Allen Park — Just to be clear, Dan Campbell was joking Tuesday on the “Pat McAfee Show” when he said he was caught off-guard by the Lions’ game-clinching play-call against the Vikings last week. Detroit’s head coach was not, in fact, distracted by fans doing the wave when Jared Goff tossed that third-down pass to 330-pound tackle Penei Sewell.
But Ben Johnson, the Lions’ offensive coordinator, is dead serious when he says he didn’t have any warning about that fake punt the Lions pulled off earlier in Sunday’s game. That gutsy fourth-and-eight call from the Lions’ own 26-yard line — a direct snap to up back C.J. Moore that went for a 42-yard gain — completely shifted the game’s momentum. It also had Johnson scrambling a bit in the moment.
“I had no idea it was even coming,” Johnson laughed Thursday, before the Lions hit the practice field for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets. “Honestly, I had no idea. I was going over the iPad, started to go through the pictures and then I just heard the crowd cheer.”
He should know by now, though, that fakes are a reality with this Lions team. And that Detroit’s special-teams units under coordinator Dave Fipp have become more than just a reliable strength. With the success they’ve had running trick plays, “I definitely think that gives us a confidence that we can use it as a weapon,” Moore said. “If we ever need a play, we can count on the guys to get it done.”
And in case you’ve lost count, here’s the running tally: The Lions have converted six of seven fake punts over the last two seasons while recovering an NFL-best three onside kicks. That’s nine stolen possessions in 30 games right there, and it’s to a point now where opposing coaches really should be checking their wallets — to say nothing about their personnel alignments — every time Fipp is talking on his headset on the sideline.
“I mean, they dial it up at the right time and their preparation, their detail, the players being able to execute it, it’s top-notch,” Johnson said. “Fipp has had a number of those over the last year-and-a-half that have come through for us.”
Momentum swinger
Sunday against the Vikings, that fake punt came through in a big way after the Vikings and Lions initially appeared to have traded three-and-out possessions to start the third quarter, with Detroit still holding a tenuous 14-7 lead.
But then long snapper Scott Daly angled a snap to Moore, who ran to the right side of the line, where the Vikings were a bit light defensively. Anthony Pittman and Malcolm Rodriguez made terrific blocks to get him to the edge, fullback Jason Cabinda provided a necessary lead block in the second level, and with Rodriguez running interference downfield, Moore — who would end the day as the Lions’ leading rusher on just one carry — did the rest.
Eight plays later, the offense did its part, with Jared Goff finding Josh Reynolds in the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass that gave the Lions a 14-point lead and take control of the game against the division-leading Vikings.
“Offensively, it helps us immensely,” Johnson said. “Not just with field position, what they’re able to do right there, but swinging the momentum back in our favor. I think that really got us going on the right foot there for the rest of the game.”
Kevin O’Connell, the Vikings’ head coach, called it a “huge play” afterward, adding, “A lot of respect for that. The special-teams coordinator over there, we knew … it’s pretty well documented that they’re going to try and steal a possession at some point.”
But on that point, Fipp is quick to deflect some of the credit, both to his players — “It’s simple to draw it on paper, but the way that the players make it come to life is obviously inspirational,” he says — and to Campbell.
“Obviously, it starts with the head coach,” Fipp said. “I mean, he’s great to work for as a coach, because he empowers you and enables you. He keeps you honest, he makes you better, and he’s incredibly smart, really in all three phases. As smart as anybody I’ve been around.”
Fipp says he sees it every week when the two sit in his office and go over every last detail of the Lions’ special-teams plans, from the protections to the personnel to all the possible scenarios where a fake might make sense. And it’s that last part where they really do seem to see things the same way. (No team has been more aggressive in going for it on fourth down over the last two seasons than the Lions under Campbell, converting on 35 of 69 attempts.)
“I think some people say, ‘Well, it’s just such a risky call,’ which, obviously, there’s an element of risk to it,” said Fipp, 48, who spent eight years as a special-teams coordinator in Philadelphia — winning a Super Bowl in 2018 — before joining Campbell’s staff in Detroit last season.
Horse play
But there’s an inherent risk in everything that happens on a football field, obviously. And if you ask Fipp about that, he’ll go back to something he says he learned from a high school Spanish teacher, Rey Hernandez, who also coached the football team at La Jolla High in San Diego
“He liked to bet on horses, which was totally foreign for me,” Fipp said. “And I’m like, ‘Dude, aren’t you just throwing your money away doing that?’”
But Hernandez used to study the Daily Racing Form and was something of a “savant,” Fipp says. He knew the trainers’ track records, and the jockeys, too. He paid attention to which horses ran well in what conditions, and he took into account all the various factors that went into what was still, in the end, a gamble.
“And I think it’s a little bit like that to us,” Fipp explained. “When we look at a play, it’s different. It’s like, ‘Well, what is their stance? What’s their alignment? Are there two guys over there or three? And what is the look of the two guys and the three guys?’ There’s just so much to it that I think, for us, the risk is perceived differently on the inside than it is on the outside. It obviously takes a lot of guts to make those calls, but I do think it’s a little bit different when you know all the ins and outs of everything there.”
Knowing it’s in there, ready to be called at any moment, matters from the players’ perspective, too. And while the success does breed confidence, this isn’t quite like last year, either, when all the trickery felt a bit more like desperation from an overmatched team just trying to stay in the game. Take that loss to Matthew Stafford and the eventual Super Bowl champs in Los Angeles, for example, when the Lions converted two fake punts and recovered an onside kick in a game they still lost by two scores.
“This year, it’s just different,” Moore said. “I’m sure other people around the league may think special teams is kind of boring. But our unit is special. We’re really looking forward to that type of stuff. And every time we call it, we’re expecting to get it, because of the work we put in it. Yeah, there’s a small risk, but we expect to get it every time. So we have a mentality of, ‘Hey, stay hot, stay ready.’ You just never know when you get the green light.”
But if — or when — they do, the safe money says they’ll be off to the races.
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JohnNiyo