How Lions OC preparing for Warner, Greenlaw in NFC Championship originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Detroit Lions coaching staff has a lot of respect for the 49ers heading into the NFC Championship Game.
When asked about matching up against the 49ers’ defense, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson had plenty of praise for San Francisco’s strong linebackers corps.
“Yeah it’s tough, you could argue that these two [Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner] are right up there with Baltimore’s two stack linebackers, they’re the best in football in my opinion.” Johnson said. “Normally, what we try to do on offense is we try to throw some eye candy out there to try to get them off-kilter, but I think these guys have played so much football together in this scheme that you can see they diagnose and read their keys very well, they’re very instinctive football players.
“So, it’s going to be a challenge, we’re going to have to be fast, this is a very fast defense attacking-style defense up front and at the second level as well and then on the back end they’re super feisty. We’re going to have to start fast and combat their aggressiveness with play speed and knowing exactly what we’re doing.”
As the architect of one of the most impressive offenses in the league, Johnson will be facing his toughest test of the season against the 49ers, with a Super Bowl berth on the line. While the Lions feature a stellar receiving corps and great quarterback play from Jared Goff, Johnson pointed out that the 49ers have a disruptive defensive line, which will make it difficult for them.
“They’re such great penetrators at the point of attack and they do such a great job of keeping the blockers off the second level.” Jonhson told reporters.
“What you see on tape from them a year ago schematically doesn’t necessarily show up as a great way to attack them this year and that’s really due to the personnel. They are much stronger in the interior, they’re playing…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lions-oc-preparing-warner-greenlaw-232643813.html
Author : NBC Sports BayArea
Publish date : 2024-01-27 23:26:43
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
