Lions Insider

These days, the only thing that surprises Calvin Johnson when it comes to the coverage, is when there’s just one defender in front of him.

Johnson has seen it all over the last five seasons.

The Saints went to the extreme in one case in their first meeting with the Lions, treating Johnson like a gunner on a punt during a red zone play.

Saints safety Malcom Jenkins stalked Johnson all over the field in the first game as the Saints devoted two defenders to him almost the entire game.

Johnson was held pretty much in check with six catches for 69 yards and no touchdowns.

Saints coach Sean Payton had an easy explanation when asked this week how his team was somewhat successful against Johnson in the first meeting.

“We probably had two guys on him,” he said.

Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said it’s always tough to predict what a team will do against Johnson the second time around, though.

“Well, they are going to change,” he said. “One thing everybody does is look at that game very close like we do and say, ‘Okay, we showed them this, we brought this look and brought this blitz, we will try to show them the same thing and bring it the other way.’

“There is always a chess match there and offensively you have to anticipate that. It doesn’t mean they won’t run the same thing, but we expect the counter.”

Linehan expects it to be similar to when Johnson faces the Vikings, Bears and Packers the second time around each year.

“There are going to be some new wrinkles,” he said.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 408 yards against the Saints in the first meeting, mainly taking advantage of better match-ups away from Johnson.

“When (the Saints) play single (coverage), they lean the defense to Johnson, ran guys out of coverage to cover over-routes,” he said. “They did a great job. Everybody has a little bit of a different plan.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a different plan from them this time. Every time we face teams, we see something different. You have to be ready for everything, expect anything and for guys to step up. “

Receiver Nate Burleson matched a season-high with 93 receiving yards against the Saints in December and Stafford completed at least one pass to 10 different receivers.

“That was one of our big games where I thought Matt really went to the favorable match-ups because they were truly doubling Calvin, so you saw a lot of production coming from our No. 2 and No. 3 receivers that day,” Linehan said.

“I think we had this discussion before about it going kind of full circle. If they are going to commit so much attention to Calvin, that is why we have the other players in this offense and that is why we go to them.”