Allen Park — Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will never have to apologize after a win, especially one as impressive as knocking off the defending Super Bowl champions on the road, but he can still be disappointed with the path to victory.
The Lions’ highly-productive offense from a year ago didn’t look like itself in the season opener against Kansas City. It was most noticeable on the scoreboard, where the unit mustered just 14 points against a Chiefs defense missing its best player, defensive tackle Chris Jones.
The day after the game, Lions coach Dan Campbell said two points of emphasis going into the next week would be improving the offensive tempo and being more efficient on third down. Johnson readily took the blame for the operational inconsistencies in the opener, including a snap-timing error in the red zone that resulted in a fumble.
“I put that on me more than anything,” Johnson said. “That and some of those procedure issues we had. I take a lot of pride in that, and I think that’s a reflection of me probably biting off more than we can chew with some of the play calls got a little wordy. We’re a little bit slow getting the substitutions in there. I have to do a better job getting the play to the quarterback.”
In 2022, the Lions averaged 28.0 seconds between snaps, which was identical to the team’s pace of play against Kansas City. But Johnson noted tempo is more than how quickly the team runs plays, which is where improvement is needed.
“It is once we get out of the huddle, let’s align with some urgency and put some stress on the defense, and we didn’t feel that up to our standard last week.”
As for third downs, the Lions finished 5-of-15, resulting in four three-and-outs — among Johnson’s least-favorite stats. Even more problematic is that many of Detroit’s failed conversions came in manageable down-and-distance situations.
“We did have chances in some of those short yardage, call it third-and-2-to-6 area, (and) we weren’t very good,” Johnson said. “I think we were 2-for-7 for the game there and we should be over 50 percent based on what we’re aiming for, so area of emphasis going into this week. We have to improve there.
Despite finishing with a top-five offense a year ago, Detroit lagged in the third-down area. The team’s 40.8% conversion rate fell well short of the league’s other elite offenses, ranking 14th in the NFL.
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