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ALLEN PARK – The Detroit Lions did not give much details about the future of their new offense. But whoever looks at the new coordinator, Darrell Bevell over the years, already knows what to expect.
And you can bet that Kerryon Johnson is excited about it.
"I mean, we all know what he likes to do," said the sophomore this week. "We all know what he brings to the table."
What Bevell brought to the Seattle table was a top-five attack in four of his seven seasons calling the plays, from 2011 to 17. And Marshawn Lynch's game exploded into a whole other stratosphere.
Lynch had good seasons before joining Bevell, of course, including twice running for 1,000 yards. But in his first season on Bevell's arrival in Seattle, he ran for a career-high 1,204 yards. The following year, 1,590 additional yards and an appointment to the first All-Pro team.
In fact, Lynch's first four seasons with Bevell were the four most productive seasons of his incredible 12-year career. He has won two titles in the race, has been named All-Pro twice, has won four times in a row at the Pro Bowl, won a Super Bowl and nearly won another.
So here is. You can imagine Kerryon Johnson's enthusiasm when Detroit hired him to replace Jim Bob Cooter.
"I mean, it's good news for me," he said. "But we are a complete team. We are trying to be a complete offense. We try to be complete players. We understand that we can not run the ball 100% of the time, we can not throw the ball 100% of the time. We will be as balanced as possible and score as many points as possible. "
Lions can not run the ball 100% of the time, but they want to run it more – and more efficiently – to complete their rising defense. And nobody benefits more than Johnson.
Detroit loved him so much in last year's draft that he was looking for the Auburn star in the second round, although the club was already at his best since 1998. But Bob Quinn's calculations were good. Johnson had a strong training camp for the rookies and then needed just three weeks to break out with a 101-yard offense against the Super Bowl champions Patriots. Detroit had won this game for many reasons, but Johnson's performance was one of them.
He also put an end to the Detroit drought without a 100-yard return, which had reached 70 games. The NFL record is 72.
Johnson averaged 5.4 yards per race, which was second in the league and flirted with offensive rookie of the year until Detroit stopped him after 10 games with a knee injury . Although he missed six games, he still finished with 641 yards, a record among all returning Lions since 2014.
Detroit finished with 1660 rushing yards in team, its best performance since 2013.
It was a decisive step in the right direction for a rushed attack that was buried in the last five of the league throughout the Jim Caldwell era. They still have not finished in the top half of the NFL since the days of Barry Sanders.
But this is only the beginning and Johnson knows that we will be expecting a lot more from him in the second year, as the Lions move their game plan from Matthew Stafford instead of him. Now, he is in good health and is preparing to be the kind of back that Detroit needs to see in this offense.
"Last year, I did not have this time," said Johnson. "I was getting ready for the combine, all the fun things people like to see, and you really do not have the opportunity to improve on football. Become really stronger, really work on your specific skills. I was therefore entitled to three and a half months, whatever that may be. And I think the time I spend will pay off this season. "
He will also have help. While waiting for an attack on the race, Detroit gained more power to block by signing Jesse James and draft T.J. Hockenson. James was known for his bad passes in Pittsburgh, where he ranked 25th as a race blocker and ninth as a goaltender last season according to ProFootballFocus. And Hockenson, Detroit's first-round pick, was considered one of the country's fiercest blockers at the post during his days in Iowa.
You can bet that Johnson noticed that too, including tweaking to Hockenson at the repechage night.
"Yes, I tweeted it. He never answered me, joked Johnson. "I was excited. First of all, I know where he is from. Iowa football, I know what kind of football they play. I mean, I know he's going to become a worker, because everything is there. It's a hard working crew. "
Johnson added, "Just like I heard about it, they heard about me. We have all heard of each other. But at the end of the day, I'll watch them, they'll look at me, and we both have to do our work. We all understand that. It's a new year, a new scheme, we're fighting new guys. Our goal is simply to improve ourselves. "
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