EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson played just three snaps in Sunday, all coming early in the first quarter, before he stood on the sidelines for the rest of Arizona’s 27-21 win over the New York Giants, but Chase Edmonds made sure the Cardinals didn’t miss a beat. Or a touchdown.
Edmonds, the second-year running back out of Fordham University, ran for a career-high 126 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries for the Cardinals, who have won three straight.
Coming into Sunday’s game, Edmonds’ career high was 68 yards, set two weeks ago in Cincinnati, and two touchdowns, which he scored in Week 13 last year at Green Bay. He rushed for 208 yards in all of 2018. He surpassed that mark for 2019 on Sunday in his return to the tri-state area.
Johnson was questionable for Sunday’s game with an ankle injury. He went through a pregame stretching routine with a team trainer about two hours before kickoff. He had just one carry for two yards. With Johnson relegated to the sideline, Edmonds was left as the only running back active after D.J. Foster was ruled out Friday with a hamstring injury. Edmonds’ shouldered the load in historic fashion.
He became the first Cardinal to rush for three touchdowns since Johnson did it on Dec. 24, 2016 and the seventh Cardinal to rush for three touchdowns in a game since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1988, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Edmonds is also the first player in the NFL to rush for three touchdowns of at least 20 yards since Doug Martin in 2012 against the Raiders.
Edmonds ran for 84 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries in the first quarter, setting a career high. His 91 yards in a first half were the most by a Cardinals running back since David Johnson’s 112 in Dec. 2015, according to ESPN Stats & Information.