Absence Of Johnson Gives Unique Opportunity To Other Receivers, Stafford
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Superstar wide receiver Calvin Johnson played limited roles against the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills, missed last week's game against the Minnesota Vikings, and appears likely to miss Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints.
The Lions need Johnson, and his presence makes the offense immeasurably more potent. The silver lining of his absence, however, could be improvement by the team's other wide receivers as well as growth for quarterback Matthew Stafford, who for his entire career has had the NFL's best wide receiver as his go-to guy.
Never in Stafford's career has Johnson been limited to this degree. Johnson missed back-to-back games sandwiched around a bye week in Stafford's rookie year, but that has not happened since - at least not until this week, potentially.
Stafford has had to adapt to life without Johnson in a way he never has before, targeting him just three times in the two games before Johnson was sidelined last week, and yet the Lions have a record of 4-2 and sit atop the NFC North.
"Stafford's handled it very well," wide receiver Golden Tate said. "That's a tough habit to break after you have Calvin for six or seven or eight years, I don't even know how long, and when in doubt, throw it to Calvin. He's a spectacular athlete. He can make a lot of catches on virtually the whole team, but I think [Stafford's] done a great job at going through his reads, I think that's important. With the backs that we have, it's okay to hit your checkdown. When you have Theo [Riddick] and Reggie [Bush] and Joique [Bell] and even young George Winn, it's okay to hit your checkdown, and I think he's been doing a great job at that, and he's been seeing the benefits of it.
"These guys are still getting seven, eight, nine yards, so I think his confidence is definitely growing a lot," Tate added. "Even with Calvin not in there, he stills feels comfortable enough to spray the ball around to multiple receivers and tight ends, and we found ways to win."
Masterful performances by the defense have played a huge part, obviously, but the offense has done just enough. The Lions amassed 273 yards against the Bills and 255 yards against the Vikings, but Detroit offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said he likes what he has seen from Stafford as the quarterback has adjusted to playing without Johnson.
"He's a great asset to have on the field, obviously he's the best receiver in the NFL," Lombardi said. "The things that impress me about Matthew are, one, his toughness. He's one of the toughest guys I've ever been around. I love that. And then mentally tough. It would be easy that you see Calvin go down, then Reggie gets nicked up, and it's not, 'Oh, what are we going to do?' He's just ready to go and attack the defense. It's kind of that mental and physical toughness of this guy are things that I like.
"He understands the situation," Lombardi continued. "Like all of us, he's watching the defense play well and so he's like, 'Hey, 'I don't have to throw these balls into triple coverage.' He's being smart with the football, and he's doing what a quarterback has to do to win a game."
While the Lions do not want their offense entirely dependent on Johnson, they certainly want to use him as much as possible when he is available. Accordingly, some of the team's other wide receivers have not gotten much action. With Johnson injured, that is changing, and the hope is that more repetitions for those players will make the offense stronger in the long run.
"I know all of us receivers are trying to take advantage," Tate said. "We want Calvin out there, but we're trying to take advantage of him not being out there by building our trust in [Stafford] for when [Johnson] does come back. I know [Jeremy] Ross and [Ryan] Broyles and [Corey] Fuller are trying to do everything right and build the confidence in [Stafford] so when [Johnson] does come back [Stafford] just has more weapons, he's confident in all of us to make a play and feels less pressure."
Stafford echoed that sentiment.
"You hope it works," Stafford said. "You hope it helps a lot. We were getting a bunch of guys that maybe wouldn't have gotten as many opportunities, we're getting them chances to go play in meaningful minutes, starting the game for us. It's been good. Hopefully we'll have guys continue to get healthy, get back as soon as they can, and we'll go from there."
