Lions quarterback Jared Goff looked to his right, intending to throw to wide receiver Tom Kennedy before pulling the ball back. Goff saw wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown over the middle, or so he thought.
Rams safety John Johnson III had his eyes on Goff the entire time, and as soon as Goff redirected his attention to St. Brown and fired off the pass, he jumped in front of it for the interception.
The takeaway set up Los Angeles' go-ahead, touchdown scoring drive with 4:39 remaining. And although L.A. lost to Detroit in overtime, the takeaway was a crucial momentum-changing play that its secondary can build on.
"John Johnson's interception, what a freaking play by him," McVay said postgame. "I mean, it's a bang-bang play right over the middle, and that was a huge momentum shift."
L.A.'s secondary welcomed Johnson's return this summer, his veteran presence especially valuable to a young safety room. When he became a starter in the second half of last season, he produced both of his two interceptions during that span, including a timely pick against then-Browns quarterback Joe Flacco in that game. The Rams were clinging to a 20-19 lead before that takeaway, then turned it into points via a 3-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp – similar to the way the drive following his interception against the Lions on Sunday night unfolded.
Johnson explained the Rams defense got what they call a non-vertical route from the Lions, which allowed him to push to the front side of the formation. Goff was going through his progressions from the flat – where the spot route was – before attempting to hit the dig route run by St. Brown late coming back to his side.
"I had my eyes on him, and I didn't even know where St. Brown was, so I took a little peek, and I knew it was gonna be like a bang-bang (play), a collision," Johnson said. "But just to – I don't know how I got underneath it. When I caught it, was looking up at Troy Reeder, I was like, 'Did I catch it? Did I catch it? He was like, 'Yeah, yeah! I think you did!' I didn't want to celebrate too much. But, you know, the replay showed I clearly got under it. So it was just, like, a crucial point. Just trying to be right place, right time, and do my job."
As the Rams shift their attention to their Week 2 road game against the Cardinals, timely takeaways like that will be needed against Arizona's Kyler Murray-led offense, which put up 28 points against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1. The Bills needed a 4th-down incompletion – the Cardinals had reached their 29-yard line – to hold on for a 34-28 victory at home. Murray nearly had a completion to wide receiver Greg Dortch for the potential game-winning touchdown.
Carrying over the things they did well in the secondary will help.
"It was good," Johnson said of the secondary's performance as a whole in Week 1. "I think if I was here for OTAs, it would have been, like, even better. But I think it was pretty good. First game, you got some jitters, you got some small mistakes. But we didn't really have too many explosives. Most of their explosives were in the run game, or, like, short passes, you know, run-and-catch. It wasn't really coverage busts or anything like that, so that's good. Communication was good. Tackling was okay, besides me getting thrown out of bounds early in the game. ... Communication, tackling, knowing your assignments, getting lined up was all great for Week 1. Good foundation to build on."
