On Monday afternoon this week, David Montgomery had his mind on Thursday night.
With a sweatshirt pulled over his head and car keys jangling in his hand, Montgomery was ready to hit the gas. He stood in front of his locker and said that he hadn't "been my best self for the two games that I’ve played." He said he wanted to "be out there for my guys, knowing what they sacrifice and the things I’ve sacrificed as well," his thigh injury be damned. He said he wanted to win at Lambeau Field, where he'd gone 0-4 with the Bears.
"I want to be better and I will be," said Montgomery.
By Wednesday night, Dan Campbell knew Montgomery would be playing. The Lions lead running back had missed Week 3 and was officially questionable for Week 4, but Campbell could tell Montgomery was ready by watching him move and "just the look in his eye," he said. "So we were going to take him where we could take him, as far as he wanted to go or his body would let him -- and it was certainly able to go."
Montgomery went from start to finish Thursday night, from wire to wire, from the first handoff of the game to the last. He took a career-high 32 carries for 121 yards. He scored a career-high three touchdowns. His first made it 14-3, his second 24-3 and his third, on 4th and goal with six minutes to go, put the finishing touches on the Lions' 34-20 romp of the Packers, their second win in a row under the Lambeau lights. Montgomery said he didn't care "whether it's Green Bay or it's high school," he owed it to his teammates to play.
Over four years with the Bears, Montgomery was a good, solid running back. The Lions brought him to Detroit believing he'd be even better behind their loaded offensive line. Montgomery arrived saying he had more to show. Asked about the O-line Thursday night, Montgomery said, "This is probably — this is definitely the best group of guys I've ever been a part of."
"Them guys up front, man, they put in the work. I feel like it’s my job to go out there and give everything I got for them boys, because I know they do the same thing for me," Montgomery said.
When holes were there, Montgomery hit them. When they weren't, he often made the first man miss. And on almost every run, he banged a few bodies and fell forward. It was a grown-man game by the 225-pound back, whose sturdy, downhill style reflects everything Campbell wants the Lions to be. Bully ball never looked so good.
"He was doing a hell of a job and the O-line was doing a hell of a job opening it up for him," said Jared Goff. "Even on the runs that weren’t quite as clean, he was making something happen and was certainly the engine for us today in getting us going."
Montgomery just keeps pounding. He only averaged 3.8 yards per carry Thursday night, in line with his average for the season, but it felt like more. He found hard yards, and popped up searching for more. He plowed between the tackles with the power that rookie Jahmyr Gibbs doesn't yet possess. The snapshot of his night came on the Lions' final touchdown drive. On 1st and goal from the six-yard line, the Lions went to Montgomery four straight times until he was in the end zone.
They went back to him four straight times on their final drive of the night, a few yards here, a few yards there, "just being able to wear them out," said Goff, "and wear them down."
“We just came out with a game plan and we stuck to it: we wanted to run the ball," said Montgomery. "We rely on each other to run the ball, that’s definitely our identity. That’s what we want to be."
After the Lions' first two games, Montgomery said he had to "look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, you weren’t great here, so you gotta be better the next opportunity you get.'" He followed through in his first win at Lambeau, to his teammates and to himself.