Ben Johnson: Lion's Unpredictability Enforcement Officer

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00:00Alright, something I did repeatedly, we'll get to this and then back to your phone calls,

00:06is Ben Johnson, offensive coordinator, is like the Lions internal, he calls the plays

00:16but he's also got this internal, he's like the unpredictability enforcement officer.

00:233rd and 8, draw play, 1st down, 3rd and 6, run it up the middle, 1st down, 3rd and goal

00:32from the 6, they run it, 1st down.

00:37Now Jared Goff spoke to us a little bit after the game, he said look when we get those calls

00:41on 3rd down, for us it feels like 2nd down because we know we're going to go for it on

00:454th.

00:46If they basically get close, they'll run two plays and go for it, but they're just getting

00:51the 1st down on 3rd down running the ball.

00:55And unpredictability is probably to a degree overrated in the sport of football because

01:00everybody knows everyone.

01:02It's not like you're breaking out new formations in a new playbook every week.

01:08Out of certain formations, there's certain things that you do, some run, some pass.

01:13And opposing defensive coordinators in defense, they know it all going into the game.

01:17So when you can break out a surprise 3rd down run, and I think there is an element

01:24of surprise there, I think that's where unpredictability actually does matter, and they did it with

01:29great success running on 3rd and long.

01:34It's pretty crazy.

01:35You know how frustrating it is when you give those up?

01:38Like when your team's playing, and the other team's looking at a 3rd and 11 and they hand

01:42it off, there's kind of a relief.

01:45Oh sweet.

01:46Yeah, they're giving up.

01:47They're just trying to move out of the shadow of the red zone or whatever it is.

01:51But when they run it for a 1st down, it is demoralizing.

01:55And yet, teams should figure this out by now that the Lions just don't give an F. This

01:58is what they do.

01:59Honestly, 3rd, it doesn't matter the situation you mentioned, 3rd and 8th, 3rd and 6th, they're

02:04running the football.

02:05The commonality with all those scenarios you gave us, it was 3rd down.

02:08And they run it.

02:09Because it doesn't matter to them.

02:10They know that they've got four plays to get it done.

02:12And particularly if you're in the red zone, they're not kicking field goals in the red

02:15zone.

02:16Red zone is for touchdowns.

02:17That's the way Dan Campbell is treating it.

02:19Unless they have like a 4th and 10 situation from like the 14-yard line, they're going

02:26for it.

02:27That's what they do.

02:28They don't want to settle for field goals.

02:31They're awfully impressive with the play calling.

02:34They're aggressive with it.

02:35And yeah, it's easy to call a run on 3rd down when you also think you can run it and you're

02:41going to go for it on 4th down.

02:44They keep you completely unbalanced.

02:45I think Vilma was going off about it.

02:47Just gushing about it during the broadcast.

02:49As a defender, you have to be aware of this at all times.

02:53You just can't rest on, alright, if they run it, they're just trying to get some more

02:56yards.

02:57You know, extra room for the punter.

02:58No.

02:59When they run it, they're trying to get the 1st down.

03:01And by the way, if they get close, they're going for it.

03:04Actually, if they just get 5 yards on 3rd and 9, they're probably going for it depending

03:08on where they are in the field.

03:10When you're unbalanced as a defense, and then you know they got cheat code, Amadou St. Brown

03:13over there where they can almost throw for a 1st down at any time they actually really

03:16need it.

03:17I feel like the Lions are actually kind of toying with teams at some point in the game.

03:22That's just how dominant they've looked this year.

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