Gibbs sends the Vikings packing
The runner-receiver scores four times and earns a good bye for Detroit.
The first time Jahmyr Gibbs saw a live football in college competition, he had to have it.
It was Georgia Tech’s 2020 opener against Central Florida. Gibbs, a freshman, was on the right side of the field, but the kick went to the other side. So he dashed to that side as fast as he could, which, as NFL fans know by now, is fast enough. He grabbed the ball and wasn’t apprehended for 75 yards.
“I thought, oh my goodness,” said Dave Paternude, Tech’s offensive coordinator.
Goodness bordered on greatness in a hurry. Gibbs had 219 yards in 21 all-purpose touches in that game. After two distinguished years there, he transferred to Alabama and rushed for seven touchdowns and caught three others. He declared for the draft, even though he wasn’t supposed to go until the second round or maybe the end of the first. Detroit was picking sixth and traded with Arizona to go down to No. 12. That’s where the Lions took Gibbs, and as draftniks across several networks gasped, general manager Brad Holmes slapped the table hard, three times, in the draft room as he absorbed a bear hug from coach Dan Campbell. So what if the Lions already had D’Andre Swift and David Montgomery in the backfield? If you see precious talent, take it. Sort out the chain of command later.
Swift is now with the Bears. Montgomery and Gibbs are still with the Lions. They were a nice pound-and-astound combo for a while. Then Montgomery hurt his knee a couple of weeks ago and the load fell on Gibbs, who is 5-foot-9, 203. A problem? No. Arranging more carries and catches for Gibbs is not a problem at all. Ask Central Florida.
On Sunday, the Lions played Minnesota in a regular season finale with rare consequences. Win, and you get a week off, and then you play host to every NFC playoff game in which you play. Lose, and you’re right back in action, playing the Rams in Los Angeles. The Lions played fabulous defense, holding the Vikings to their low score of the year and keeping them out of the end zone in four red-zone tries. But on the other side, Gibbs ran 23 times, caught five passes (on five attempts from Jared Goff), and scored four touchdowns. That tied a Lions’ franchise record, and his 20 touchdowns set one for the season. He ran for 120 yards, few of them easy, and he scored on runs of 25, 13 and four yards and on a 10-yard pass. With his speed and aptitude, every place on the field is a goal-to-go situation, and the Lions won, 31-9, and might get Montgomery back for their first playoff game, in two weeks.
And all of those in Motown who remember Nick Pietrosante and Darris McCord and Charlie Sanders and Larry Hand, who remember the bewilderment when Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson walk away, and the trauma of watching Mike Utley going off on a stretcher and the exultation when he gives a thumbs-up, and the weekly torture of an 0-16 season, and the repetitive disgust as yet another high-draft wide receiver gets hurt….if you’re in that number, you are more convinced that ever that destiny has arrived, and it’s firmly coupled to a runaway train named Jahmyr Gibbs.
Gibbs is from Dalton, Ga., north of Atlanta, known as the Carpet Capital of the World. His own beginnings were hardly plush. He was raised by his grandmother, Angie Willis, and they lived in shelters and sometimes at the homes of Gibbs’ football teammates. Then Gibbs moved in with Greg and Dusty Ross, who became his de facto parents. Small towns can be that way, with long and embracing arms, especially if you can play. In his first high school game, Gibbs had three touchdowns in his first eight touches and scored eight TDs overall.
The Lions like to deal in the obvious. So Jameson Williams, the streaky Alabama wideout, tore up his knee in a CFP championship game? The Lions picked him anyway, were willing to wait, and now have a deep threat to dovetail with Amon-Ra St. Brown. So Brian Branch, the Alabama defensive back, didn’t test particularly well for the scouts? The Lions noticed that he still knew where the ball was and how to get it back for his team, so they picked him anyway, in the second round. Now he’s among the Lions’ cast of Pro Bowlers.
But there’s something deeper here, sown by Campbell and the assistant coaches, that frustrated Minnesota Sunday night. With the defense cratered by injuries, the Lions still refused to play elastic coverage, refused to sit back and let Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison catch Sam Darnold’s passes and try to keep them penned in. They bolted out of the gate and chased Darnold, hit him 10 times, and played old-fashioned chinstrap man-to-man defense on the receivers. Darnold had a 55.5 passer rating and was 18 for 41 for 166 yards. Addison was targeted six times and made one catch. Jefferson got away once, but caught three of nine of Darnold’s throws for 54 yards. Tight end T.J. Hockenson caught two of nine for nine yards. Overall Minnesota snapped the ball 12 times inside Detroit’s 10-yard-line with no touchdowns. The Lions did all this without five of their Game 1 defensive starters.
Maybe it’s because they’re winning, but the Lions don’t have squeaky wheels. You don’t hear receivers begging for more looks. You don’t hear a lot of money complaints. When the Lions played at San Francisco in a Monday Night game that preceded this game,, and had no bearing on the playoff situation, Campbell refused to protect his players. He explained that the substitutes get few practice reps, so it wasn’t very fair to run them into combat. Besides, why take a week off from winning? The Lions did win and then, on Sunday when it mattered most, they won again. Like their leading touchdown-maker, they’re treating every football as personal property.
Otherwise:
Carolina 44, Atlanta 38 (OT)
— The Falcons (9-8) will devote the off-season to pass rushing and calling the coin toss. For the second straight week they lost the overtime coin toss and watched an offense roll down the field, score a touchdown and end the game. When it happened last week in Washington it forced the Falcons to win this one and hope Tampa Bay could lose to New Orleans. The Bucs had won by the time Bryce Young took the Panthers on a TD drive that ended with a one-yarder by Ja’Tavion Sanders.
– Young, the first-overall pick in 2023, continued to show the Panthers (5–12) they didn’t make a mistake after all. He threw for three touchdowns and ran for two, and hasn’t been intercepted in the past three games.
— Michael Penix has helped free up Drake London (18 targets, 10 catches, two scores, 187 yards) and Bijan Robinson continues to shine (28 carries, 170 yards, two scores) but the Falcons never sacked Young and couldn’t get the stops they needed. Penix was 21 for 38 for 312 yards and two scores. Next year looks better for Atlanta, but then it often does.
Tampa Bay 27, New Orleans 19
– The Buccaneers (10-7) celebrated the NFC South title and the 11th consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season by Mike Evans. Only Jerry Rice has done that in league history. But it took the Bucs longer to dispose of the Saints than expected. Baker Mayfield hit Jalen McMillan with a 32-yard touchdown with 10:08 left for a 20-19 lead, and then Bucky Irving, a rookie like McMillan, scored an 11-yard touchdown with 1:51 left.
— Tampa Bay converted 10 of 16 third downs, and Evans caught nine balls for 89 yards. YaYa Diaby had four tackles for loss for the Bucs, who play host to Washington in a first round game Sunday night.
— The Saints at least showed up, but they ended their wretched 5-12 season and now pursue a new coach. They could also use a quarterback, although Spencer Rattler tried to make his case by hitting 26 of 42 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown.
Cincinnati 19, Pittsburgh 17
— The Bengals cruised to a TD on the first drive, then grimly persevered, on a 21-degree night, to keep their playoff hearts beating. Trey Hendrickson, perhaps the most underpublicized great player in the NFL, had three-and-a-half sacks of Russell Wilson and pushed his total to 17 ½ for the second straight year. On the Steelers’ last drive, Hendrickson’s sack forced a third-and-12, and Wilson couldn’t connect on passes to George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth. Thus, Cincinnati won its fifth straight and climbed to 9-8, although none of the other inside straights were filled on Sunday, and the Bengals’ season is over.
— Ja’Marr Chase caught Joe Burrow’s only touchdown pass and moved into position to claim the NFL receiving Triple Crown (yards, touchdowns and catches). Burrow was 37 for 46 for 277 yards and ended the season just short of 5,000 yards, but his longest completion was only 16 yards. Instead, the Bengals’ erratic defense held Pittsburgh to 193 net yards. Pickens, the Steelers’ deep threat, caught one of Wilson’s six attempts to him, for zero yards.
— The Steelers stagger into the playoffs with four consecutive losses and a 10-7 record. They did have four sacks, including a third-down sack by Keanu Benton that forced the punt that gave the Steelers a final chance. They haven’t won a playoff game in eight years and now must play at Baltimore in Saturday night’s first round (on Amazon Prime).
Baltimore 35, Cleveland 10
— Bailey Zappe became the fourth starting quarterback for Cleveland this year. It wasn’t a favorable matchup. Baltimore rookie Nate Wiggins scored on a 26-yard interception, and Zappe, without a viable run game, went 16 for 31 for 170 yards. The Browns went 3-14, and Myles Garrett said it was a rougher season than the 0-16 that he endured in 2017. The Browns fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey afterward.
— The Ravens (12-5) clinched the NFC North for the second straight year and won at least 12 games for the third time in six years. Reigning MVP Lamar Jackson wound up with 41 touchdowns and four interceptions and led the NFL in yards per attempt (8.8) and passer rating. He also became the first to pass for at least 4,000 yards and run for over 900, leading all rushers with a 6.6 yard average. Derrick Henry ran for 16 touchdowns, which led the league, and 1,921 yards. It helped that Jackson and Henry started every game and that the Ravens featured the same offensive line for 16 of 17 games.
— Baltimore won its final four games by an average score of 135-43. The highlight for the players Saturday was an interception by 345-pound, 32-year-old nose tackle Michael Pierce. “The most crazy, amazing play in NFL history,” said coach Jim Harbaugh. Pierce knelt almost immediately after the play, saying he didn’t want to become an instant meme.
Chicago 24, Green Bay 22
The loss didn’t worry Packer fans as much as the condition of Jordan Love, who left with an elbow injury and said he had lost feeling in his passing hand. Coach Matt Lafleur said Love could have returned if needed, and Malik Willis completed 10 of 13 in relief. The Bears used a 94-yard punt return TD by Josh Blackwell and a late drive that led to a game-winning field goal by Cairo Santos. It was Chicago’s first win since Oct. 11 and raised their record to 5-11. The Packers, 11-6, play at Philadelphia on Sunday.
Denver 38, Kansas City 0
The Broncos bullied their way into the postseason for the first time in nine years, routing the Chiefs’ junior varsity by holding onto the ball for more than 41 minutes. Marvin Mims caught two of Bo Nix’s four TD passes and Nix was 26 for 29 with no picks and also ran for 47 yards. The Chiefs’ longest rush was five yards as Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Isaiah Pacheco, Xavier Worthy, Chris Jones, Nick Bolton, Trent McDuffie and George Karlaftis and most of the other notables sat, although the starting offensive line was out there. Denver is 10-7 and will visit Buffalo in the first round Sunday. The Chiefs are 15-2 with the first-round bye. Andy Reid now has won 73.3 percent of his Chiefs’ games in 12 years.
L.A. Chargers 34, Las Vegas 20
The Chargers (11–6) had to be enthused over Quinton Johnston’s day. Last year’s first-round pick from TCU caught 13 of the 14 passes Justin Herbert sent his way and took them 183 yards. Herbert also had a 41-yard run. The Raiders (4-13) led 10-3 but Darian Henley’s interception of Aidan O’Connell set up Herbert’s TD pass to DJ Chark that created a 17-10 halftime lead. The Chargers scored 108 points in their season-ending three-game win streak,, and play at Houston on Saturday. The Raiders finished with a minus-16 turnover ratio and their third consecutive losing record.
Washington 23, Dallas 19
Marcus Mariota lit it up for Washington after Jayden Daniels was removed with leg soreness. He hit Terry McLaurin for the winning score with 3:18 left, led the Commanders in rushing and was 15 for 18 for two TDs and a 141 passer rating. The Commanders moved to 12–5 and will play at Tampa Bay Sunday night. Cowboys’ fans got to see Trey Lance at quarterback, and the former 4th-overall draft pick of the 49ers was 20 for 34 for 244 yards, although he couldn’t figure out the red zone. The Cowboys scored only one TD as they fell to 7-10. Micah Parsons got to double-digit sacks for the fourth time in his first four seasons.
Philadelphia 20, N.Y. Giants 13
Almost all the significant Eagles took the day off, including Saquon Barkley, who didn’t get a chance to break Eric Dickerson’s rushing record. Tanner McKee threw two touchdown passes as the Eagles’ QB, although Jalen Hurts is expected back for the playoff game against Green Bay on Sunday.. Nothing much else happened in a game with two explosive plays, total. The Eagles improved to 14-3 and are 39-12 over the last three seasons, and the Giants fell to 3-14.
Seattle 30, L.A. Rams 25
The Rams took a fourth quarter lead over Seattle even though Sean McVay benched almost every starter, but Geno Smith’s touchdown pass to Noah Fant won it for the visiting Seahawks, as both teams finished 10-7. Because they lost, the Rams are matched up against Minnesota in the first round Monday night. Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 334 yards and two touchdowns but couldn’t convert a fourth down on Seattle’s nine-yard-line at the end. Smith tossed four touchdown passes against the Rams’ taxi-squadders, with a passer rating of 137.8.
Arizona 47, San Francisco 24
The Cardinals improved by four games to 8-9 and the 49ers went backwards by six games to finish at 6-11. In this one, Josh Dobbs subbed for Brock Purdy, and Patrick Taylor ran for 107 yards, but the 49ers defense did nothing to stop Kyler Murray, Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison. For the third time in four games the Niners did not have a sack. McBride finished the year with 111 catches, second among tight ends to Brock Bowers of Las Vegas.
N.Y. Jets 34, Miami 20
Aaron Rodgers threw his 500th career touchdown pass to Tyler Conklin in the first quarter and commemorated it by throwing three more. He’s the fifth to get to 500, and he helped raise the Jets’’ record to 5-12 in this dumpster of a season. The Dolphins, who began the day hoping for a playoff spot, wouldn’t have gotten it anyway, but they fell to 9-8, and receiver Tyreek Hill announced that he’s “opening the door, I’m out. It was great playing here.” De’Von Achane capped a productive year by running for 121 yards in 11 carries.
New England 23, Buffalo 16
The Bills kept Josh Allen out of harm’s way and scored only one touchdown as a result, although they led 16-14 in the third quarter. They finished 13-4 and will play host to Denver on Sunday. The Patriots won their fourth game, as Joe Milton relieved Drake Maye and hit 22 of 29 passes for 241 yards and no picks, but it wasn’t enough to keep Jerod Mayo on the job. The longtime Patriots linebacker and coach was fired after the game after one season. Kayshon Boutte caught all seven passes intended for him and took them 117 yards, including a touchdown.
Houston 23, Tennessee 14
C.J. Stroud was 6 for 6 before he was pulled in favor of Davis Mills, who was 12 for 18 the rest of the way as the Texans improved to 10-7 and await the Chargers’ arrival on Sunday. Dameon Pierce had a big day, gaining 176 yards in 19 carries, including a 92-yard touchdown. The Titans finished 3–14 and “earned” the first draft choice, which will probably be a quarterback despite the presence of Will Levis and Mason Rudolph.
Indianapolis 26, Jacksonville 23 (OT)
Making them play overtime was cruel and unusual, but Zaire Franklin helped end it by sacking Mac Jones and setting up a fourth-and-22, which Jones came within two yards of converting with a completion to Brian Thomas Jr. Jonathan Taylor rumbled for 177 yards in 34 carries, and Josh Downs caught 10 passes from Joe Flacco. Thomas was Jacksonville’s top player all year and caught seven for 103 yards in this one. The Colts finished 8-9 and the Jaguars 4–13, and Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson was a Black Monday firing victim by breakfast time on Monday.