It's clear that Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is not afraid to dig deep into his playbook in big situations. A hook and ladder play in Week 18 of the 2022 season against the Green Bay Packers, and throwing the ball to Penei Sewell on a fourth down a few weeks before that come to mind prominently.
Late in the first half last Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, Johnson dialed up another hook and ladder play. Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs executed it perfectly.
Sam LaPorta being injured at the end of it was unfortunate, but otherwise....
That wound up being the decisive score in the 20-13 win, as the offense stagnated in the second half while the Lions' defense and punter Jack Fox stifled the Cardinals' ability to mount any kind of comeback.
Jared Goff reveals movie reference name for hook and ladder play vs. Cardinals
Goff made his weekly appearance on 97.1 The Ticket on Wednesday. He channeled St. Brown to generally highlight the need for the Lions' offense to do more moving forward.
"What we’ve been getting away with (while) winning, we won’t be able to get away with as time goes on. We know that’s the reality. We can’t continue to score 20 points and no points in the second half and expect to win the amount of games we’d like to win this year. We know that and we’ll keep improving."
Goff's mood was brighter when the aforementioned trick play against the Cardinals came up. He revealed the name for the play, pulled from an old Will Ferrell movie.
"It was called Shake 'n Bake," Goff said. "Stole it right from Talladega Nights. We’ve been cooking that one for a while. Brainchild of Ben Johnson. He brought it to me in camp and was like, 'Think we could do this?' I’m like, 'Hell yeah we could do that.'"
"Shake 'n Bake" is now on tape, so that exact rendition of a hook and ladder play may never be seen again from the Lions. (note Goff's use of the word "was" in reference to it). But it was a sweet play, called at an appropriate time and executed perfectly.
