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"When I heard about it, I said, 'We gotta go for it,'" said receivers coach Shawn Jefferson. "You might never be in this position again to get it. And I told Calvin, 'You gotta live it, breathe it, eat it, sleep it that's how you're going to get it. It has to consume you. If it doesn't, you have no chance.'"
Johnson doesn't seem consumed by it, but he can taste it now.
"It would be a hell of an achievement," Johnson said. "Those things you don't forget about."
Rice amassed 1,848 receiving yards in 1995. Johnson is at 1,667 with two games left.
"The guy's unstoppable," Rice said during an appearance on ESPN's NFL Live Wednesday. "He's a playmaker, and he knows how to run routes. He can out-jump you; he's explosive down field, so I'll be the first one to congratulate him.
"But no, I don't want him to break it. And I didn't really know it was a record. The reason why because I was shooting for 2,000 yards. That's what I was trying to get."
What has made this season even more remarkable than the numbers is what he's endured to achieve what he has. Johnson has played through major knee pain. He went for nearly a month without practicing. He has played with jammed fingers and thumbs. He played through a stinger.
"He's quiet tough," Jefferson said. "There's a difference between being brave and tough. A tough guy may not do it. A brave guy, he'll say, 'I know I'm going to get the (crap) knocked out of me, but I have to catch this ball for my team, because they're depending on me.'
"And that's exactly what he does. He puts himself in harm's way."
Johnson has also played most of the season with a non-descript supporting cast. No. 2 receiver Nate Burleson, No. 3 receiver Titus Young, No. 4 receiver Ryan Broyles -- all are on injured reserve.
A run game never really materialized.
Tight ends Brandon Pettigrew and Tony Scheffler are having substandard seasons.
The result: defenses have been able key their coverages on Johnson without any fear of getting beat elsewhere. Johnson has 106 catches, while the rest of the Lions' wide receivers have combined for 96. The trio of Lions' tight ends has totaled 101.
"He was always a freakish athlete," Jefferson said. "But what happened was the mental aspect caught up with the physical aspect of his game. And when they hit each other, it was just this big explosion. It's like the perfect storm has happened inside him."
Johnson has been carrying the Lions offense the last couple weeks and there are opportunities these next two weeks while Johnson chases the all-time single-season receiving record for other receivers like Mike Thomas to step up and make a play, even if he doesn't have the entire offense down yet.
Pettigrew likely will miss his second straight game with an ankle injury. He did not practice all week, is still limping noticeably and is listed as doubtful for tonight.
"He's a big part of our offense," Linehan said. "He's been our second leading receiver and big chain mover and a guy we go to on third down and in the red zone. You take one of those key components out, it puts a little more of an emphasis on using some other guys."
Will Heller ill start again as the primary tight end. That enables Tony Scheffler to continue in his hybrid role as second tight end-third receiver.
Even if others can step up to a greater degree than they have, the Falcons aren't going to make it easy for Johnson to break Rice's record.
Asante Samuel will provide the primary coverage, but what makes the Falcons' pass defense special are safeties Thomas DeCoud and S William Moore. They have combined for 11 takeaways, 10 interceptions.
Matthew Stafford will need to be on his game.
"Any time I get a chance to, I'm going to try to give him a chance," Stafford said of Johnson and his quest for the record. "That's when our offense is at its best. I have said it before and I whole-heartedly believe that. If they give us opportunities, I'm going to try to give him the ball. Last week, we saw the vice on third down. We may see it every snap this week, so I don't know. We'll see what the deal is.
"Every week's a new invention in coverage."
For example, the Cardinals put two defensive backs on Johnson at the line of scrimmage, treating him as a gunner on punt coverage. Johnson still beat it.
Linehan has seen other opponents take the same approach with Johnson before, but only in the red zone, and never between the 20-yard lines.
“That’s the first time,” he said. “I think I told Calvin, I said ‘I saw Green Bay do it to [Randy] Moss my first year (as Vikings offensive coordinator).’ But they always did it with a linebacker and then they added him in. They didn’t keep two guys on him it was more of a ‘don’t let him get started.’
"This was like a punt and they held him. I guess you can hold him at the line of scrimmage, I don’t know. That was their plan. It definitely discourages your ability to get a guy the ball.”
But in Johnson's case, it's hard to imagine him getting shut down.