Jahmyr Gibbs would be lying to say he didn't enjoy himself on the sidelines. You might have seen him flexing his arms when Craig Reynolds plowed into the end zone for the first touchdown of his career in the Lions' win over the Panthers two weeks ago, or celebrating when Jameson Williams hauled in his first touchdown of the season in last week's win over the Bucs.
"I was having fun on the sidelines," Gibbs said Friday. "I think teams thought they could stop the run and make us one-dimensional and they would have a really big advantage, but I think this past game showed that you’re going to have to be more balanced than you thought."
Of course, Gibbs would have preferred to be on the field. And that's where he'll be this Sunday when the Lions take on the Ravens in a battle of first-place teams. Gibbs, who missed the past two games with a hamstring injury, is expected to play. And the Lions are expected to lean on him in the absence of David Montgomery, who's sidelined with a rib injury.
"He’s going to need to take the load of it," Dan Campbell said Friday. "We’re just going to have to see where he’s at. I’d like to say we want to be careful with him, but the reality of it is, we need him. So we’ll go as far as he can take us here, trying to be as smart as we can, but he’s gotta go. And he’s ready."
Gibbs echoed that Friday, saying his hamstring started feeling better toward the end of last week and feels good to go after a week of practice. As for the Lions' plans to ride him against the Ravens, Gibbs said, "Shows that they trust me."
The Lions have used the 12th overall pick sparingly as a rusher in the early stages of his career, giving the bulk of the carries to Montgomery. But Gibbs did get 17 totes in Detroit's Week 3 win over the Falcons when Montgomery was out with a thigh injury. He can expect a similar workload Sunday.
Gibbs averaged about 12 carries per game in college. Asked about embracing the role of the bellcow with Montgomery sidelined, he said, "I’ve been that all my life, so it’s really nothing I’m not used to. I'll be fine. ... You don’t want too much. I don’t know how David put up 32 (carries against the Packers). That was crazy. I don’t know how he did that. But yeah, I’ll always take 18 to 20."
Montgomery is built to take -- and deliver -- a bruising more than Gibbs. He's also been a better between-the-tackles runner. But the Lions don't plan to alter their ground game all that much against the Ravens. They know what works for them, and they're sticking to it.
"We’re going to keep what we do well and what our O-line does well, our tight ends, because we don’t think he’s just some, ‘Hey, you just gotta get on the perimeter, he’s not an inside runner.’ We don’t believe that. So we’re keeping the identity of what we do and the core of what we do in the run game."