PFF analyst ranks Lions' Ben Johnson as top OC. Why he might be right
I've been around the Detroit Lions my whole life. Not once did I think I would see a day where the hype around this team would be at the magnitude that it is right now. On Thursday, things took a step towards a bigger magnitude. Wow. Look, this is just one guy saying this at […]
I've been around the Detroit Lions my whole life. Not once did I think I would see a day where the hype around this team would be at the magnitude that it is right now. On Thursday, things took a step towards a bigger magnitude.
Wow. Look, this is just one guy saying this at the end of the day. But that one guy is kind of a big deal. Pro Football Focus is the top analytics spot in the football world and Sam Monson is their lead analyst. His takes carry weight. Event the Lions themselves took notice of this. It's cool to see, but could it be true? Let's break it down shall we?
The Stats
One of the easiest ways to see where this lays out is by looking at the stats last year. I broke them all down in his graph and showed where the Lions ranked in each of them in 2022.
| Stat | Rank |
|---|---|
Total Points | 5th |
Total Yards | 3rd |
Total 1st downs | 4th |
3rd down conversions | 16th |
4th down conversions | 3rd |
Red Zone percentage | 4th |
% of drives ending in score | 3rd |
Yards per drive | 3rd |
Average points scored per drive | 4th |
Ok, The Lions had a pretty good offense in 2022. There's no surprise there. A couple of stats that really stand out is that the Lions scored a lot of drives. 43.2 of them to be exact. That's good. Actually that's really good. How good is it? This stat has been tracked since 1998 and this is the highest percentage the Lions have ever had. The closest they've come was in 2016 when they scored on 41% of their drives. The guy who's ranked ninth on Monson's list was their coordinator that year.
Outside of 2016, the percentages are all in the 20's and 30's. Since I know you're curious, the Lions scored on 26.2% of their drives in 2008. Surprisingly not their worst.
The other note here is that the Lions aren't that great on third downs. 16th in the league. They converted on 86 of their 211 attempts. 211 is the number to pay attention to there. The Lions were 22nd in third down attempts. They didn't really get to third down a lot. Of course we know they love to go for it on fourth down. The Lions did it 37 times in 2022. That's third in the league. They converted on 20 of those.
The stats are all in Johnson's favor. He clearly drew up one of the best offenses in the NFL last year. Top five all across the board. What about making players better?
Making players better
If the name of the game here is giving players the best time of their careers, Johnson sure did that. Basically every player on the Lions offense put up career numbers in 2022.
Jamaal Williams best season before 2022 was the 601 yard and three touchdown season he had with the Lions in 2021. Johnson turned that into 1,066 yards and a league best 17 touchdowns.
Jared Goff had the best year of his career as well. Kalif Raymond put himself on the map with a big year in 2022. Amon-Ra St. Brown had his best year as well. Ben Johnson's offense made players better and in some cases, got them big contracts. Williams is in New Orleans now, but he got his biggest deal ever based off last season.
He's sort of the only guy left
What I mean by this is that Ben Johnson directed a top five offense last season. The guys above him all took jobs as head coaches. Eagles OC Shane Stichen is now the head coach of the Colts. Eric Bieniemy is still an OC and so is Kellen Moore, but both of those guys are now OC's on different teams and have to prove it all over again. Especially Bieniemy. IF he can turn the Commanders offense into a number one unit, he should get a statue outside the building and a head coaching job. Frankly, he should already be a head coach if we're being honest.
The only guy left is Ken Dorsey. He's still the OC for the Bills. That sort of makes Johnson the best or second best by default. At the end of the day, it's opinion. This might have had something to do with that opinion though.
Bieniemy and Moore aren't the only guys that have to prove something. Johnson has to as well. He needs to show that he can do it again. He's hot right now, but we've seen how fast hot coordinators can cool down and even disappear. Jim Bob Cooter and Teryl Austin are good examples of what can happen if you don't keep it up.
Featured image by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
