No Ben Johnson, no drawback? Lions say they ‘can beat anybody throughout from us’

The Detroit Lions are tired of it. 

Yes, they’re tired of losing in the playoffs. There’s obviously fatigue there. But they’re also exhausted by the question that keeps popping up at training camp. The stars have all heard it, from quarterback Jared Goff to tackle Penei Sewell to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Will there be a drop-off in the offense after losing Ben Johnson?

“With the guys that we have on offense, we’re pretty dominant. We feel like we can beat anyone across from us,” St. Brown said this week.

But how will things change with new OC John Morton?

“I get that question every day,” Goff said last week. “A lot of [the offense] is similar. A few of it’s new. And there’s not that massive of a spot between these two.

“[Morton] simply sounds completely different in my ear. That’s in all probability it.”

Coach Dan Campbell has additionally heard this storyline on repeat, that the Lions will not be pretty much as good with out Johnson and former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.

“It doesn’t matter what I say. It’s already been written,” Campbell mentioned on the primary day of coaching camp. “In order that’s coming. That’s already a story. I’m not going to vary that. None of us will. In case you’re asking me personally, yeah, I don’t assume it’s what it’s performed out to be.”

No one requested me, however I am going to say what I feel. It is a massive deal. 

That is why everybody retains asking.

Morton, 55, is greater than succesful. However few coaches have been as fascinating as Johnson was when he left Detroit to fill the Chicago Bears head teaching emptiness. And that’s as a result of the Lions scored 33.2 factors per recreation final yr, essentially the most within the NFL. Johnson created a uncommon mix of meat-and-potatoes — posting the sixth-most dashing yards per recreation — with mind-bending and ostentatious trick performs.

These are massive footwear to fill. And we’ve seen brain-drain affect franchises which have loved distinctive systematic success, from the New England Patriots to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs to the Los Angeles Rams. It makes you marvel if the Lions may expertise an offensive decline.

In order that’s why the query appears to be on repeat in Detroit’s coaching camp.

Here is one other manner of asking it: Regardless of the turnover, will Detroit be one of many elite offenses in soccer?

“I feel so,” St. Brown mentioned. “It’s early however when you will have the blokes that we now have on offense — the quarterback, the weapons. It’s onerous to not assume you’re going to have a prime offense.” 

Detroit’s depth chart is, in actual fact, absurd. That hasn’t modified. There’s St. Brown, Sewell, receiver Jameson Williams, tight finish Sam Laporta and working backs Jamyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Goff is a little bit of a lightning rod for dialogue — is he elite? — nevertheless it’s onerous to argue together with his manufacturing final yr: 4,629 passing yards, 37 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions. As is the case with some pocket passers, Goff appears to have increasingly more solutions to the check as he matures.

It doesn’t matter what offensive scheme the Lions are working, they’re a juggernaut.

However nonetheless, I’ve this query burning behind my thoughts.

How will issues change beneath Morton?

“We’re working a number of the identical stuff. A number of the stuff’s completely different,” the 30-year-old quarterback mentioned. “I attempt to bridge that hole from issues we did final yr to issues we wish to do that yr and ensure everybody’s on the identical web page and ensuring I’m doing a bit of bit further. Ensuring I’m throughout it and may help on the sphere and could be that extension of the teaching employees that you simply wish to be.”

Yearly, groups self-scout. Yearly, they tweak their playbook to verify their offense does not develop predictable. Goff contended that this offseason appears like some other — with alterations however not wholesale modifications.

That stems from who Morton is and the place he comes from.

For the previous two years, Morton served because the Denver Broncos cross recreation coordinator. In 2022, he served as Detroit’s senior offensive assistant. At USC and for the Jets, Morton served as offensive coordinator. So he has expertise calling performs. He has expertise in Detroit’s system. And he has expertise lighting up defenses.

Simply have a look at what Broncos quarterback Bo Nix did final yr. He threw for 3,775 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in a debut season that, frankly, surprised most people exterior of Denver. Coach Sean Payton drew a lot of the credit score for Nix’s spectacular yr. However clearly, Morton was doing one thing proper, as a result of the Lions picked him to fill the offensive coordinator place that was the envy of just about each assistant coach within the NFL.

So let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth, lets? (What’s going to change?)

“I’m going to do what Dan — no matter he needs,” Morton mentioned. “However we’re going to have every little thing [including trick plays]. We’re going to proceed to do these issues. No matter was working, we’re going to proceed to try this.”

One distinction that reporters have seen on the sphere is an emphasis on the vertical passing assault. Williams is likely one of the quickest receivers within the NFL. Laporta and receiver Tim Patrick have giant frames for 50-50 balls. And rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa has freakish measureables. So in follow, there was an entire lot of vertical work for these pass-catchers.

“We are able to get width and we will get depth into the protection,” Campbell mentioned this week. “Now, it’s about making these performs. … That’s why you’re seeing a ton of those fades and go [routes]. We’re simply making an attempt to douse them proper now from the quarterbacks to the receivers to make performs. So, sure, we now have that skill.”

That is the place they’re hoping to develop schematically and from a play-calling standpoint. However there’s additionally a spot the place they will need to make modifications from a personnel standpoint. Three-time All-Professional heart Frank Ragnow retired. Guard Will Fries left.

“My eyes are on the O-line,” Campbell mentioned.

That is the bedrock of the offense. The Lions will wish to run the crap out of the ball once more. They’re going to begin there and get their passing assault buzzing on the again of their floor recreation. And none of that works with out an elite offensive line. And since the Lions will not present their playing cards on how issues are altering schematically throughout the preseason, their offensive line would be the unit to observe throughout these video games as they attempt to keep their kneecap-biting tradition. 

Johnson is likely to be gone. However the Lions did not lose his playbook. Morton’s twist on the sport plan will probably make or break Detroit’s Tremendous Bowl hopes.

Earlier than becoming a member of FOX Sports activities as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years overlaying the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Comply with him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna. 

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