Jahmyr Gibbs made the right football play, stopping short of the goal line twice to set up the winning field goal and prevent the Green Bay Packers from getting the ball back in the Detroit Lions’ 20-17 win Sunday, Oct. 25, at Ford Field.
But Gibbs twisted awkwardly to the ground in his last attempt to stay out of the end zone, leading Lions coach Dan Campbell to wonder after the game, “Is it really worth going down there?”
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“Sometimes I question that,” Campbell said in his postgame press conference. “Maybe we should have just [scored the touchdown]. But all good. It’s a good win.”
Gibbs had 29 carries for 116 yards and ran the ball seven times on the Lions’ game-winning 10-play possession.
The Packers tried to let him score on first-and-10 from the Green Bay 15-yard line on the first snap after the two-minute warning, but Gibbs slid to a stop at the Green Bay 7 to keep the clocking running.
After a 1-yard carry on the next play, Christian Mahogany was called for a false start to stop the clock with 1:09 left. On the next play, Gibbs ran for 8 yards around left tackle and a first down, and this time corkscrewed to a stop at the 3-yard line.
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Gibbs said he twisted his ankle on the play, but was fine after the game. Campbell said the Lions had Gibbs checked for precautionary reasons and “he should be good.”
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Had Gibbs scored on his final carry, the Packers would have gotten the ball back down seven points with about a minute to play after the kickoff and a chance to tie the game.
Gibbs said he knew the Packers were trying to let him score to get the ball back, and he’d take the same approach in similar situations in the future despite his injury scare.
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“Whatever the situation we’re in, I’m still going to do that,” he said.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jahmyr Gibbs fine after late-game injury scare, will pass up TD again
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