Palmer: Losing David Johnson 'drastically' changes Cardinals' offense

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer didn't try to sugarcoat the effect of losing running back David Johnson for a minimum of eight weeks with a wrist injury.

Though head coach Bruce Arians says he won't change the Cardinals' scheme, Palmer acknowledged Johnson's injury will alter the team's offense.

"It changes drastically," Palmer said, according to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. "You lose, who I think, is one of the best football players in this league, things are obviously going to change."

Johnson's massive workload needs to be distributed among a committee of replacements, Palmer said.

"I don't know how many catches he had last year but there (are) a whole lot of catches there for somebody else," Palmer said. "He had 2,000 yards of offense so somebody's got to step up. We're not going to run every single exact play that Dave ran, run routes because that was something very specific to Dave that he did really, really well."

Palmer believes the Cardinals have the right pieces in place to help work around Johnson's absence.

"We're not going to sulk. We got right back to work today and Dre (Andre Ellington) stepped in, Kerwynn (Williams) stepped in. Chris Johnson, getting him back is huge for us. Yes, things change when you lose (left tackle) D.J. (Humphries) and you lose David like that. Things change. The offense doesn't change but obviously when you take away the touches and the effect that those two guys have on the game, things change."

Without a true replacement for Johnson on the roster, or in the league, Palmer said the Cardinals need to make sure they don't individually try to do too much.

"We don't need Chris to try to play like David," Palmer said. "We've got to each play within ourselves and play within the system. You can't sit around and sulk. You can't feel like you've got to do anything superhuman."

Arians said Wednesday that Williams will receive the start in Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts, while Ellington and the recently signed Johnson will follow.