Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson: 'Feel really good about' late-game play calling vs. Seahawks
The Detroit Lions did not take a shot at the end zone with a chance to beat the Seattle Seahawks on their final drive of regulation last week, and given the circumstances, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said he would not change his late-game play selection.
"No," Johnson said Thursday. "I felt really good about what we did."
The Lions started their final possession at the 50-yard line with 1:44 on the clock and all three timeouts. They moved the ball to the Seattle 27 in two plays, but did not run a third until 32 seconds remained.
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After a pass to Jahmyr Gibbs for a short gain and a timeout with 26 seconds to play, Jared Goff threw incomplete to Amon-Ra St. Brown on second down, then hit Gibbs on another short pass on third-and-6 before the Lions sent the field goal unit on for the game-tying kick as time expired.
The Seahawks won when they scored a touchdown on the first possession of overtime. The Lions never touched the ball in the extra period and finished regulation with one unused timeout.
"Obviously, an offense like ours that we feel really strongly about, we want shots in the end zone to win the game," Johnson said. "We want that on us. We had opportunities within the plays that were called to get the ball a little bit closer, and I think the shots would have come to the end zone from there. But I know we didn’t push it into the end zone, but was very happy with Jared, what his decision-making was and we came really close to executing a touchdown.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell defended his two-minute approach after the game and again this week, and Johnson echoed Campbell's sentiments Thursday, saying the offense's No. 1 objective was "to get in field goal range and if we did kick the field goal, we didn’t want to leave any time for them to respond."
Asked if field position was what kept the Lions from throwing to the end zone once they got inside the 30 — Gibbs was Goff's second read on first-and-10 from the 27 — Johnson said he never felt pressed for time.
"I don’t think time was an issue," he said. "We had plenty of time with two timeouts and we were just making sure we handled it really well that we were a manageable field goal, at a minimum, with no time left and had an opportunity to get it into striking range.”
No Aaron Donalds in Lions' defense
The Lions have one sack through two games, by linebacker Alex Anzalone, and Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said getting more pressure on the quarterback is a point of emphasis with the Atlanta Falcons coming to Ford Field this week.
"That’s us as coaches trying to scheme guys into doing things and that’s players also, just executing their job," Glenn said. "So that’s one thing that we have to get better at and also, when you look at the pass defense, man, you’ve just got to win and we’ve got to make sure we put guys in positions to win.”
Anzalone's sack came on the Seahawks' final snap on offense in regulation, when Geno Smith scrambled wildly trying to extend a play after being flushed from the pocket.
Aidan Hutchinson has three of the Lions' eight quarterback hits —Anzalone has two, and Charles Harris, James Houston and John Cominsky have one each — and the defense has received little pass rush production from interior linemen Alim McNeill, Benito Jones and Levi Onwuzurike through two games.
Glenn said he's pleased with the job his defensive tackles have done against the run this season; the Lions are averaging just 86 yards rushing allowed through two weeks, after allowing 146.5 a game last year. But McNeill, Jones and Onwuzurike have combined for six tackles (none for loss) this season.
"Everybody on our defense has strengths and has weaknesses, and you look at our run defense, you see what those interior guys are doing, they’re doing a really, really good job," Glenn said. "Are they Aaron Donald? No, they’re not. There’s not many people in this league that’s like that, so we have to do a good job — well, I have to do a good job of trying to scheme some things up so those guys can get a chance to get to the quarterback, maybe pick games and things like that, so those guys will have a better chance. That’s going to be my job to help those guys do that."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Ben Johnson wouldn't change late play calls vs. Seattle
