Getty Dan Campbell looks on with coaches during a Lions game in 2023.
The Detroit Lions have enjoyed a great season on the offensive side of the ball, and that’s been due in part to the work of their coordinator Ben Johnson.
Johnson has presided over a fantastic offense this season, and has begun to open eyes around the NFL for what he is managing to do. One person particularly impressed with Johnson is a legend in the offensive game himself in Mike Martz.
Martz, formally one of the best coordinators in the league, has seen what Johnson has done and has been impressed. As a result, speaking in a tweet from The 33rd Team, he is ready to call Johnson the offensive coordinator doing the best job in the NFL right now. That’s because Johnson has a knack of scheming, especially within the run game.
“I think, right now, Ben Johnson is doing the best job in the league.”
The #Lions are rolling on offense and their OC is a huge reason why 🙌
“Watching Detroit play in the last eight weeks – actually all year but particularly the last seven or eight weeks – Ben Johnson the coordinator there has got such a good feel for play calling. I think right now he’s doing the best job in the league bar-none,” Martz said. “He incorporates the run. Not just the run, but the variation of the run. The downhill run. They’re not just out of the shotgun or read-option or all that stuff. They run the power plays, zone plays in and out, they run pitches. They’re creative. The offensive line is one of the better ones in the league in terms of rushing the football.”
As Martz would go on to say, the team’s offensive line deserves credit for how hot they look right now and the way they seem to be hitting their stride.
“Ben Johnson’s done a great job with the offense. Hank Fraley the offensive line coach. I think they’re probably one of the two or three best offenses in the league today, easily. The two backs they have, they’re just kind of hitting their stride on offense which is what you want. They’re rolling, I think,” he said.
Detroit’s offense just scored 41 total points against the Bears, and have scored over 30 points eight times on the season. That points to an offense that has a major level of explosion and ability.
Johnson figures to be one of the hottest names on the coaching market. Whether the Lions can retain him remains anyone’s guess, but it would be a big advantage if they could do so.
Lions’ 2022 Offense Dominant With Johnson
This season, the Detroit offense has been able to keep the team in games if not win plenty of them on its own. That’s a major credit to Johnson, who is calling the shots for the team as the coordinator.
Through Week 17, the Detroit offense is rated third overall in the NFL. They’ve put up a total of 6,137 yards and are averaging 383.6 yards per-game so far this season, which is a very big total for a team that scuffled much of the 2021 season.
In terms of the pass, Johnson has Detroit sixth overall in the league, putting up 253.9 passing yards a game. They have 29 touchdowns through the air this season, and 4,062 total passing yards to their credit.
On the ground, the Lions have been just as good. Detroit has the 11th overall rushing attack and 2,075 yards to go with 21 rushing touchdowns. Better than that, Detroit is rushing for 129.7 yards per-game just a few years removed from struggling to have a 100 yard rusher in any game.
All of these facts point to what Johnson has done and how he has been able to help the Detroit offense grow in a very short amount of time.
Martz’s Praise for Johnson Very Notable
For an offensive coordinator to gain praise from Martz is akin to a painter getting praise from Pablo Picasso. For years, Martz was seen as a top guru of offense in the NFL.
With the Rams, Martz started his career in 1992 as the quarterback coach. He proceeded through the ranks, coaching wide receivers in 1995 and 1996. After departing for a two year stint coaching quarterbacks in Washington, Martz returned to St. Louis in 1999 where he was the offensive coordinator that helped capture Super Bowl 34.
Martz’s offense with the Rams came to be known as the Greatest Show on Turf for their ability to score points in bunches and dominate on the field. The 2000 Rams, for example, set a then-NFL record by putting up 7,335 offensive yards in the season.
Martz would go on to coach the Rams until 2005, and he enjoyed a 53-32 record as a head coach in the league to go with a 3-4 playoff record. In spite of the Super Bowl win, Martz was never able to get over the hump and win another title with the twea,
After the stint with the Rams, Martz was Detroit’s offensive coordinator in 2006 and 2007, then working in San Francisco in 2008 as the offensive coordinator and leading the Bears offense from 2010 to 2011.
The bottom line? Martz knows offense, and he sees something special in the Lions and Johnson right now.
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