DETROIT — Dan Campbell thought Jahmyr Gibbs turned in the best performance of his young NFL career last week at Baltimore when he went for 68 yards on 11 carries and a score, adding 58 yards on nine catches, despite a lackluster result in the 38-6 loss.
His showing Monday night certainly surpassed that. So too did the rest of the team’s.
Gibbs went off for 189 total yards and a score on 31 touches as the rookie running back helped lift the Lions to a 26-14 win over the Raiders on Monday Night Football.
Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff think Monday’s performance was just the beginning.
“The more he gains his own confidence and his own abilities in this league, he’s just gonna continue to grow,” Campbell said. “I think this was kind of the tip of the iceberg for what he’s able to do and gonna be able to do.”
And Gibbs’ breakout game came at just the right time. Not only did David Montgomery miss a second straight game with a rib cartilage injury, the Lions were looking to get back in the win column headed into a bye week.
With the game starting to feel a little bit tense after back-to-back turnovers, the rookie showcased the speed many fans have been dying to see as he bounced an inside zone to the outside and took off for the end zone.
Gibbs beat Isaiah Pola-Mao to the pylon, extending Detroit’s lead to 23-14 approaching the three-minute mark in the third quarter. He then took a leap into the stands, getting a lift from the fans in the front row.
“I was going to do something else but – adrenaline wanted – I don’t even know, I just did it,” Gibbs said of the celebration.
But what he did know is that he was going to score once he saw the angle.
“O-line did a great job, I trusted them. I always have trust in them. You’re hitting that spot in practice all week, we knew that spot was going to be open and you know, just gotta jump through and make a play,” he said.
Goff thinks Monday’s performance will be a springboard for Gibbs now that he’s been able to find a rhythm. He’s been seeing Gibbs’ confidence build with a heavy workload off the field and in practice, and on Monday he finally cut it loose.
“And this was just like, ‘Hey, we’re just going to keep giving you the ball,’ and you could see him start feeling the defense a little better, feeling those holes a little bit better. And he can do some pretty special things in space,” Goff said.
Indeed he can. But while his speed has been highly touted after the Lions took him 12th overall in April’s NFL Draft, Campbell said he showed Monday he’s not just an “some finesse back.”
Campbell says Gibbs is starting to learn that sometimes it’s quicker to hit a hole up the middle than it is to go outside and then turn back up and turn the jets on.
That was evident in his touchdown run that sent Ford Field into a frenzy — and the Lions into the NFC's No. 2 seed headed into the bye week.