On Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, the Detroit Lions immediately went about re-establishing their identity on the opening drive. David Montgomery finished the game with 23 carries for 105 yards and the touchdown that finished that first drive, while Jahmyr Gibbs had 83 yards on his 16 carries and what will go in the books as a receiving touchdown on a hook-and-lateral play.
Last season, Montgomery and Gibbs fell just short of being the seventh teammate duo in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. Both are off to nice starts this season, while of course continuing to share the backfield work nearly equally.
Montgomery: 285 scrimmage yards (231 rushing and 54 receiving) and three touchdowns on 59 touches
Gibbs: 283 scrimmage yards (207 rushing and 76 receiving) and two touchdowns on 51 touches
Combined, Montgomery and Gibbs have scored five of the Lions' seven touchdowns through three games.
On Sunday, Montgomery and Gibbs became the second pair of running backs in Lions' franchise history to each rush for at least 80 yards with at least 15 receiving yards and a touchdown in a game. The other time was November 28, 2013, when Joique Bell and Reggie Bush did it in a 40-10 win over the Green Bay Packers.
Montgomery and Gibbs each topped 100 yards from scrimmage on Sunday, which is the second time they've done so (they also did it against the Los Angeles Chargers last season).
It was also the third straight game to start the season where they both had 70-plus total yards. That made Montgomery and Gibbs the first running back duo in the league to reach that total yardage mark in each of the first three games of as season since 2006, when Bush (then a New Orleans Saint) teamed with Deuce McCallister to accomplish the feat.
For the first time since 2006, the @NFL has an RB duo each log 70+ scrimmage yards in each of the first three games of a season.#OnePride pic.twitter.com/zl1PJJpVeQ
— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) September 22, 2024
Montgomery and Gibbs have also become the first running back duo to have 275 or more scrimmage yards and two or more touchdowns over the first three games of the season since 1980.
.@Lions RBs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs have each produced 275+ scrimmage yards & 2+ TDs through the first three games of the season.
— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) September 23, 2024
The last @NFL RB duo to reach these numbers through three games were 49ers RBs Earl Cooper and Paul Hofer in 1980.#OnePride pic.twitter.com/4ZHisczW7q
If Montgomery and Gibbs produce at the level they have so far this season in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks and beyond, we'll see if they set any more historical marks in league or Lions' franchise history.