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

Henry McKenna

NFL Reporter

The Detroit Lions are uninterested in it.

Sure, they’re uninterested in dropping within the playoffs. There’s clearly fatigue there. However they’re additionally exhausted by the query that retains popping up at coaching camp. The celebs have all heard it, from quarterback Jared Goff to deal with Penei Sewell to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Will there be a drop-off within the offense after dropping Ben Johnson?

“With the blokes that we have now on offense, we’re fairly dominant. We really feel like we are able to beat anybody throughout from us,” St. Brown mentioned this week.

Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is not backing away from excessive expectations even after the group misplaced its elite offensive coordinator. (Picture by Amy Lemus/NurPhoto through Getty Photos)

However how will issues change with new OC John Morton?

“I get that query day by day,” Goff mentioned final week. “A whole lot of [the offense] is identical. A few of it’s new. And there’s not that large of a spot between these two.

“[Morton] simply sounds totally different in my ear. That’s most likely 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 alter that. None of us will. If you happen to’re asking me personally, yeah, I don’t assume it’s what it’s performed out to be.”

No person requested me, however I am going to say what I believe. It is a large 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 sport final yr, probably the most within the NFL. Johnson created a uncommon mix of meat-and-potatoes — posting the sixth-most speeding yards per sport — with mind-bending and ostentatious trick performs.

These are large sneakers to fill. And we’ve seen brain-drain impression 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 surprise if the Lions would possibly expertise an offensive decline.

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

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

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

Detroit’s depth chart is, in truth, absurd. That hasn’t modified. There’s St. Brown, Sewell, receiver Jameson Williams, tight finish Sam Laporta and operating backs Jamyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Goff is a little bit of a lightning rod for dialogue — is he elite? — but it surely’s exhausting 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 an increasing number of solutions to the take a look at as he matures.

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

However nonetheless, I’ve this query burning at the back of my thoughts.

How will issues change underneath Morton?

“We’re operating lots of the identical stuff. Among the stuff’s totally different,” the 30-year-old quarterback mentioned. “I attempt to bridge that hole from issues we did final yr to issues we need to do that yr and ensure everybody’s on the identical web page and ensuring I’m doing a little bit bit additional. Ensuring I’m throughout it and might help on the sphere and will be that extension of the teaching workers that you simply need to be.”

Yearly, groups self-scout. Yearly, they tweak their playbook to verify their offense does not develop predictable. Goff contended that this offseason looks like another — 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 move sport 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, shocked most people exterior of Denver. Coach Sean Payton drew many 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 virtually 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 thing [including trick plays]. We’re going to proceed to do these issues. No matter was working, we’re going to proceed to do 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 a complete lot of vertical work for these pass-catchers.

“We are able to get width and we are able to 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 attempting to douse them proper now from the quarterbacks to the receivers to make performs. So, sure, we have now that capability.”

That is the place they’re hoping to broaden schematically and from a play-calling standpoint. However there’s additionally a spot the place they will should make modifications from a personnel standpoint. Three-time All-Professional middle 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 need to run the crap out of the ball once more. They will begin there and get their passing assault buzzing on the again of their floor sport. 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 through the preseason, their offensive line would be the unit to observe throughout these video games as they attempt to preserve their kneecap-biting tradition.

Johnson may be gone. However the Lions did not lose his playbook. Morton’s twist on the sport plan will seemingly 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 masking the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Comply with him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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