Upon replacing Ben Johnson as offensive coordinator, John Morton will tweak some things to his own preferences and principles. But he made it immediately clear he would not be reinventing what has been a successful wheel for the Detroit Lions.
Morton was of course on the Lions' staff in 2022, so he has familiarity with many of the pieces of the offense. The core of that familiarity is knowing quarterback Jared Goff, and Morton said as much to Dan Miller of FOX2 back in February.
"I think it’s (not having very many unknowns) big with the quarterback,” Morton said. “Kinda knowing him and when I was here, I was in the quarterback room. I have a feel of what he likes, what he doesn’t. That’s important as a play caller. We’ll continue here when the players come back and stuff, so I’ll get to know more about him and the plays that he really likes a lot and what they’ve been doing good here.”
In that same conversation with Miller, Morton also said the Lions' offense would still be "predicated on the quarterback." The most important thing Johnson did when he became the coordinator was shaping the offense around what Goff liked and did well. That's a not-so novel concept Morton will naturally continue.
PFF data confirms how John Morton can keep his promise about Lions' offense
As part of Pro Football Focus' team preview series, writer Dalton Wasserman recently took a deep dive into the Lions for 2025. In the "quarterback spotlight" category, the easy keys to Goff's success were confirmed once again by data.
"Key Stat: 85.8 play-action PFF passing grade (7th in NFL)"
"Goff put together a third consecutive solid season at the helm of the Lions’ offense. He set a career high in yards per attempt (8.5), which was buoyed by an 85.8 play-action PFF passing grade that ranked seventh in the NFL."
Via PFF's "stable metrics" charting from last season, as shared by Wasserman, Goff was 65th percentile or better in clean pocket grade, standard drop back grade, 1st/2nd down grade, At/Beyond The Sticks Grade, as well as "Avoids Negatives" and sack rate.
The one "stable metric" area Goff was not quite as good in last season is no surprise. He had a 50th percentile grade on his pass attempts with "no play action."
According to PFF, Goff had a league-high 205 play-action pass attempts in 2024 with tied for the second-highest yards per attempt on play-action drop backs among quarterbacks with a viable sample. A league-high 37 percent of Goff's total drop backs, among quarterbacks with at least 65 play-action drop backs, were off of play-action.
The areas Goff is good in are obvious at this point, as are the areas or situations where he's not very good. So if Morton is going to pay off his initial promises, play-action will continue to be a core concept of the Lions' offense with him calling the plays.
