Few teams ran the ball more than the Lions last season. Of course, if you ask any running back, you can never run it enough. During offseason workouts in Allen Park, some of the Lions' offensive players have been spotted in black long-sleeve T-shirts with the words Detroit Track Team across the chest.
Asked about the shirts after the first practice of minicamp, David Montgomery grinned and said, "We want to run, a lot. Fast."
Montgomery ran 219 times last season for a career-high 1,015 yards, ninth most in the NFL. The Lions ran 500 times for 2,311 yards, seventh and fifth most in the NFL, respectively. It was their most rushing attempts in 40 years.
So, who's behind those shirts?
"Ben Johnson," said Montgomery. "So we're just following his lead. We definitely want to run faster, and more."
The Ravens led the NFL in rushing last season, in both attempts (541) and yards (2,661). The Bears, Falcons, Browns, Bills and Eagles were the only other teams that rushed more than the Lions, who just so happened to sign Pro Bowl guard Kevin Zeitler from the Ravens this offseason to fortify one of the best offensive lines in the league.
But nobody had a better duo than Detroit. Between Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, the Lions were the only team with two running backs over 800 yards. Gibbs finished with 915, and was third among backs in yards per carry. Asked if that duo can reach another gear, running backs coach Scottie Montgomery said last week, "Absolutely. The tape says it. It’s all over the tape."
"When you have guys that are super talented, going from good to great is probably the hardest thing you have to do. A lot of people think when you get to that level, ‘Man, I’ve done a good job.’ But right now they all feel like, ‘Man, we weren’t good enough,'" Scottie Montgomery said. "That’s the way that we want to fight complacency. But it’s also we want to take the next step, and that is what we expect."
Montgomery and Gibbs are a complementary pair, the former more ground and pound, the latter more flash and dash. Montgomery says they're "like peanut butter and jelly," which is exactly what makes them work: "We're so different. But we're very good in our own way."
"Being able to be each other's counterpart and kind of strike off each other is really big," said Montgomery, who's entering the sixth season of his career. "It's hard to find that in the NFL, two guys that are doing it that way."
And in turn, "it's hard for teams to prepare for us," he said. "But we’ve got high expectations for ourselves. And both of us together, we didn't think (last season) was good enough. So we want to be better this year, and we will."
Montgomery declined to get into specifics, "just because it's for us to get better, no one else." He did say there's no more room for error as he and Gibbs enter year two in Johnson's offense: "The things we did good and OK last year, now we have to make them elite." He also said that one of their goals as a tandem is to play every game after they missed five combined games last year.
It's a duo that could morph into a trio as the season goes on, depending on the development of Sione Vaki. The fourth-round pick who played both ways at Utah continues to stand out as a running back for the Lions, like when he made a diving touchdown catch during a seven-on-seven period in Tuesday's practice. He's also an explosive runner.
"He's special," said Montgomery. "He's goofy, though. He's pretty quiet, but he's a funny guy. But he's super, super skillful. He can do a lot of similar things between me and Jah. That's cumulative of the whole room."
It's only June, but the Detroit Track Team is ready to get off the blocks.