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The Detroit Lions were one of the most fun teams to watch last season, in large part because of their offense. Their backfield, in particular, caught everyone's attention. In a league that started to stray away from running backs, the Lions had two dynamic runners in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. The duo, nicknamed “Sonic and Knuckles”, shared touches and were equally productive when they were on the field.
Now, the Lions are looking for ways to get their star duo on the field together. Quarterback Jared Goff said that they are experimenting with creative two-back sets that feature both Montgomery and Gibbs together.
“We’re working on how many different ways we can use them (Gibbs and Montgomery),” Goff said, per Michael David Smith of ProFootballNetwork. “As often as we can get both those guys on the field is a good thing for us. Finding creative ways to do that is the hard part, and that’s the challenge upstairs for those guys, but they’re doing a good job of figuring it out. You don’t ever want to take either of them off the field, so we’re trying to find ways to throw it to one of them and have one of them block, and then throw it to the other guy, have the other guy block, or hand it to one of them. It’s a lot of fun, and those two guys are good.”
Last season, the Lions were in 21 personnel (two running backs, one tight end) just 1.61% of the time, per Sumer Sports' tracking. Part of it was due to Montgomery being out for the last two months of the season. That being said, Detroit was content with one of Gibbs or Montgomery in the backfield when both were healthy. It's not like this approach didn't work: the Lions had one of the most efficient rushing attacks last season, with their running back duo combining for 2,187 rushing yards. The team averaged 4.7 yards per carry last year, a top-10 mark in the league.
Still, it's never a bad thing to add another wrinkle to the offense. Both running backs are capable pass-catchers out of the backfield and have shown a willingness to commit to blocking when needed. With the mastermind of their previous offense gone, the Lions are looking for new ways to give their opponents headaches.
