LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET

September 5, 2024

On the differences that he expects from the Rams defense: “Wish I knew the answer to that. That’s the challenge we have, that’s the challenge for every team right now this time of year. Different defensive coordinator, so I’m sure schematically they’ll have some tweaks in there and then personnel-wise it’s a completely different crew up front and on the backend, so with the lack of tape that’s out there, certainly from LA, we’re going to have to be creative in terms of trying to find out how to isolate players and attack them.”

On how he feels entering Week 1 now compared to how he felt a couple of years ago: “Yeah, I mean my comfort level is high because of the guys around me, so the coaching staff gives me a ton of comfort. Second year that this whole group’s been together, which is really special, I think. We can read each other’s minds now and we’re a lot more efficient. I wouldn’t confuse that with getting more sleep, but we were definitely more on the same page and were able to get to point B a lot quicker than what we’ve done as a coaching staff. And then our players, there’s a lot of continuity there. (Lions QB) Jared (Goff)’s been here, (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint’s been here, a lot of that offensive line’s been here, so I think we’re all very comfortable with each other. And so that’s where year three, for me, I just – I feel really good about the group that I’m around.”

On what kind of confidence it gives him that players like Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and Lions TE Sam LaPorta can grow even more from year one to year two: “Yeah, I think that’s usually the biggest jump for most guys in this League, is going from year one to year two. Their heads aren’t spinning as much and so hopefully we’ll see that from that group that you just talked about. They certainly had good rookie years as well, so if we can pick up where we left off from last year, then certainly we’ll be cooking. But they’ve had good camps when they’ve been available, I know both those guys, Gibbs and LaPorta, have missed a little bit of time there in training camp, but from what we’ve seen as of late we feel really good with where they’re at.”

On where his confidence level is in Lions WR Jameson Williams: “As high as it’s ever been and continuing to climb. The more reps, the more time we get together on the field, the better I feel about him. He’s grown in so many ways, on and off the field. As a player, as a route runner, as a receiver, and then off the field just his preparation, how he’s talking care of his body, his demeanor with his teammates and interactions with them. He’s come a very long way and so he’s just going to continue to grow and the more reps he gets he’s going to make mistakes and he’s going to learn from them and that’s the best thing, most encouraging thing we’ve seen is, since he’s been out on the field, he rarely makes the same mistake twice.”

On what Lions WR Jameson Williams’ deep speed means for opening up the offense: “Yeah, we’ll see. Hopefully teams are sleeping on it a little bit here early in the season. I think he’s got that rare ability in this League to take the top off the coverage. And so, if we can get him over the top, if it presents itself, those opportunities, I think (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) is a lot more comfortable in knowing where he’s going to be and how he needs to throw those balls down the field to take advantage of that. But we’ll see what the coverage dictates.”

On what he has seen from Lions WR Tim Patrick and Lions WR Allen Robinson II so far: “Yeah, both those guys are really impressive from a – off the field, in the meeting room , in the walkthrough that we just had, extremely diligent, taking notes constantly, you can tell that they are professionals, which, when you get these young players in this League, they’re learning how to do that, these guys already know, so I think that they’ll be able to grasp this offense a lot quicker because of that. On the field, you can tell both those guys have a lot of ability. Long, huge catch radius guys. I mean, Allen’s got arms all the way down to the floor it seems like and then Tim is the tallest receiver I’ve been around, I think, in my time in the NFL. So both those guys certainly give that big body catch radius appeal for (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) and we’ll see how far we can push them and really encouraged with what we’ve seen so far.”

On his assessment of Lions CB Terrion Arnold: “Yeah, he’s sticky. He’s sticky as all get out, so he’s given us some issues there during training camp, one-on-ones, and we’ve tried to pick on him a little bit and it hasn’t been super successful, so I’m encouraged to see where he’s at. He certainly lets you know he’s out there, in more ways than one. It’s good.”

On his thoughts on Lions TE Parker Hesse: “Yeah, we talk about that third tight end spot being able to wear a lot of different hats and he might not have the same pass catching appeal as some, but everywhere else we feel really good about his versatility. He’s excellent in-line, very strong, very physical. You could see this during training camp there, preseason games we had him at some fullback, so we liked his ability to come down and isolate linebackers, and then he’s been really smart and dependable, whether he needed to be the Y, the F, or in our heavier packages – move him around a little bit. So I think that’s what really tipped the scales in his favor in terms of making the 53. But like I said during training camp, we felt really good about the six guys that we had and kudos to (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and that staff, finding a way to get five of those six back in this building in some capacity because the two that are on practice squad are going to help us out at some point this year.”

On if Lions RB Sione Vaki’s performance in preseason caused him to try to find more ways to get him involved in the offense early: “Sure, the message to the guys, particularly the ones that haven’t been here, is, we’ve tried to, the last two years – anybody that we see active on game day, finding a role for on offense. We don’t want to come out of a game and guys have zero snaps on offense. And so, if he’s active on game day, absolutely, we’d love to find a package for him to get out there, whether it’s some carries or some routes, whatever that is, that’d be great. Feel the same way about (Lions RB) Craig Reynolds as well. He’s been flying under the radar now for the last three, four years and he’s just been Steady Eddy and super reliable, also.”

On what the process of evolving the offense looks like: “It really starts when we are watching ourselves and we talk about as a staff, maybe a play off a play and how we can attack a certain look that we’re seeing and then it goes another step further. Once we start evaluating some of the pro guys around the League, free agents, and then certainly the college tape that pops up come Draft time, that’s when the wheels really start turning. I think I mentioned it last year, I’ve got this stack from (Lions Special Assistant to President/CEO and Chairperson) Chris Spielman – I’ve got index cards just that big that is still sitting on my desk, and he’s already started to feed me some from this year now that the college game’s going. So we’re always looking everywhere that we can find a little edge, something a little bit different and that’s the benefit of having such veteran guys and smart guys is, we can take little things and incorporate them and really not miss a beat.”

On how much the time Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs missed impacted what he wants to do with him in the passing game: “Shoot, when he came back in the springtime you could tell that he had been working on some of that route running stuff and unfortunately the availability hasn’t been there consistently, so probably didn’t get to explore that as far as we would’ve liked. But we certainly feel really good about where he was at in the springtime, what he’s shown here in camp and – from the backfield, from the slot, from out wide, it’s certainly more than we felt comfortable with a year ago.”

On how he feels about where the team is heading into the season: “Awesome. Yeah, I feel great. We had a great camp and now we can focus on one game at a time, which is really where our sweet spot is. Our guys are all dialed in, nothing but LA right now and what gives us the best chance to win this one ballgame.”