The Detroit Lions were one play away from suffering one of the most surprising upsets of Week 1. After leading the New Orleans Saints 21-0 midway through the third quarter, the Lions gave up 17 unanswered points and traded blows with the Saints throughout the fourth quarter as Kellen Moore's side clawed back into the game. The two teams went into overtime tied at 24 before Detroit drove down and scored the first touchdown in extra time, a four-yard completion to Amon-Ra St.
The Saints then marched 80 yards down the field and answered with a score of their own, before a failed two-point conversion ended the game 31-30. While Chris Olave dominated for New Orleans, hauling in 10 catches for 182 yards, Jahmyr Gibbs enjoyed a career day for the Lions, going for 156 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on a career-high 29 carries, along with 30 receiving yards. Detroit still has a lot to clean up, especially on defense, but Gibbs remains one of the biggest bright spots and clearly one of the best players in football.
Even after a career-high workload, though, Lions head coach Dan Campbell believes there's still another level Gibbs can reach. "I thought it was a very promising Week 1," Campbell said postgame. "Certainly, we know what Gibbs is, what he's capable of, and he's still not there yet.
And I mean that in a good way. "I'm telling you, we were this close to breaking three or four more of these, like breaking them wide open. I mean, shoestring away," Campbell added.
More news: Eagles Rookie WR Makai Lemon Had Historically Bad NFL Debut More news: Michael Irvin Sounds Off on Cowboys After Brutal Loss to Giants Gibbs entered the 2026 season as the odds-on favorite for Offensive Player of the Year. With David Montgomery now in Houston, he has the backfield all to himself for the first time in his career. He was already a three-time Pro Bowler with 3,580 rushing yards and 1,449 receiving yards through his first three seasons in Detroit, and that was with him never seeing more than 67% of the team's offensive snaps, until now.
He was on the field for 74% of Detroit's snaps on Sunday and put together the league's highest rushing total of the day and the second-highest of his career. If Campbell truly believes "he's still not there yet" in terms of his ceiling, the rest of the NFL should be terrified. More news: Titans HC Robert Saleh Gets Honest About Cam Ward After Ugly Jets Loss
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