Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was a hot head coaching candidate this offseason after just one season running the Lions offense. His blend of creativity, aggressiveness, and ability to maximize the talents of players like QB Jared Goff and RB Jamaal Williams earned Johnson a ton of accolades.
Johnson elected to halt any head coaching talk early in the process. He knows he’s got a great thing going in Detroit in working with head coach Dan Campbell and a talented returning core of players.
Yet for all the accolades and innovation, Johnson’s focus with his offense in OTAs is decidedly old school.
Back to basics.
“Our theme this springtime has been back to the basics,” Johnson said as part of a larger response to being asked about the biggest difference between 2022 and 2023 for him. “And so, we’ve been harping consistently on the fundamentals. We’re breaking it down to the nuts and bolts for each position group. And our coaches have kind of led the charge on that.”
Johnson hit on the same theme again in another answer. This time he extrapolated on some more specifics.
“Let’s get really good at the fundamentals because that is what helped us win games at the end last year,” Johnson enthused. “The fact that we led the League in ball security, we didn’t turn the ball over the second half of the season, that equated into wins for us. So, I think just the recognition of the little things all adding up and paying big dividends for us in offense, that’s really the point of it.”
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Don’t fret about Johnson losing his creativity or aggressiveness, however. He made that clear. It’s about executing the plays better and not leaving so many yards or points on the field.
“We will still push the envelope. We’ll still be innovative and creative on offense, don’t get me wrong,” coach Johnson continued. “But I just came away saying, ‘Shoot man, we left a lot of meat on the bone in a lot of ways.’ Because I think I talked about it, some of the runs we could have had explosives. We could’ve had eight, nine yards when we were still at three or four, so just a few things when we looked back at last year.”
That last comment might help explain the team’s first-round infatuation with Jahmyr Gibbs, who looks like a more dynamic and versatile weapon than the Lions have had at RB in some time already.
