Arizona Cardinals

WATCH: Cardinals' Johnson breaks franchise rookie touchdown mark

Published Dec. 20, 2015 10:33 p.m. ET

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David Johnson entered the season as the Arizona Cardinals' third-string running back. He's ending it looking like he could be their starter for years to come.

Johnson turned in a sensational performance in the Cardinals' NFC West-clinching rout of the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night, rushing for 187 yards and three touchdowns to power Arizona to its eighth consecutive victory and first 12-win season in franchise history.

"This is a grown man," Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer said of Johnson in a postgame interview on NBC. "Couldn't be prouder of the way he ran the ball, broke tackles, always fell forward."

Making his third career start since injuries to starter Chris Johnson and backup Andre Ellington, David Johnson registered his first 100-yard game and shattered the club single-season mark for touchdowns by a rookie. He also had four catches for 42 yards.

Johnson bulled in from 1 yard out on the Cardinals' opening possession of the game before breaking loose on a highlight-reel 47-yard scamper through Philadelphia's defense late in the second quarter for his record 11th touchdown.

"I had good blocking where I was able to cut back, broke a couple of tackles, couple of stiff-arms and got in," Johnson said of his long touchdown run that put Arizona ahead to stay and eclipsed the previous club rookie mark shared by Ottis Anderson (1979) and Tim Hightower (2008)

The Cardinals received a scare when Johnson was shaken up late in the first half after taking a helmet to the right knee. He was listed as questionable but was back in the lineup at the start of the second half and quickly scored his third touchdown en route to becoming the first Cardinals back to rush for at least 160 yards and three TDs since Willie Crenshaw in December 1968.

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