Linehan Says Lions Couldn't Get The Ball To Johnson; Steelers Players Say They Adjusted To Shut Him Down
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw to superstar wide receiver Calvin Johnson 11 times in the first half of Sunday's game against Pittsburgh and just three times in the second half.
Head coach Jim Schwartz said Monday the Lions did not go away from Johnson in the second half, citing a lack of time of possession as one reason Johnson did not get as many targets and mentioning two throws to him in big situations.
Thursday, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan simply credited the coverage of the Steelers.
"I'm sure they went in at halftime, they said, 'We're going to put our two best DBs and, no matter what, make Stafford go, his read needs to go somewhere else," Linehan said. "The thing that we didn't do well enough was make the plays that we've made in games prior to that. We missed a throw or two here but we dropped some passes that would've propelled us to a big chunk of field position or some production there in the passing game.
"You're just allowing people to continue to add a lot of resources to cover you," Linehan added.
As far as any differences between how the Steelers covered Johnson between the first half - when Johnson racked up 179 yards on six catches - and the second half, Linehan said that schematically the defense was basically the same.
"It wasn't really anything different," Linehan said. "What made it effective is we threw to the guys that weren't getting doubled and we weren't catching it and making them have to pay for that, and that's what you've got to do.
"We still couldn't get the ball to Calvin and always have," Linehan added. "If there's one thing you can say about us, we target him more than anybody in the NFL, so he's still going to be very productive throughout our season, but in a game like that you can't drop a deep ball or drop a third down conversion. That's what holds you back."
Johnson often makes catches in spite of double coverage and sometimes even in triple coverage. For him, that is just part of the job description, and the trust between him and Stafford allows for some of those throws that would seem crazy were they directed to anyone other than Johnson.
"He believes that I'm going to go get the ball," Johnson said. "If I don't get it, nobody else is going to get it, for the most part. That's how we practice, and that's just the confidence he has in us."
As otherworldly as Johnson plays, though, Linehan knows not to push the limits too much. On the assertion that Johnson is essentially unstoppable no matter what the coverage, Linehan agrees to a point but is wary of the risk.
"I suppose, but not at the expense of throwing interceptions in a tight game," Linehan said. "If anybody in the NFL has a way of getting a guy the ball in triple coverage, it's Matt, and Calvin's able to produce there.
"But the way we've won games is other guys on this team have made plays in those situations, and you don't want to go away from that because that's how you can really be a balanced offense as far as spreading the ball around, not forcing the ball," Linehan added. "Hats off to them making that adjustment, but we have to be able to step up at other spots."
Schwartz, Linehan and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin all said the coverages called in the second half were not different from the ones in the first half, but individual players said they made adjustments within those schemes to try to keep Stafford from throwing to Johnson.
"We didn't necessarily change the defense Coach [Dick] LeBeau called, but we used the way the defense was set up to play it in ways to give Stafford looks where he felt like he'd have to force in into Calvin, and guys made plays on other players, which really helped," safety Ryan Clark told ESPN.
Besides the Steelers being able to concentrate on the pass because of the inefficiency of the Lions' run game, a three-safety, three-cornerback setup helped the Steelers contain the mighty "Megatron" and the rest of the Lions offense.
"We did a plethora of things, things you can do when there's three safeties in the game at one time," Clark said to ESPN. "We talked about it, communicated it well. It wasn't hard to figure out who was catching the ball, and once we did that there was just some things we felt like we could tweak to our advantage because schematically they were just trying to attack us the same way."
Whether the Steelers' shutdown of Johnson can be replicated by another unit or not, it is probably a safe bet that defensive backs across the league are studying the film in hopes that they can do the same.
