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Johnson has dubbed himself Every Coach's Dream both on his Twitter account and to reporters. On Wednesday, he again declared that Smash and Dash is over. White, the Smash in the nickname, compared Johnson to a little brother who is a bit delirious from all the attention he received from being the only rookie voted to the Pro Bowl in 2008.
"If there's no Smash, there's no Dash. If he's the coach's dream, I'm the opposing coach's nightmare,'' White said with a smile as he looked over reporters to Johnson a couple stalls away.
The duo unveiled the Smash and Dash nickname last fall after Johnson ran for 168 yards and White had 149 himself with three touchdowns in a big win over Kansas City. They also tangled verbally with Carolina's DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart over rights to the nickname before the Panthers' backs switched to Double Trouble.
Titans coach Jeff Fisher has his own thoughts on all this talk of nicknames. He said every coach's dream is for a player who doesn't play the bongos as Johnson did in that Kansas City game, not fumble or get injured in a playoff game. And yes, Johnson sprained an ankle in the first half of Tennessee's divisional playoff loss to Baltimore in January.
Fisher does have an idea of a possible new nickname for his two running backs.
"Dumb and dumber,'' the coach said.
The nickname sparring might be part of Johnson's attempt to gain more attention for himself as he's already solicited advice on touchdown celebrations. He led the Titans with 1,228 yards rushing. But it was White who led the AFC with 15 touchdowns rushing. White isn't one to back down, so he dared Johnson to unveil a new touchdown celebration.
"I'm going to take whatever he has and do it more than he has. Whatever they twitter ... I'm going to take ... even if it gets me fined,'' White said.
