On Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, the Detroit Lions allowed 11 quarterback hits, the most they’ve allowed in a single game since Week 17 of the 2023 season. On Monday, Lions coach Dan Campbell admitted there was a flaw in their protection plan that they were slow to adjust to.
If it seemed like running back Jahmyr Gibbs was called on a lot to help out in pass protection, that’s because he was. According to PFF, of Gibbs’ 42 offensive snaps, 15 of them—over 35%—were spent in pass protection.
That’s obviously not a great use of his skill set, and it’s the most pass blocking snaps Gibbs has ever logged in a single game. In fact, the only time he came close to that many pass protection reps was back in 2023 in the team’s Week 16 game against… the Vikings, with 10 pass blocking snaps.
Campbell admitted that is far too many protection snaps for Gibbs.
“There are things that we can do better and that we can get to. We don’t want to have Gibby do a full game of it,” Campbell said. “Now he’s better than that, too. I’ve seen him, we all know him, he can protect. He had a little bit of an off day in some of that, too. But no, we don’t want him to have to go hammerhead for 12 plays. That’s not – I don’t want either of those backs having to do that.”
Gibbs did indeed struggle in the role. Per PFF, he allowed seven pressures in 15 snaps, including one sack allowed, resulting in a 41.2 pass blocking grade.
One answer Campbell offered was to turn to David Montgomery in pass protection. They only did that twice in the game. Another couple answers are to give Gibbs an immediate free release to run a route or go to seven-man protections, but those each have obvious drawbacks, too.
“You could free release, but then they’ll get him and then they bring the other guy (blitzer). So, some of it is, okay, you can use some seven-man protections,” Campbell said.
All game, the Vikings were dictating what the Lions were doing by pressuring the middle of the line with threatening linebackers and offering simulated pressure elsewhere. Oftentimes, their edge defenders were dropping in coverage to take away short routes and hot reads.
Campbell credited the Vikings for forcing their hand with Gibbs early and often in this game, but ultimately concluded that it’s on them to come up with answers quicker.
“That was the plan to keep (Gibbs) in, that was kudos to them to keep him in, not let him release on some of that stuff,” Campbell said. “We turned the protection a couple of times, but they forced our hand. You either go there, or you’re going to put him on a big (lineman). Yeah, we’ve got to adjust a little quicker.”
