superstar when you are playing like a superstar. Johnson isn’t. His numbers are way down (3.5 yards per carry says a lot), and while it’s easy to say that’s entirely because of a struggling offensive line or play calling, it also seems to me that Johnson is not running the same. He’s dancing around, waiting around, looking around for the big run rather than just putting his head down and blasting through.
Things are different for LJ now. He signed a big-money contract in the offseason, and his status changed along with his tax bracket. He’s a star now. He’s a leader, like it or not. He’s a guy everyone on the team studies. He’s a top pick in all the fantasy leagues. He’s the jersey fans buy. Everybody’s watching. He’s hurting himself by pouting over his numbers or whining over play calls or storming out after huge victories.
As one Chiefs insider says: “Larry needs to be very careful now. People don’t want to hear him complaining. People want to see him performing.”
Personally, I think he will perform. He just needs a little help. People forget that Johnson started slow last year, too. He had back-to-back weeks against Pittsburgh and Arizona where he had 62 yards — combined.
That’s when I wrote the first annual, “Let’s get LJ angry” column. He ran for 132 yards that Sunday, 155 yards the next week, 172 yards the week after. I’m not saying that it was because of the column. No, I’m just saying, “Hey, LJ, take off the diapers, pal.”
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Originally Posted by hermhater
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