Locker Room Buzz: No Drop-Off For Lions' Offense Without Ben Johnson

Here is a collection of quotes from Detroit Lions players and coaches following their 52-21 win over the Chicago Bears.

HC Dan Campbell

On why the team has always responded well to a loss during his tenure:

“I just think you’re motivated to get that taste out of your mouth. You just – you don’t ever want to lose focus or not play your best game, but sometimes it happens. For certain reasons – or you may play a great game and at the wrong time you turn the ball over two or three times. No matter what it is I think it just – it refocuses you. There’s a sense of urgency that to just, ‘Man, let’s go back to what we do. Let’s clean this up and let’s go get a win.’ Because nobody likes it. We take it personal and that’s big.”

QB Jared Goff

On how challenging his chemistry with Amon-Ra St. Brown can be for a defense:

“Yeah, it’s hard on a defense. And I even think, we had that one in-cut on third down that were both kind of like, ‘Man we’ve got to connect on that.’ Pushing each other in that way. Where Jaylon Johnson makes a great play, it’s – those are the ones where we’re like, ‘No, we need to take it even further.’ We push each other really hard, we do, and I thought it showed up, really, on that back shoulder ball to him. Just being able to trust that he knows what I’m thinking and I know what he’s thinking and put it in a spot where only he can catch it. And then he makes the play, incredible catch. It’s a lot of work though, it is. We put a lot of work into it, a lot of talk, and figuring those things out.”

WR Jameson Williams

On whether the offense answered all the questions following their Week 1 struggles:

"You saw that 50 points up there. I think we only scored 50 points once or twice under Ben. This is our O.C.'s second game, and we put up 50. I don't think it's a drop-off without Ben. Shoutout to Ben, he's a great coach, great play-caller. But, you know, we make plays, man."

S Brian Branch

On facing former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson:

“Very motivated. We knew coming into this game that this is personal - really all these games (are) personal. But this one was just, we felt like we’d been betrayed from the staff to the players. And we love Ben, we still love Ben. He’s a great coach, he’s a great mastermind, but yeah, it was time to get after him.”

S Kerby Joseph

On the importance of the defense's second quarter takeaways:

"I mean, that's big. That's what we pride ourselves on, that's what I pride myself on, getting interceptions and taking the ball away. As a defense, that's what we work hard on, taking the ball away. That's the job of a defense, to stop the offense from scoring and take the ball away to give our offense more drives to score."

WR Isaac TeSlaa

On what clicked to allow the offense to break out for 52 points:

"It really just came down to us being well-rounded. The offensive line played really well. We were able to protect Jared, allowed us to get down field. We had some big, explosive plays in the run game, obviously, and then the passing game, that's our standard for this year."

On whether his catch Sunday was better than his one-handed catch in Week 1

"Just because I didn't score, I'm gonna say no. But difficulty wise, it's up there for sure."

WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

On getting involved in the offense taking hand-offs out of the backfield:

"It's fun. It's fun when you get the first down and get some yards, I had another run that kind of got stuffed at the line of scrimmage. Running behind our O-line is always a lot of fun, especially when we've got the right look."

On the performance of quarterback Jared Goff:

"When you protect him and you let him see it, he's one of the best in the league. I think he shows that each and every week. Even if he throws a pick, I think he comes back and he's willing to throw to all of his guys. He showed who he is today, why we appreciate him so much as our quarterback."

OL Tate Ratledge

On his initial impressions of playing at Ford Field for the first time:

"The place is electric. It's a fun place to play, one of the best environments I've ever played in."

On what the team took out, if anything, from the game plan to help the offense:

"I don't know if we took anything off, actually. We had a full game plan, to my knowledge. Just going out there and executing, that was something we didn't do last week, so we had to come out here and do it today."

CB Amik Robertson

On whether the team purposefully ran up the score on Ben Johnson:

"It's always good to get a win. We did the same thing last year. If we had a chance to run the score up, that's what we did. We were gonna go out there and play physical on defense, be explosive on offense. That's what I feel like we did tonight."

LB Jack Campbell

On whether the defense feeds off the offense's success in games like Sunday's:

"It's nice because they score so fast, and then I have to go back out there and catch my breath. So it's not really nice at all, but I'll take that. And it forces the play-caller into a — it shrinks his play-sheet down because he's playing from behind and he's got to do a lot of things to get back into the game. So it helps us too."

DE Marcus Davenport

On what the home opener was like for him mentally:

"Mentally, man I was trying to figure out the best way to get mad. But man, that wasn't working. Then again, I feel like the fans brought the energy. It was pretty much packed. I'm deaf at times when I'm out there. That's always a good thing, I know they can't hear either. We're lucky about the fan base."

On what it felt like to see the offense perform at such a high level:

"I don't think that was full power. I know they've got better, and they know we've got better. You guys haven't seen nothing yet."

LB Derrick Barnes

On if the defense put together a complete performance:

"I think that was a small piece of what we're capable of. It was a phenomenal job, getting the interception, getting the sacks. But like I said, we left a couple plays out on the field. We have high expectations for our defense. You guys see what we do when we're attacking and you've got to aim for perfection. You're never gonna be perfect, but when you're aiming for it, anything is possible. I'm super excited, super happy for what we put on tape."