Every time Jahmyr Gibbs touched the ball Thursday night, something good seemed to happen. He'll touch it more moving forward.
The Lions eased the rookie into action in their 21-20 season-opening win over the Chiefs, as Dan Campbell suggested they might last week. He got just nine touches on 19 snaps. This was part of the plan to ensure Gibbs came out of the game healthy.
"That was what we talked about with him," Campbell said Friday. "First game out of the gate, there again, we really didn’t want to overload any of those (rookies). I think it’s important that you go in and let them get a feel of what it’s going to be like."
The 12th overall pick still turned seven carries and two catches into 60 yards, a robust average of 6.7 yards per touch. (D'Andre Swift, ironically, led NFL running backs last season with 6.3 yards per touch.) He flashed his shiftiness by forcing six missed tackles and lowered his shoulder at the end of a couple big runs. And Gibbs almost surely would have scored the first touchdown of the game had he not lost his feet bouncing the ball outside.
"He’s pretty electric and he's only going to get better," said Campbell. "He’s going to get a bigger piece of the pie as we move forward."
The Lions leaned on David Montgomery on the ground, the veteran who turned 21 carries into 74 yards and a touchdown. Montgomery was a proven workhorse back in Chicago, so Detroit knew he could handle the load. But Gibbs provides the explosiveness that Montgomery does not, both as a running back and a receiver.
It's only a matter of time before we see it more often.
"For Gibbs, he’ll begin to get more touches now," Campbell said. "That was just the beginning last night.”