Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson oozes enthusiasm. Johnson has a very natural energy to him that radiates in interactions with the media. It showed in his side session at the scouting combine in Indianapolis this winter and it shone once again before Thursday’s OTA session in Allen Park.
All the energy and creativity won’t help Johnson in his new job if the man at the controls of his offense, QB Jared Goff, can’t perform well enough. Goff’s first season in Detroit was largely terrible until a midseason coaching change that saw Johnson get more involved and head coach Dan Campbell took over the offense for deposed OC Anthony Lynn. The final four games Goff played offered legitimate promise, and that’s what Johnson wants to build off into 2022.
“I’ve got a really strong relationship with Jared right now,” Johnson told reporters. “One of my top priorities, personally, is to help him have the best season of his career. One thing that we’ve done is included him a lot in what we’re trying to do schematically, and so we spent some time this offseason watching more of the stuff he did a few years ago in LA and how we can incorporate some of that, while also challenging him to take the next step in some areas of improvement for him as a player as well.”
Johnson likes what he sees from Goff so far.
“He’s having a good offseason, though. I’m really encouraged with where he is, too.”
So what did Goff do well in Los Angeles that can be recreated in Detroit? Johnson offered up some morsels that the duo has been working on to help Goff get back to his Pro Bowl form.
“I think when you look back at his time in LA, he was really successful with certain schemes, with certain concepts. We’re just going to look to incorporate some of those a little bit more,” Johnson explained. “I know play-action is something he’s really good at, and we’re going to look at doing that. It’s really a strength of our offense as well. We’re going to be a really good running team, so that’s going to show up on Sundays is the play-action and the movement game.”
The two have spent a lot of time together this spring, Johnson stated, and Goff’s input on the offense is something that can only help what was a moribund passing attack for far too long in 2021.
