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Ben Johnson expects more out of Detroit Lions offense for consistent '60 minutes'
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- Ben Johnson expects more out of Detroit Lions offense for consistent '60 minutes'
The Detroit Lions have the second-highest scoring offense in the NFL, but offensive coordinator Ben Johnson isn't happy with the way his group has played of late.
"The last three weeks there are things that we haven't been consistent enough with going back to the Tennessee game," Johnson said Thursday at the team facility in Allen Park. "I know we scored 50-something points, but that was more gifted to us, I feel like, more than us pulling our own weight. Same thing with Green Bay . We played half a game really well and we didn't finish the second half the way we're capable of, and then certainly last week we didn't start the game like we wanted to."
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Johnson said his unit is still fighting to meet a standard of "60 minutes of consistent football." The offense has shown flashes "we can be a dominant unit when we're all executing at a high level," he said, but must put it all together.
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) throws an incomplete pass as he is pressured by Houston Texans safety Jalen Pitre (5) in the second quarter at NRG Stadium in Houston on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024.
The Lions are averaging 31.6 points per game for the season, but turned the ball over five times and needed a late rally to beat the Houston Texans last week. They were shut out for the final 24 minutes of their Week 9 win over the Green Bay Packers .
Despite the offense's inconsistent play, both Johnson and Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn heaped praise on quarterback Jared Goff on Thursday.
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Goff threw five interceptions against the Texans, though Lions coach Dan Campbell said most of the turnovers were not his fault. One interception came on a Hail Mary, another was on a tipped pass, a third was partly due to receiver Jameson Williams running a poor route, and a fourth came when Goff failed to protect the ball after a breakdown in protection.
Goff bounced back from his early-game struggles against Houston to lead the Lions on tying and winning field goal drives in the fourth quarter.
"He's had his lumps over the years and this was another one where it's just a little stumbling block and he handled it as well as you possibly could imagine," Johnson said. "On the sideline we're talking through what he's seeing it and he's seeing it all great. As much as I can, I'm trying to reassure him, 'Hey it's on me as much as anything else,' cause what we saw on tape and what we said was going to happen didn't quite turn out the way we wanted.
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"In the fourth quarter he came out and was still firing that ball. A lot of guys would clam up and be afraid to make a mistake and he did not do that."
Said Glenn, "For him to go through what he did and to be able to take this team under his wing and drive the ball and score the touchdown that we needed and make the critical plays that we needed to give us a chance to win that game was outstanding. He didn't blink and that's the one thing that showed up more than anything is the leadership, the toughness, the ability to take a team on his back and go win a game was outstanding to see."
PFF rant
Dave Fipp can do without your Pro Football Focus rankings. And he'd rather not hear about metrics like DVOA (defensive-adjusted value over average), either.
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Asked Thursday what he's most happy with and what the Lions' special teams most need to improve upon at the midpoint of the season, Fipp spent more than five minutes explaining why he doesn't care for some of football's most prominent analytical rankings.
Detroit Lions punter Jack Fox (3) punt against Green Bay Packers during the second half at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024.
He said DVOA used flawed statistics like return yardage as part of its formula to evaluate special teams play, and he shared a story of PFF badly misevaluating one of his players when he was special teams coach with the Philadelphia Eagles .
Fipp wouldn't name the player in question, but said a New York Giants assistant once told him the player, who now has a career in media, was ranked the best blocker on his team by PFF.
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"I'm like, No. 1, this guy's like the worst blocker on our team," Fipp said. "But No. 1, we put him on these matchups on the backside of the return every week where he's blocking basically a guy that doesn't need to be block, but we kind of have to block him just in case. So, he wins the matchup, so he got a good PFF grade, and he's really the worst player on our team at his job description, but he's really the best with PFF."
The Lions lead the NFL in special teams DVOA , and rank third on defense and fourth on offense in the metric.
Big Z coming
When Za'Darius Smith makes his Lions debut Sunday, it won't be as a bit player.
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Glenn said he's being careful not to give Smith too much to process for his first game as a Lion, but admitted "we're going to push as much on him as we can to get him out there to go play for us."
Za'Darius Smith of the Cleveland Browns celebrates after a sack in the third quarter of a game against the Baltimore Ravens at Huntington Bank Field on Oct. 27, 2024 in Cleveland.
"He's a vet, looking forward to getting him out there," Glenn said. "Have a number of things that we want to do with him, but, man, just going through the walk-through with him, you can tell how excited he is to be a part of this organization. And listen, we're throwing some things at him and he's not going to pick everything up right away, but there are some situations we want to make sure that he's on the field to utilize his ability to rush the passer and his ability to play the run."
The Lions acquired Smith from the Cleveland Browns at last Tuesday's trade deadline, then gave him most of last week off to get his personal affairs in order as Smith was supposed to be on his bye.
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Smith traveled to Houston and was on the sideline for the Lions' win over the Texans, where he helped coach up teammates as they came off the field.
He's expected to start Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars .
Dave Birkett will sign copies of his new book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline" at 7 p.m. Monday at the Applebee's in Auburn Hills. Order your copy here . Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ben Johnson expects more out of Detroit Lions offense
