LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET

January 2, 2025

Opening Statement: “I’m going to just talk about this one coming up. This is a huge one as we all know, great game against a great opponent back at home here. So, really looking forward to it. The last time we played these guys, there was a lot of back and forth, they started off hot, then we were able to respond there, second quarter and third quarter then it came down the wire. So, good team, great defense, really well-coached, great players all across the board, and looking forward to this opportunity.”

On the key to getting a consistent offense in terms of point production that coaches strive for: “I don’t know if I always feel the same way that you do by saying that. We’ve had a number of 20-point games that we felt like, as a coaching staff and players, that there was more out there to be had. I would say probably the last four or five games we’ve been playing more consistent football, less three-and-outs. That’s really where I gauge it more off of is, are we able to move the ball? Not everything’s going to be perfect every week or every series or every play, but we’ve had guys stepping up and when it’s not perfect, they’re over there making it right. (Lions WR Jameson Williams) Jamo is one of those guys, (Lions WR Amon-Ra) St. Brown is one of those guys, (Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs) Gibby is one of those guys. We had a play last week where we’re trying to do a bit of misdirection and the end didn’t take the cheese, it should’ve been a tackle for loss and then the next thing you know, Gibby is crossing the court and going to the other direction and makes it a positive play. I think that has a lot to do with it. These guys are going out there and playing confident football and they’re playing really well right now.”

On Lions QB Jared Goff getting a block: “Yeah, Jared got a nice one. That helps his PFF grade I think.”

On how long it took him to form a relationship with Lions WR Jameson Williams to where they are on the same page with his demands: “Yeah, it’s been a learning experience for everybody, I think. Since he got in the building here, it’s been all of us coaches, (Lions Head) Coach (Dan) Campbell, myself, (Lions Wide Receivers Coach Antwaan Randle) El, all of us have been on board trying to have him understand the expectation and what we really need, what (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) needs, what the O-line needs, what we all need for this whole thing to work and it’s taken a little bit of time, but it’s really taken off now at this point. He’s very detailed, very smart, very smart and that might go unnoticed, but you say something to him, and you coach him, and it hits him. He understands it and I think because he’s so smart, he’s able to really grasp what we’re trying to do and it’s just a matter of getting him all of the reps and all of the looks and he’s been really good here second half of the season.”

On changing the play-calling to beat Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores’ tendencies as the matchups continue: “Yeah, he does a great job. He does a great job. Each week you try to find a weakness in the armor and look to attack it, and this defense, it just doesn’t have much. It’s been that way for two years now. You can tell that this whole unit, they’ve been together, they’ve been playing in this scheme, they have the answers, they know when they get hit with something how to respond. He always has a curve ball every week, I think (Packers Head Coach) Matt LaFleur said last week that they weren’t anticipating quite as much man as they got early in the game and had to make some adjustments. There’s no question, as a coaching staff, all of us, we have to be on our Ps and Qs and just make sure we’re able to respond if he’s hitting them with something that we weren’t necessarily prepared for.”

On his relationship with Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores: “I knew of him because he’s a Boston College guy and that’s where I did my GA spot, and of course he’s in New England and we faced across the sideline there for a couple of years. I didn’t get to know him, I met him at the Combine a couple of years ago, seems like a great guy, has a great reputation. When he took that job at Miami, he had a staff already in his head of who he wanted, so I was let go and that was that.”

On when he realized he found something in Lions T Dan Skipper and what about him makes him trust him: “Yeah, this goes back to the (Lions Head Coach) pre-(Dan) Campbell days because he was – Dan’s been in and out for a number of years here. What you notice right away was that he’s the guy that every couple of weeks was going to get into a fight during training camp and that’s really because he loves the game so much, he’s passionate about what he does, he brings all that energy and enthusiasm to the practice field every day. He only knows green light, red light. It’s stop or go and that’s what you’re going to get from him. So, when you see a guy that practices that way and loves the game like he does, once we got him on the roster, we knew that we wanted to get him out on the field because we know what he's going to bring to the table. He’s one of those glue guys, we have a number of those guys on this team that fly under the radar a little bit, but they play critical roles for us, and he certainly does that.”

On how he drowns out the media attention about his head coaching candidacy: “This is exactly where I need to be right now. I think I’ve talked about it before, there’s an obligation to the people in this building and I’m going to honor that obligation. It’s nothing but the Minnesota Vikings right now.”

On how Lions WR Jameson Williams can be considered a number one wide receiver: “He certainly has that ability. Obviously, his superpower is his speed and that’s shown up every game. Every game we’re looking to create space for him and get the ball in his hands so that he can have run after catch or get over the top of the defense and what we’ve seen from training camp until now is other parts of the game develop. Have a lot more trust in his route tree, that’s really grown over the course of the season, we try to challenge him with some new things every week that maybe he hasn’t done quite yet and I’m really excited to see how that expands. A full offseason of spring, training camp, healthy, no outside noise would continue his development in a good way.”

On how the run game evolved with Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and Lions RB Craig Reynolds through two games without Lions RB David Montgomery: “Yeah, both of those guys have done a great job for us. (Lions RB Jermar) Jefferson got some burn too and same with (Lions RB Sione) Vaki, we really like that rotation right now and honestly, it hasn’t really changed how we approach the run game in terms of schematics. We felt all year long that Gibby and D-Mo are equally successful doing the same things and that really hasn’t changed our mindset the last couple of games. So, hopefully we continue that trend, and both of those guys play big roles for us, Craig and Gibby.”

On if defenses have changed with Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs carrying more of the load: “I have not seen that, maybe, I have not seen that quite as much. Each week we do something a little bit different with him, maybe from the backfield or extend him out wide, but that’s kind of been the theme all year long. Didn’t see anything from San Fran that was anything different than we expected.”

On how much of Lions QB Jared Goff’s ability under pressure is him or the play design: “The guy was a number one pick for a reason. He’s been super talented throwing the football and here he is entering year nine and he’s got all of these banked reps from L.A. and now Detroit and they all add up. The defense is moving slower, he knows where his eyes need to go, he knows what he’s trying to do. We’re really aggressive at times with what we put on his plate, and he doesn’t bat an eye, really, he embraces it. He came in this morning, he’s like, ‘Hey, load me up. I’m ready to go.’ So, that’s what we try to do and it’s a credit to him that he really wants to be able to control all – he’s playing so well post-snap, and you guys are seeing that, that there’s not enough appreciation for what he does before the snap with the cadence, the motions, the shifts, the premiere plays that we try to get into at times. That’s what really, I think, makes our offense special.”

On how important Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown is to be an option when Lions QB Jared Goff is under pressure: “The stress, obviously, is on the unit up front, the O-line, the running backs when we face a team like this. I think the big completion to Saint that you’re talking about, (Lions T) Penei (Sewell) had a hell of a block on that one. So, really as long as we can buy him enough time, he’s doing a nice job finding those outlets and Saint has found a way to be that guy over the last couple of years. So, it’ll take all hands on deck though with this crew. I know he’ll throw something at us that we haven’t seen.”

On how important intelligence is across the entire offense: “We do it because we can. That’s why this offense is the way it is, is because we have smart players. We have a veteran offensive line that’s played a lot of ball, we have a quarterback that can handle a lot on his plate and we’ve got good, smart perimeter guys that are willing to block and do all of the dirty work and prepare during the course of the week. I’m so fortunate as a coordinator because when you have that, now you take the governor off and you can do almost anything that you want to do. And it’s not like that at every place. I’ve been a number of places, a number of different offenses and coordinators and we just couldn’t push it to this level and that’s a credit to the guys, that has nothing to do with us as a coaching staff. But we’ll push it as long as we think it’s sound and it can help them out, we’ll push it to the limit.”

On what is clicking with Lions TE Sam LaPorta: “I’ll have to go back at the end of the year and look at why it didn’t click sooner. I really felt like early in the year we were going to have some of the games that he’s had over the last few. I know that he’s feeling as healthy as he has all year long, he’s playing confident football right now. I know (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) has a lot of faith in him. I certainly felt that way earlier in the year too, so I can’t tell you why it’s different now than it was before but we’ve always seen him as an integral part of what we do in the passing game and the ball seems to just be finding it’s way there right now.”