Jameson Williams or David Montgomery? Amon-Ra St. Brown or Jahmyr Gibbs? Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Friday he doesn’t mind making opponents pick their poison.
“I think our combination of run game/vertical threats is a little bit unique,” Johnson said, per Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network. “If we can run the ball versus two high (safeties) like we have done the first three games, it’s going to be challenging for teams to be patient enough. They’ll be death by papercuts and we’re willing to play that game if need be.”
If need be, Johnson might even have Sam LaPorta when Detroit (2-1) hosts Seattle (3-0) on Monday Night Football (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC). The tight end was a full participant at Friday’s practice after leaving last week’s win at Arizona with an ankle injury.
LaPorta’s presence would be important because, as Johnson said Friday, the “Jameson Effect” is finally starting to play out. The Cardinals had enough film over the Lions’ first two games – when Williams had 10 catches for 200 yards – to limit him to just one catch for 9 yards. But that’s fine with Johnson.
“We hit a big play in the first game and a big play to him in the second game and last week,” Johnson said. “You could tell early in that game they weren’t going to allow him to get over the top. We’ll see if that trend continues.”
But regardless of how Jared Goff distributes the ball against the Seahawks, Detroit won’t have center Frank Ragnow, the anchor of its offensive line. Head coach Dan Campbell said Thursday that Detroit was going to “put him down” with a pectoral injury.
The chess match between Johnson and Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is a popcorn-worthy event. Johnson, 38, is a legitimate head-coach candidate while Macdonald, 37, was in Johnson’s shoes as a coordinator only a year ago. Last season, Macdonald’s Ravens became the first team in NFL history to lead the league in sacks, takeaways and scoring defense in the same season.
Picking up where he left off, Macdonald’s Seattle defense through three weeks leads the NFL by allowing just 3.91 yards per play. Seattle is also second in total yards allowed (238.7 yards per game), first against the pass (132.3 yards per game) and fourth in scoring defense (14.8 points per game). Seattle is also dealing with its own injuries this week, however.
Per the NFL, Macdonald can join Josh McDaniels (Denver, 2009) as the only head coaches under age 40 to win each of their first four games since at least 1933.