# Niyo: Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs goes running to daylight in Ford Field blackout
Full article at link
==
“It was just black — all I saw was black jerseys,” Gibbs said, smiling. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, (expletive), and I just ran straight.’”
First, though, he waited for a split-second, watching as those dark jerseys in front of him — it was a “blackout” with the Lions wearing their alternate jerseys on “Monday Night Football” — overwhelmed the Buccaneers’ defensive front.
Penei Sewell and Tate Ratledge double-teamed rookie Elijah Roberts at the point of attack, and then Ratledge — a rookie himself — moved on to manhandle veteran linebacker Lavonte David with a second-level block. Between them, a huge hole appeared. Gibbs darted through it, no questions asked, and by the time safety Antoine Winfield Jr. came charging in to help, it was obvious he was too late. And taking a bad angle, to boot, considering who was carrying the football.
Ratledge knew where the play was headed, immediately raising his arm to celebrate.
“That’s how you draw it up,” he said afterward. “I knew one was bound to hit. It just happened to be that one.”
Speeding away
Sewell knew it, too, turning to congratulate his linemate while Gibbs was off to the races. The third-year pro reached a top speed of 22.23 mph on the 78-yard touchdown run, per Next Gen Stats, cutting to his right and then outracing Winfield and the rest of the Tampa Bay secondary to the end zone. It was the longest touchdown run of his career and the longest for a Lions player since Jahvid Best’s 88-yard score on “Monday Night Football” back in 2011.
==
Jared Goff, meanwhile, was still marveling half a field away. And still laughing about it later, when a reporter informed him Gibbs, who happily shooed away an oxygen-mask offer on the sideline after his TD scamper, now owns the top two fastest runs in the NFL this season.
“I’m third?” Goff deadpanned.
But seriously, though, the Lions’ quarterback added, “Those really long ones are fun to watch. And I feel like I’ve got the best seat in the house. To see him hit the hole and then just take off? I mean, I don’t know how many safeties in the league could catch him. So as soon as he gets there, it’s over. He’s gone.”
==
finishing the night with 17 carries for 136 yards and two touchdowns and adding three catches for 82 receiving yards.
Only a matter of time
One of those was a quick swing pass from Goff that Gibbs made an athletic play to grab before turning it into a huge 28-yard gain down the Lions’ sideline.
“Getting that guy in space is a dangerous thing for defenses,” Goff said. “They want to play main coverage? Go ahead. Put a linebacker on him and good luck.”
Sewell was riding shotgun as a lead blocker the whole way on that play (his top speed is pretty outrageous for someone his size, too). But as luck would have it, the All-Pro tackle essentially overran a block on Winfield at the end that would’ve turned it into a touchdown.
==
A year ago, he had 13 explosive runs that went for 20 or more.
“But you felt like this was coming,” Campbell said after Monday’s massive win that sent the Lions into a much-needed bye week with a 5-2 record. “You felt like this has been building. … Every week he’s gotten closer and closer and (after) tonight where he just busted one of those out of there, there will be no looking back. He’s going to just continue doing this.”
That’s the plan, anyway.
“I always feel like I’m capable of doing that,” said Gibbs, who still hasn’t lost consecutive games in his NFL career. “It’s just some games it works out like that, some games it doesn’t."