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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Mike McDaniel

Report: Lions Plan to Use Play Call Suggested by Referee

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is leaving no stone unturned in the search for success in 2023, as Detroit enters the season as the odds-on favorite to win the NFC North.

In fact, Johnson detailed his plans to use a play that was suggested by an official during joint practices with the Jaguars earlier in training camp.

“I think we were practicing against Jacksonville a couple weeks ago, and it’s a special teams period,” Johnson said, via Pride of Detroit. “And one of the officials walked up to me, and I still have the diagram in my office. It’s a piece [of paper]. He’s got 11 guys written up, and he literally took the entire special teams period—it was over five minutes—talking about how this play would work out. It’s a good idea. It’s a little bit out of the box. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it happen before. … I’ll let you guys [know]. I’ve got to give credit where it’s due.”

The Lions project to have one of the best offenses in the NFC, and now may gain an edge from an unlikely source, which will make for quite the story if Johnson uses the play and it ends up being successful this season. 

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