On Monday afternoon, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell provided an update on running back David Montgomery’s rib injury. Campbell stated that the squad anticipates being without Montgomery for an extended period of time.
“He’s got some cartilage in there somewhere.” “He’s probably going to be down for a while here,” Campbell said. “I’m not sure how long. That’ll just be how long it takes for this to happen—which, in his position, is not an easy thing to deal with. So we’ll simply take things as they come, but there’s a potential we won’t have him for long.”Campbell said he doesn’t know if Montgomery will be placed on injured reserve at this point.
“I have no idea,” Campbell continued. “I really don’t at this point. We’ll see what he feels like tomorrow. See what he feels like Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We’ll kinda see where we’re at.”
The good news is the Lions appear to have some reinforcements coming. Campbell was optimistic about first-round rookie back Jahmyr Gibbs returning this week after missing the past two games with a hamstring injury.
“Yeah, I feel a lot better about Gibbs this week. He ran really well on Saturday before we left and had another really good workout today,” Campbell said.
Gibbs has filled in for Montgomery once this season, rushing for 80 yards on 17 carries against the
Campbell also dropped some interesting information on how the team will try to compensate without Montgomery, whose 94 rushing attempts is 55 more than any other player on their roster. Outside of Gibbs, the Lions have Craig Reynolds and Devine Ozigbo (on the practice squad). When asked if that was enough, here was Campbell’s answer.
“Yeah, and I think if not, we’ve got other guys we can use on the roster at that position, probably in the receiver room,” Campbell said.
Could that mean more Amon-Ra St. Brown in the backfield? Kalif Raymond? Jameson Williams??
The Lions have been one of the best rushing teams in the NFL through six weeks, averaging 124.2 yards per game (ninth) and ranking seventh in rush offense DVOA. We’ll see if they can maintain that level of efficiency without their lead back for a while.
