Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson didn’t get call from North Carolina, happy Bill Belichick did.
Ben Johnson said North Carolina never reached out to him about its just-filled head coaching position, but the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator and UNC alumnus is happy the school hired another coach with NFL ties — Bill Belichick.
“Proud Tar Heel alum right now,” Johnson said Thursday. “I can’t wait to see what happens there. I’m proud of those guys for getting that done but no longer a basketball school.”
Belichick stunned the football world Wednesday when he agreed to a five-year deal to replace Mack Brown as North Carolina head coach.
Head coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels speaks to the media during a press conference on Dec. 12, 2024, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Belichick spent 24 seasons as New England Patriots coach, won six Super Bowls with the organization and parted ways after last season just 14 wins shy of breaking Don Shula’s NFL record for all-time victories.
While Belichick’s foray into college football likely closes his pursuit of Shula’s record, Johnson said it has given him temporary bragging rights over the Duke and North Carolina State alums in the Lions building, such as running backs coach Scottie Montgomery and assistant general manager Ray Agnew.
“It certainly makes it that much sweeter cause we haven’t had too many wins over those two schools over the last few years,” he said. “I’m all over Scottie right now. Ray Agnew, I was rubbing it in his face this morning. We’re already setting the over-under for wins next year, whether or not we’re making the playoffs, the college playoffs. But yeah, it’s an exciting time to be a Tar Heel.”
Johnson said he put the over-under at 9½ wins — and “everyone’s taking the under.”
Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said he’s “pumped” for Belichick and already scheming up ways Johnson can help him get the fishing trip with Belichick he has long joked about.
“You guys all know, I don’t know Belichick, but I love him,” Fipp saiud. “As my kids say, that’s my man crush. I don’t even know what that is, it doesn’t sound good. But no, I still hope to sit down and talk football with him one day. So Ben Johnson and I are going back to North Carolina in the offseason and we’re going to hang out with him. Ben’s got to get me in.”
The Lions lost a nail-biter to the Buffalo Bills the last time they met, in 2022 on Thanksgiving. In a back-and-forth second half, the Lions rallied to tie the game on a Michael Badgley field goal with 23 seconds to play — leaving enough time on the clock for Buffalo QB Josh Allen to answer with the winning field-goal drive.
Starting from his own 25-yard line and with three timeouts, Allen threw a 36-yard pass to Stefon Diggs on the first play of the drive and followed with two short runs to set up a 45-yard kick.
“There are certain aspects of the game that he really has a chance to change, and I will say that in critical situations — third downs, red zone — you see it. Two-minute situations,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “He burned us when we played him a couple of years ago on Thanksgiving in a two-minute situation, so he has that talent to be able to do that, and most of those elite quarterbacks do. So we just have to be better than him, that’s what it comes down to. In any situation there is in this game, we have to better than him.”
Glenn called 23 seconds “an eternity” for a player of Allen’s caliber, but he also said he thinks he has “grown tremendously” as a coach in late-game situations.
“I actually enjoy those times,” Glenn said. “We do them a lot in practice. Dan (Campbell) does a hell of a job of putting us in those situations and allowing me to have to think fast and make calls we have to make. And I teach our players the same thing, so they understand exactly what I’m going to call, so they’re doing a good job in those situations.”
A third above
The Bills’ seven-game winning streak came to an end last week in a 44-42 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams built a 17-point lead late in the third quarter and scored the most points Buffalo’s defense has allowed this year, and Johnson said one part of their success the Lions will need to replicate this week is success on third downs.
Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs for a first down against Green Bay Packers during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.
“I think the tale of the tape was how good they were on third down,” Johnson said. “I think, at one point, they were nine of 10, and they finished the game well over 50%, maybe 11 of 15, something like that. They were extremely good on third down, and I think that’s what helped them extend the drives and end up coming out on top.”
The Lions rank fourth in the NFL in third-down offense (45.81%), but have converted just 41% of their attempts (12 of 29) the past two weeks after converting on more than half of their third downs in November wins over the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts.
Last week, the Lions went 7-for-15 on third downs and 4 of 5 on fourth downs.
The Bills rank 25th in the NFL in third-down defense at 43.2%.
“This unit is really good at forcing negative runs, zero-yard gains, putting you behind the sticks, making you earn it the hard way, and so (the Rams) found a way to keep it going there on third down,” Johnson said. “It was a combination of the primary receiver getting open, it was beating man coverage, it was (Rams quarterback Matthew) Stafford extending the play and making some plays in streetball-more mentality. And so, our guys, we just watched all those third downs back-to-back-to-back and our guys understand what the task is at hand.”
Dave Birkett is the author of the new book “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline.”
