DETROIT – Should the Detroit Lions have given the ball to Jahmyr Gibbs more often in their playoff loss to the Commanders? Dan Campbell responded to that question on Monday.
Play calling was a hot topic after the Lions' loss on Saturday. A team that leaned on the running game en route to a 15-2 regular-season record got away from it as the game wore on, instead passing 43 times.
When the ball was in Gibbs' hands, the Lions thrived. He gained 105 yards and scored twice on 14 carries and caught six passes for an additional 70 yards.
That’s 7.5 yards per carry and 11.7 yards per catch.
On Monday, Campbell was asked whether he wishes the Lions would have gotten more touches for Gibbs.
“Yeah, I mean, you always want to get him more carries,” Campbell said. “You come out of a game like that and he’s had the carries he has, but we were pretty balanced. We were pretty balanced when you take away the, ‘Now we’re in got-to-go mode.' Those were 20 of the reps or something, so you take that out, you’re left with 40 reps and you’re balanced.”
It’s a fair point: The Lions were playing from behind for the majority of the second half. But Jared Goff turned the ball over four times (three picks and fumble) on passing plays, and a disastrous Jameson Williams trick-play pass went for another interception.
Campbell pointed to those five turnovers, not Gibbs' usage, as the reason the Lions are now in offseason mode.
“It was really -- we were having success no matter what we did, we felt like,” Campbell said. “We could run it, we could throw it, explosives, and then we turned the ball over. So the turnovers created the issue. All of a sudden you’re down a couple of scores and now you’re out of what you really feel like you can do.
“So you really want to dissect it into more than what it is. Here’s what it is: We turned the ball over. Then we get behind, and then we turn the ball over, and we get behind, and so it just, we couldn’t overcome it.”
You can watch Campbell’s full briefing here:
