Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs is scoring touchdowns at a historic rate. His position coach is more focused on the former Alabama ball-carrier’s pass blocking.
Running-backs coach Tashard Choice wasn’t happy with Gibbs’ performance in the Lions’ 27-24 loss to Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 2, and it wasn’t because he had 25 yards on nine carries and 3 yards on three receptions.
Choice was much more satisfied with Gibbs’ effort in a 44-22 victory over the Washington Commanders on Dec. 9, and that wasn’t based on his 142 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries and 30 yards and one touchdown on three receptions.
Choice’s assessment of Gibbs’ performance rested on another set of numbers. The Vikings sacked quarterback Jared Goff five times; the Commanders recorded zero sacks.
“I have a couple of laws of the jungle,” Choice said. “Our first thing is protect the football, then protect the quarterback. And games that we didn’t protect the quarterback, blocking, stepping up in the A gap, getting that blitz off the edge, you know, it’s back to technique, and pass protection, like you know, most of the time it’s 80 percent just want-to. You got to be willing to stick your face mask in there and fight. It’s a three-second fight. That’s what I say most of the time.
“And so for him, the biggest thing that I think happened to him was when we came out the Minnesota game, I was on his ass. Tough. Had to be. Sorry for my language. I was on him, and he responded the right way, and that’s what you want from players. And so the biggest thing moving forward is to make sure his technique, make sure all those little things are correct and he’s responding the right way. So when he has the block in practice, every time we get a time to have off, him and (David Montgomery), we’re over there on the one-man sled.
“As a coach, that’s what I got to do. I got to see what’s his weaknesses or things that he’s not doing well, and I got to harp on them and stay on them. And I know they probably get tired of me saying it, but you know the coaches that get on you the most are the ones that love you the most. So that’s one of my biggest things for him.”
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With his three touchdowns in Detroit’s victory over Washington last week, Gibbs became the sixth player in NFL history to score 40 before his 24th birthday.
With 34 rushing touchdowns and seven receiving touchdowns in his 41 NFL regular-season games, Gibbs trails Barry Sanders’ 47, Randy Moss’ 44, Emmitt Smith’s 43 and Jim Brown’s 42. Maurice Jones-Drew scored 40 touchdowns before his 24th birthday.
Gibbs turns 24 on March 20, so he has eight games remaining to add to his total.
Before playing for Alabama in 2022, Gibbs played two seasons at Georgia Tech, where Choice was the running-backs coach.
“I remember going to see Jah in high school,” Choice said, “and me and my friend go up to watch him and he’s in a scrimmage game, and I watch his first run and he broke a run for like 60 yards, and I looked up in the crowd because it’s other colleges there that’re recruiting him. … And when I got off the field, and my friend came, I said, ‘He’s way better than me.’ I said, ‘This kid is unbelievable.’ And the first time I watched him on film, he had it. And it’s sort of mindboggling that a lot of people missed out on that. And I’m thankful they did. You know what I mean? You could have the chance to recognize it.
“But Jah has always been explosive. His first scrimmage at Georgia Tech, I lie to you not, he scrimmaged 20 plays and was not on the ground one play, Didn’t get tackled. Wasn’t on the ground. Broke tackles. So, like, to see him continue to grow and to be the same person, but to continue to work, like, he’s been working really hard in practice, And usually during the middle to the end of the year, he really, really gets his legs underneath them. And so where he’s at right now, I got to continue to harp on him about the little details, the toughness, the finishing, the runs, to seeing fronts, to seeing pressure, to sticking his face mask in there on protection.
“But to see what he’s doing right now, it doesn’t shock me at all because that’s like I seen him since Day 1. That’s how he’s always been. And I think he needs to continue to do that. He’s going to have to for us to be successful.”
At 6-3, the Lions are tied with the Chicago Bears for the lead in the NFC North. Detroit plays the Philadelphia Eagles at 7:20 p.m. CST Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
At 7-2, the Eagles are tied for the best record in the NFC.
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