DETROIT — The New York Giants’ defense made life difficult for the Detroit Lions early on and seemed like it might have the inside track at being the unit that would lead the Giants to ending a five-game skid.
There was one issue — Jahmyr Gibbs.
The Lions’ third-year running back has had plenty of special performances for Detroit in his young career, but perhaps none more integral to a victory than his 219-yard rushing performance and three total touchdowns on Sunday.
The final Gibbs score came on the opening play of overtime, which proved the game-winner for the Lions (7-4) at Ford Field and dropped the Giants (2-10) to a sixth straight defeat.
“He’s a good player,” Giants interim coach Mike Kafka said. “We knew he was going to get in some space and they were going to give him some opportunities and we had to figure out a way to rally him up. That one, he got us.”
Gibbs going 69 yards on that first touch of overtime sealed the deal, but it wasn’t his only burst of speed as he had two different rushes of 49 yards during the game, one going for a touchdown as he shed multiple defenders.
Even taking those three huge gains out of his day, Gibbs remained fairly efficient. On his 12 other carries he picked up 52 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per attempt.
Gibbs only had one rushing attempt of his 15 not go for positive yards and it happened in the first quarter. New York was better at swarming him on passing plays, but he still managed to add another 45 yards on a team-high 11 catches.
“He’s a very explosive player,” Giants D-lineman Darius Alexander said. “We (needed) to contain him in the run game, take away the small creases and just make him stop his feet.”
But there was no stopping Gibbs’ feet.
On the game-winning touchdown, Gibbs hit 22.17 mph, according to NextGenStats. That was the second-fastest a ball carrier has been on a touchdown this season, with Gibbs himself topping that on a 78-yard touchdown run in Week 7 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Giants may have wanted to contain Gibbs, but he was never going to make it easy for them.
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