ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- As the Detroit Lions' offense has improved in the past month under new offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, one thing has gone missing.

Calvin Johnson.

The wide receiver has been on the field for the majority of plays, but he's been barely used when it comes to being targeted or catching passes. In the past two weeks, Johnson has had two total receptions for 35 yards on six targets.

It is a sharp decline for the Pro Bowl receiver who rebounded from a slow start to be in the top 10 in yards and receptions before the two-game decline.

Johnson has gone through short periods of unproductivity before. Early in his rookie season in 2007, he had a two-game stretch where he wasn’t used much. Then last season, primarily being used as a decoy while he dealt with an ankle injury, he had three catches for 19 yards on three targets in two games.

This season injuries have not been an issue. There has been no indication -- other than Johnson showing up on the injury report each week with a nagging ankle injury -- that there is anything wrong with Johnson. And that’s what makes his lack of production the past two games so surprising.

“It’s not the goal of the offense but sometimes teams are going to go to extreme measures to do everything they can to take away a player that is that good,” Cooter said. “I thought [Matthew] Stafford did a really good job going through his progressions and throwing it to the guys that were getting open, which is what we want him to do. We want him to get completions -- which obviously, 88 percent is a pretty good job of doing that. Our guys did a really good job getting open.

“When teams do that, when they contribute two and sometimes even a third guy towards Calvin, the other guys a lot of times have one-on-ones and those guys got to win and last game they did a bunch. I think I’ve got to do a better job getting a little creative, making sure we get Calvin involved because he’s such a good player, you’ve got to let him get the ball, let him impact the game.”

We're used to seeing Calvin Johnson put up big numbers, but that's not the case right now. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

Cooter insists that despite the fact Johnson’s numbers are down, he is still changing the game. The aforementioned attention he is drawing is opening up favorable coverage for fellow wide receiver Golden Tate, tight end Eric Ebron and running back Theo Riddick.

And Cooter believes Johnson is still getting open like the Johnson of old -- the guy who would routinely make catches despite double coverage -- but that the coverages have led Stafford to throw somewhere else.

“[The Saints] had a guy, [Brandon] Browner, who is 6-4, 2-whatever, a huge guy with a safety running over the top. When that guy gets on you, when Browner gets on you, he really leans on you. He’s really good when he has some safety help over the top and he did a good job doing everything they can to be physical with Calvin off the line and provide him with some help over the top,” Cooter said. “He still did a good job getting open, there’s just sometimes, the look of that safety, to the quarterback, tells him to get to another part of his progression.

“And there are some of those routes where you’re like, ‘Well, Calvin won anyway.’ He’s doing a good job, he’s fighting and scratching and clawing to get open and we have to make sure we get him the ball and make him a bigger part of our successful offense.”

With two games left in the season, the Lions are running out of time to reverse this trend in 2015.