Last Sunday, Sione Vaki woke up with a new feeling. An old feeling, really. It hit him again on his drive to the stadium, "it got more intense when I stepped into the locker room," he said, and it washed over him when he took the field. He doesn't know what to call it other than passion.
Vaki knew his number was going to be called against the Vikings. Throughout last week, there was a big emphasis for the Lions on "grit and resilience," said Vaki, on staying in the fight against the best defense in the NFL. They would get knocked down. Could they get back up? "We told him we needed him," said Dan Campbell.
Jahmyr Gibbs took a beating last year in two games against Minnesota. The Lions couldn't in good conscience subject their best player to that again. What used to be a two-headed monster in Detroit's backfield has become a one-man show. It's spectacular viewing, but not necessarily sustainable for 17 games and ideally more.
On Vaki's first snap against the Vikings, he raced eight yards around the left edge. On one of his first opportunities in pass protection, he and Sam LaPorta blocked the same rusher in an apparent miscommunication, allowing a blitzing linebacker to sack Jared Goff on third down. Would they get back up?
On his next blitz pickup, on third down on Detroit's next drive, Vaki met linebacker Blake Cashman in the hole and drove him past Goff, who stepped up and found Amon-Ra St. Brown for a first down. The drive would end in a field goal. Every point would be crucial against the Vikings.
In the running backs corner of the locker room last Friday, Vaki was answering questions as Gibbs listened in. Detroit's running backs never make it easy on each other with the media, a routine that started with David Montgomery. They go out of their way to test each other's comfort levels. Awkwardness is often the aim. It's funny, if you can stand it.
Vaki was talking about blitz pickups against Minnesota's hyper-aggressive defense. He had been asked who's better in pass protection, between himself and Gibbs. He paused, glancing Gibbs' way. "You can answer, it's fine!" said Gibbs. "I have no hard feelings. I like touchdowns better."
"See, that’s why I don’t wanna answer," Vaki laughed, sensing the bait.
Eventually he looked up, smiled and quietly pointed to himself. Gibbs, for the record, wouldn't object. While Vaki ran into some ID and execution issues in pass protection in the Lions' season-opening win over the Saints -- including one play where he ran into Penei Sewell from behind, knocked him off a block and nearly got Jared Goff killed -- he's been rock-solid since.
In 26 pass-blocking snaps since Week 2, Vaki has allowed one quarterback pressure, per PFF. He ranks 12th among running backs in pass blocking for the season. (Gibbs ranks 28th.) Vaki embraces it because "it's part of the job description," he said. He's getting better at it because he's increasingly aware of "where my eyes are supposed to start," a tribute to running backs coach Tashard Choice.
Mostly a safety at Utah, Vaki played just 30 offensive snaps -- and zero in pass protection -- over his first two seasons with the Lions. Limited by injuries and the dynamic duo in front of him, Vaki had barely seen the field as a running back entering year three. That wasn't really supposed to matter with Isiah Pacheco taking over as RB2 after the departure of David Montgomery.
Then Pacheco went down in camp and the job behind Gibbs belonged to Vaki.
"He’s been able to be around two really good players for a couple years now," said Scottie Montgomery, who coached Vaki in the Lions' running backs room as a rookie, "and what you’re seeing is the maturation of a guy that has the skillset, has all the tools, but came in with a lack of experience. There’s only one way you can get better at back, and that’s touches. You gotta be in the fit, you gotta be in the run, you gotta be in the read, because there are reads that you can’t create at practice because of the speed with which things happen in the gam. What you’re seeing now is his evolution."
While the Vikings mostly bottled up Gibbs in the first half, Vaki kept getting downhill for positive yards. They're naturally different runners, Vaki more in the mold of Montgomery. Where Gibbs is inclined to make you miss, Vaki is built to make you feel it. He rumbles behind his pads.
There's no such thing as a track meet against the Vikings. The Lions knew it was going to be a muddy game. They seized the trenches in the second half. Down three with under nine minutes to play, the Lions turned again and again to Gibbs and Vaki, who averaged almost 10 yards a pop on their final nine carries. They couldn't be stopped.
Gibbs kicked off Detroit's go-ahead drive with a gain of 17 after ducking out of a tackle for loss and outracing the Vikings' defense up the other side of the field. It was a play that only Gibbs could make. Vaki got the next two carries, after catching a short pass. On the first, he shook off a tackle around his ankles when LaPorta missed his block on the edge, then followed the left side of the offensive line for a gain of 12. On the second, he ran right through linebacker Eric Wilson after Wilson had shed his block on the edge, then made safety Josh Metellus miss for a few more yards.
The chant inside Ford Field started slowly at first, then gained steam like No. 33: Va-ki! Va-ki! Va-ki! At first, Vaki wasn't sure what he was hearing. He joked that it was maybe Choice calling him off the field for Gibbs. When it hit him on the sidelines, "man, that was surreal," he said.
"I heard them screaming for someone and I was like, why does that sound familiar? And it finally hit me that they were yelling my last name. It’s one of those dream-come-true moments for me," Vaki said. "There was just a lot of passion in that game for me that I feel like I’ve been missing for a lot of my time here. And I was just glad to feel that support."
Vaki isn't sure where that passion went, but "it was just a feeling that I woke up with" last Sunday, he said. He called it a "turning point" in his day, and perhaps in his season. He found himself thinking a lot about his family before the game, his 10 older siblings and their children, and his late mother, Oto'ota, who passed away from cancer when Vaki was 15 years old. He plays in her memory.
"I was just thinking about why I do things, and it made me think about all my nieces and nephews back home, and my mom, and it was just a real personal moment for me," Vaki said. "Ever since I came out for warmups that was just stuck on my mind, and that game became personal for me."
Even more so when another older brother was carted off the field in the fourth quarter. Vaki's two best runs of the day came with Jack Campbell in mind: "When someone like Jack goes down, what he means to us on the field, the person he is off the field, you want to give everything you got, and then some, for someone like him."
The chants for Vaki meant a lot to his teammates, and just as much to Montgomery who said he was "pretty emotional on the sideline with him, because I know what it takes, I know how hard he’s worked, I know some of his setbacks."
"Sometimes when you're playing behind two great backs, you’re being judged by everything that they’ve done and not just your continual development. That sometimes can be a little bit overbearing and a little bit of a load on you," Montgomery said. "For me to hear, 'Vaki, Vaki, Vaki,' from the stands, man, that felt pretty good, so I can only imagine what it felt like for him."
The Lions put away the game on the ground, as the offensive line said they would. They got the ball back up four with three minutes to play and scoffed at the idea of giving it back. They faced 2nd and 4 after a series of runs by Gibbs, needing one more first down to seal it. Gibbs needed a blow. The Lions turned to Vaki, who charged up the middle for three, then stayed on the field as Goff clinched the game with a sneak on 3rd and 1.
"That's another dream-come-true moment," Vaki said. "For them to have that much trust in me at the end of the game, to see Jah (motion to me), he had to come off the field, he was signaling for someone to take him out, and for T-Choice to look over to me, it feels like there’s a lot of confidence in me going in. And that’s all I’ve been wanting, is to be able to gain trust out there on the field."
Vaki finished with 65 yards on 11 carries, and didn't leave a yard behind. In the locker room after the game, left guard and fellow 2024 draft pick Christian Mahogany said that "pound for pound, Vaki's probably one of the most impressive human beings on the team." He looked over at Tate Ratledge for confirmation, and the right guard nodded in a way that said, good grief.
"He does a lot for us on special teams, in the pass game, picking up blitzes, getting out and extending plays blocking, and I’m glad he finally got to showcase his rushing ability," Mahogany said. "We came in together, so we’re very good friends. He’s a great teammate, and always puts the team first. I’m glad he got to show who he is today."
Detroit's 2024 draft class has drawn plenty of scorn the past couple years as a dead asset. Slowly, it's starting to pay dividends. It won't ever compare to the hauls of Brad Holmes' first three drafts, which were rife with stars. But with Vaki, Mahogany and Ennis Rakestraw all emerging this season, it's at least beginning to propel the team.
"Despite all the talk, I think us as players coming into this organization, that’s all you want to do, is add value somewhere, and I’m glad to see all of us show up," Vaki said. "There’s definitely a lot of — I did see those comments and it does suck in the moment — but I’m glad we’re all seizing our moments."
Much as this feels good for the Lions, here's why it functionally matters: Gibbs entered last Sunday on pace for a staggering 470 touches. That would be the second most in NFL history to James Wilder, who had 492 for the Buccaneers in 1984 in his fourth season, topped 400 again the next year and never reached 250 again. Wilder's is a cautionary tale. Gibbs, who's in his fourth season, is also on pace for about 200 more snaps than his career high.
Asked about Vaki after Sunday's win, Gibbs smiled in relief and said, "He takes some of it off me." Gibbs got 25 touches against the Vikings, less than his season average but still a heavy load. The more the Lions can put on Vaki's shoulders, the fresher Gibbs should be later in the year when the Lions will need him most.
"He’s really stepped into that role now at this point," Goff said this week. "We feel really comfortable with him. I saw Dan said that he gained a ton of trust, and I think that’s exactly what happened. We see that role continuing to expand for him, I would imagine, the more trust he gains and the better he plays."
More than the runs themselves Sunday, Montgomery was impressed with Vaki's reads, because "those reads are what turn one-yard, two-yard gains into nine-yard, 10-yard gains," he said. Vaki's confidence is rising with his role, and "now you’re starting to develop another weapon," Montgomery said.
"So we’re looking forward to seeing where he continues to grow. It’s pretty special to see where he is right now."
