Jahmyr Gibbs Had Plays 'Expected to Pop'

The rookie was solid, but has room to improve after his first start.

Sunday marked the first career start for Detroit Lions rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs. 

Used as a secondary option in the season's first two games, an injury to David Montgomery necessitated a bigger role and workload for Gibbs in Sunday's win over the Atlanta Falcons. 

It was a mixed bag of results for the rookie, who finished with 80 yards on 17 carries. Though he didn't produce the explosive results some wanted to see, there were encouraging signs in Gibbs' first true showcase. 

Still, there were areas related to reading defenders, vision and decision-making that Dan Campbell and the coaching staff would like to see improvement from the rookie throughout the season. 

Some of that had to do with the Lions having sustained a total of four injuries to their offensive line throughout the last two games, leaving the unit strapped for depth.

“Yeah, look, I thought he was solid. There was a couple things I wish he had read a little different or maybe put some of these, we ran a lot of outside zone and hit that cut a little earlier and cut it up," Campbell told the Lions' flagship radio station. But, there was a number of things in there we thought we were going to get some explosive runs out of that. That’s why you run them. You know, it may take a minute to get them, but we expected to pop more than we got. So, we weren’t real clean all the way through the game, like we really should be." 

Still, there were flashes of the caliber of player that prompted the Lions to take him No. 12 overall this past April. Gibbs looked more explosive as the game went on, notching two of his longest runs in the fourth quarter. 

"But, I think what fired me up more than anything was two of the last runs that Gibbs had, he hit a 12-yarder and then he hit a 21-yarder," Campbell explained. "That’s in the fourth quarter, that’s after getting a little bit of a load. And, man, I felt like, okay, here we go. He’s starting to kind of find his way, get a little rhythm here. That’s what was really encouraging for me, because I think this kid’s pretty tough and I do think he’s got vision and he’s only going to get better in time. When this light bulb really comes on, I think it’s going to be something special. So, he just continues to get better, and we’ll just keep coaching him up.”

It was a new type of role for Gibbs, who had spent most of the first two games working as a perimeter-oriented player. Sunday saw him run plenty between the tackles. 

Though he hasn't displayed that skill often, he told reporters that he's comfortable in that position moving forward. 

“Well  I’m comfortable any way I get the ball, whether that’s between the tackles, outside, catching the ball, it really doesn’t matter to me," Gibbs explained. "I just like getting the ball. Whatever they need me to do, I’m willing to do it.”