Lions Understand 'Strong Argument' Playing Montgomery, Gibbs Together

Could the Lions play their top running backs together more?

The Detroit Lions have another opportunity this week to execute at a high level offensively. 

Despite recent performances, including limiting the Jets to only six points, the Los Angeles Chargers defense can be exploited in a variety of ways. 

Among the many advantages offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has at his disposal is a roster that is getting healthier and young players, including rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs and tight end Sam LaPorta, steadily improving and contributing early in their careers. 

"We feel good about continuing to push the different schemes at them," said Ben Johnson. "He's been effective inside the tackles. He's not just a perimeter player like I think the narrative might be out there for him in the run game. And then his route tree is still growing, so looking forward to getting him in."

With Gibbs coming off a stellar performance against the Raiders in front of a nationally-televised audience, the team could benefit from playing their top running backs together more often. 

"You kind of you look through your roster, the guys that are available to you, you might rank them. You say, 'Hey, these are our top 11 guys that we really feel good about on offense.' And usually you want to get those 11 guys out on the field together as much as possible," said Johnson. "And I think both those two guys are within those top 11 players that we have on offense. So yeah, there's a strong argument to get them both out there together more often." 

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Johnson credited running backs coach Scottie Montgomery for having his unit prepared each week when the game plan is established. 

"They know the entire game plan in and out," said Johnson. "So some might be by series, some might be play specific, but both of those guys can handle a lot. This is where we see the versatility that you guys talked about also with Jahmyr that when they're in there together there's so much he can do."

Among the goals for the offense is working towards playing more of a complete game. 

In the first half of the season, the game against the Panthers at home was the closest the team came to executing at their highest level. 

"We’re still really hungry and for a lot of reasons. I think one of them is we know we can play better, and we can finish games a little bit better and put together a complete game on every facet of the game," said Jared Goff. "And as well as we haven’t done anything yet. Yeah, we’re 6-2 and feel good about it, but we are not even at the halfway point. We still have nine games left and have got to do a lot more, better stuff if we want to be playing late into the playoffs.”