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Jahmyr Gibbs breakout game ignites Detroit Lions past Las Vegas Raiders, 26-14

Jahmyr Gibbs turned to the locker next to him and asked Craig Reynolds how many carries he had Monday night.

"Fourteen," Reynolds said as Gibbs repeated the number in disbelief.

"Dan told us we were going to run the ball 40 times," Gibbs said. "He wasn't lying."

Gibbs set career-highs with 26 carries for 152 yards and Reynolds added 74 yards on his 14 rushes as the Detroit Lions won their first home prime-time game in five years, beating the Las Vegas Raiders, 26-14, at Ford Field.

Making his second straight start in place of the injured David Montgomery, Gibbs touched the ball eight times on the game’s opening drive and ignited a Lions offense that had struggled to run the ball for two straight weeks.

He added five catches for 37 yards to finish with 189 yards from scrimmage and scored on a 27-yard run in the third quarter as the Lions did the one thing head coach Dan Campbell set out to do with his game plan this week.

“I told the team the most important thing about this game was us getting our identity back, and that was what all the work that we put in this week was about," Campbell said. "The whole focus was about getting back to what we do and that was the most important thing and that really showed through today. Was it perfect? It wasn’t perfect but ultimately we got what I wanted to get out of it and you come away with a win."

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The Lions finished with 486 yards of offense and held the Raiders to 157 net yards. They nearly doubled up the Raiders (3-5) in time of possession and dominated play much as they were dominated by the Baltimore Ravens last week.

At 6-2, the Lions are off to their best start since 2014 and sit comfortably alone in first place in the NFC North entering their bye. They lead the Minnesota Vikings (4-4) by two games in the division, and have the second-best record in the NFC behind only the Philadelphia Eagles (7-1).

The Vikings lost starting quarterback Kirk Cousins to a torn Achilles tendon in their win Sunday over the Green Bay Packers.

"It’s a good spot to be in," Campbell said. "Wins are hard to come by in this league and anything is up for grabs in the NFC right now and our focus right now is our own division and so we get another win, and we help our own cause. And then now we got a chance to heal up, we’re going to get some guys back after the bye that are important to us, important pieces."

Playing in front of a raucous crowd Monday and on a night when former offensive tackle Lomas Brown was inducted into Pride of the Lions, the Lions jumped to a 9-0 lead on three Riley Patterson field goals and never trailed despite three turnovers and persistent struggles in the red zone.

Lions rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs runs against the Raiders defense during the first half at Ford Field on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023.
Lions rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs runs against the Raiders defense during the first half at Ford Field on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023.

Jared Goff gave the Lions a 16-7 lead just before halftime on an 18-yard touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta, and Gibbs scored his second touchdown in as many weeks on the Lions’ first possession of the second half, then celebrated by jumping over the wall in the end zone and into the crowd.

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"I didn't know he could jump that high," offensive guard Colby Sorsdal said. "He came to the sideline and he's like, '40-inch vert, dude. What are you doing?' And I'm like, 'All right.' He got up there. I was going to go celebrate and then I was like, 'All right. Yeah, I'm not going to get up there.'"

Goff finished 26 of 37 passing for 272 yards. Amon-Ra St. Brown, playing through flu-like symptoms, had 108 yards receiving on six catches. And the Lions had their best rushing day of the season despite being down two starters on their offensive line and starting their seventh different combination up front in eight games.

Sorsdal made his first NFL start at right guard, Kayode Awosika played left guard until he left with cramping in the second half, and Graham Glasgow moved from guard to center.

Josh Jacobs scored Las Vegas’ lone offensive touchdown on a 3-yard run, and the Raiders got a 75-yard interception return for touchdown by Marcus Peters, Goff’s former teammate with the Los Angeles Rams.

The Lions scored just one touchdown on five trips to the red zone against a Raiders defense that entered 30th in the NFL in that category. Patterson made field goals of 31, 33, 44 and 52 yards, but missed a 26-yard kick in the fourth quarter, and Reynolds lost a fumble inside the 5-yard line.

Josh Reynolds also lost a fumble in the first quarter, but Kerby Joseph picked off Garoppolo in the end zone on the next play.

"It was good minus the turnovers," Goff said. "And again, that’s the critical thing. Yeah, we overcame them and our defense was a big part of the reason why, and we scored 26, whatever we ended up scoring, but felt like it should’ve been about 40 or so. But our defense really kept us in that game and played well.”

Garoppolo finished 10 of 21 passing for 126 yards for the Raiders, who have yet to score more than 21 points in a game this year.

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Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions defeat Raiders ignited by Jahmyr Gibbs breakout game