ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Ben Johnson isn’t here to talk about himself. Or his offseason. Or his future.
The Lions’ offensive coordinator, the man who helped guide this franchise to top-five finishes in scoring and yards, spoke Wednesday for the first time in training camp — his second in his current role. If he had it his way, he’d simply run his offense, put his players in position to succeed and win football games. At least, that’s where he tried to keep the focus Wednesday.
“Truthfully, it’s not about me and it never has been,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I think it’s a player’s game. … It’s about them and that’s the mindset we take as a coaching staff each and every day. …We’re here for them to make them the best players that they can possibly (be) — make this organization win as many games as we possibly can.”
Sure, Ben Johnson won’t talk about Ben Johnson. But that doesn’t mean we can’t.
Life is much different for Johnson this time around. Last year, he was a relative unknown. He earned the title of OC after taking on more offensive responsibilities in the second half of the 2021 season. He had the trust of Dan Campbell. There was optimism he was the right man to run the offense, but you still had to see it.
Then, well, we saw it.
Johnson’s Lions averaged 26.6 points per game (fifth in the NFL) and 380 yards per game (fourth). He coached Jared Goff to a Pro Bowl season. He dialed up a pass to right tackle Penei Sewell last year that helped put away the Vikings in December. He called a hook-and-ladder in Week 18 against the Packers, a crucial play that helped the Lions keep Aaron Rodgers out of the playoffs. He quickly developed a reputation as one of the NFL’s best play callers and offensive minds, which helped him garner interest as a head coaching candidate this offseason.
How did the Lions end up with the fifth best offense in the NFL? It began with a text from Bengals coach Zac Taylor. My story for @theathletic. https://t.co/964ZwRa8Yh
— Dan Pompei (@danpompei) June 28, 2023
At this moment, it feels like it’s only a matter of time until Johnson lands a gig running one of the league’s 32 franchises. But it’ll have to wait. Johnson is back with the Lions, citing unfinished business. Right now, he’s focused on integrating new weapons like Sam LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, while continuing to find solutions to problems defenses present.
With key players now a year into the system, Johnson believes this offense has even more to give.
If that happens, watch out.
“To me, it feels like it’s an offense going into Year 2,” Johnson said. “The conversations that are being had, particularly from the guys that were here last year, are what we talked about in the springtime. It’s less learning concepts. It’s now understanding the answers to the problems — because every play call, defenses present problems. Now, we’ve got the solutions. We’re a lot quicker getting to those solutions than what we were, so we have made a step forward.”
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When you really take time to think about it, the circumstances Sudfeld found himself in last September were more challenging than what meets the eye.
In San Francisco, Sudfeld was the clear QB4 behind Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy. He did not make the 53-man roster. Within 48 hours of cut day, he found himself as the backup QB on a Lions team that opened its season five days after he joined the roster. If Goff went down in Week 1, Sudfeld was the next man up. He’d barely learned the playbook.
Such is life for a backup QB in the NFL sometimes. But now that he has a year in the system, there’s a level of comfort that just wasn’t there last fall.
“Definitely night and day having a full offseason to prepare versus five days to prepare for the first game last year,” Sudfeld said with a smile. “But yeah, they’ve done a great job of preparing me. Really love working with Ben, (quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell) Bru and all the offensive coaches — and Jared has been awesome. … It’s been so fun to really get into the ins and outs, really dig deep and dive into the playbook and understand the why and get on the same page with Ben.”
It was hard to know exactly what to make of Sudfeld last year, since he arrived when practice viewing windows were limited to 15-minute sessions rather than the full practices in training camp. But now that he’s had a real offseason with the team, Sudfeld has shown enough in practice to reveal why the Lions turned to him. He’s 6-foot-6 and looks the part of a capable backup. He shows solid arm talent when he’s running the second-team offense. He can fire a bullet to the deep sideline but also display nice touch on a lofted ball over a defensive back. And he distributes it to everyone.
The key for Sudfeld will be doing it when it matters. He’s looked sharp going against the Lions’ second-team defense, but joint practices against the Giants and Jaguars will be a better test — as will preseason games. Teddy Bridgewater potentially signing with the Lions could also throw a wrinkle into his standing with the team, but if Sudfeld continues to impress, the Lions might determine they don’t need Bridgewater. He just needs to continue stacking good days and prove to the Lions that he’s the man for the (backup) job.
“Last year, we didn’t have him for camp, so this is great because he is getting full speed, live evaluation right now throughout camp,” Johnson said. “Can’t wait to see him in preseason games and function at a high level when the bullets are flying. Right now, it feels like he’s come out with great command, great control, he’s throwing with accuracy, he’s making good decisions. And so (for) him, as well as the rest of the guys, the consistency is what we’re looking for.”
Defense rebounds after a rough day
After taking a beating at the hands of the offense Tuesday, Wednesday was a much better day for the defense.
The seven-on-seven didn’t yield too many positive results for the offense, which is impressive considering it’s tailored for the offense to win. The first rep was a short check down to Amon-Ra St. Brown from Goff. On the next play, Goff scrambled — already a win for the defense in my book — and fired an incompletion to Antoine Green on a play that was well covered by the entire defense. Tom Kennedy did make an impressive grab over the middle (one that forced him to leave practice) but it was well-defended by Jack Campbell.
Lions observations: I’m running out of ways to write about how good Amon-Ra St. Brown is at football.
That and more in today’s notes: https://t.co/45PaG9WCZ8
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) July 25, 2023
The second-team defense held its own, too. For as sharp as Sudfeld has looked, he was just 2-of-4 during the period, with Chase Lucas in coverage on both incompletions. His two completions were short gains to LaPorta and James Mitchell, which you can live with as a defense.
In 11-on-11, a lot of passes were either batted at the line of scrimmage, short runs up the middle or pass breakups. Again, a much better showing this time around.
News, notes and observations
• Injury update: Right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who left Tuesday’s practice early, and defensive back Brian Branch did not practice Wednesday. It’s unclear what the two are dealing with, but we’ll hear from Campbell on Friday.
• Still no C.J. Gardner-Johnson or Jameson Williams, but they were around the team watching (and, at least for Gardner-Johnson, talking trash from the sidelines). Campbell said earlier this week that Williams would miss a day or two and it’s now been two days, so it’s possible he’s back when the Lions return to practice Friday.
• Friday is also when cornerback Emmanuel Moseley is expected to be back in the building, though he could need more time before he’s practicing again.
• Alex Anzalone says this is the deepest linebacker room he’s been a part of in Detroit. “There’s five or six guys that can legitimately start in the NFL and have started in the NFL,” he said. Each of the past two days, Campbell has taken some first-team reps away from Derrick Barnes. Malcolm Rodriguez continues to rep with the twos mostly.
• Kerby Joseph is such a good ballhawk he can intercept passes when he’s not even on the field. That happened on an errant throw that went right to Joseph on the sideline. He caught it and immediately sprinted up the sideline. Force of habit, perhaps.
• Early roster projection: Starling Thomas V is making this team. I liked what I saw from him in minicamp and he only continues to solidify his standing with the team. At the beginning of practice, the Lions split into two fields for 11-on-11 walk-throughs. Starters and key reserves on one side; mostly practice squaders, rookies and UDFAs on the other. Thomas is firmly on the side with the starters and key reserves. He also had a nice pass breakup on Denzel Mims. He’s doing what he needs to do.
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• James Houston is getting some work in at Sam linebacker. “We know he has some ability and craft,” Campbell said, “but we’re trying to really expand his horizons, if you will.” It seems like the Lions are trying to see exactly how much he can handle. At the very least, they know what he brings as a situational pass rusher.
• Funny moment: Even though the Lions aren’t in full pads yet, they took some time in practice to set up an open-field, one-on-one drill. One ball carrier, one defender. One rep featured St. Brown versus Jerry Jacobs. St. Brown hit Jacobs with a jump cut and got the best of him. Jacobs wanted revenge. On the last rep, he called for St. Brown and the two switched sides — Jacobs as the ball carrier and St. Brown on defense. Jacobs shook St. Brown out of his cleats and blew past him, drawing high-pitched screams from the rest of the DBs. Jacobs then sprinted away from the drill and signaled for other DBs to follow him. A group celebration unfolded shortly thereafter. Never a dull moment with this secondary.
• Both Riley Patterson and Parker Romo went 4-of-5 in the kicking portion of practice. Patterson missed his first from about 33 yards out, but hit on his next four from what appeared to be 38, 41, 44 and 47 yards. Additionally, to end practice, the Lions’ second-team offense ran a late-game situation. The offense set up a 45-yard Patterson field goal. The kick was good, as Patterson finished 5-of-6 for the afternoon.
• Friday will be the first day of full pads, so we’ll get a good look at the guys in the trenches. One-on-ones between the offensive and defensive lines will be must-see action. Stay tuned.
(Photo, from left: Ben Johnson, Jared Goff, Nate Sudfeld: Paul Sancya / Associated Press)
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