Notes: Lions OC Ben Johnson visits Red Wings, offensive explosion ensues

Both Jared Goff and Ben Johnson are fan favorites in Hockeytown.

Although the team is in offseason mode, Detroit fans are still expressing their appreciation and admiration for the accomplishments of the 2023 Lions squad during its deep playoff run. Last time we checked in on how Detroit Lions fever was spilling over to other sports venues in Detroit, there were “Jared Goff” chants at Little Caesars Arena during a pro hockey game leading up to the NFC Championship in January. On Saturday, the professional hockey and football worlds crossed paths again when Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was invited to kick things off on the goal horn between the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues.

The home team annihilated the visiting St. Louis Blues 6-1 with a tremendous four-goal opening period. The Red Wings scored their first goal 33 seconds after the puck drop, and were up 3-0 just five-and-a-half minutes into the game. From WXYZ Detroit’s Brad Galli, head coach Derek Lalonde (an admitted fan of how the Lions are run) had a fun comment in his post-game press appearance on the good karma from having Ben Johnson in the building: “There’s good karma there. The Lions, you can probably credit them a good 6-8 points this year.”

A good time was had by all, and apparently the Jared Goff chants were back as well. Our own Erik Schlitt was watching, and sometime during the third period the chants were back (confirmed by The Athletic’s Max Bultman). I suppose a good time was had by nearly all, since there’s at least one Detroit Lions player who may have been sad about the way the Red Wings crushed the Blues. The Red Wings’ official Twitter account dug back into the video archives to when Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond visited Lions training camp in August 2023 for a really deep cut:

Turns out a particular second-team All-Pro rookie tight end from the St. Louis area admitted to Seider and Raymond (who combined for three assists in Saturday’s blowout win) that he used to root for the Blues as a kid:

Now, on to the rest of your weekend notes:

• On Thursday, our own Meko Scott and Morgan Cannon discussed the 2023 defense and identified spots for improvement. You can watch video of the entire 30-minute analysis on our official Pride of Detroit YouTube channel:

• Following up on their video of Jared Goff’s top ten plays from the 2023 season, the Lions media folks put out a video of Amon-Ra St. Brown’s ten best plays from this past season. You can watch the Sun God in all his glory on the team’s official YouTube channel.

• From Tom Pelissero, we have the official fifth-year option salaries for players selected in the 2021 draft like Penei Sewell. Since Sewell has one Pro Bowl selection that counts toward his 2025 P5 salary determination, his fifth-year option will cost the Lions $19.04 million when they of course elect to use it.

• Another salary thing of interest to Lions fans from Pelissero:

• We now know how much the Detroit Lions signed Mathieu Betts for, and it looks like a really good contract for the team:

• Earlier in the week, Betts was the guest of the day with Rick Dhaliwal and Don Taylor on their “Donnie and Dhali The Team” show on CHEK news in British Columbia to discuss his decision to sign with the Detroit Lions. You can watch the entire 10-minute interview on YouTube:

• According to Caio Brighenti, the Lions’ Manager of Football Information, the team is hiring a Summer intern for its football information department. You can find more information about this opportunity at the team’s Greenhouse site.

• Defensive lineman Alim McNeill visited with kids at Millbrook Elementary in the Wake County Public School System. McNeill is a native of Raleigh, most of which is in Wake County. Always nice to see the Lions players doing great community work like this!