One of the main reasons that the Detroit Lions play so well is because there are no divas. All players know they must do their part in favor of the team, not for them. For instance, one of the best players on the team was asked to improve his blocking for Jared Goff, and instead of being offended by it, he has improved massively.
Lions’ running back coach, Tashard Choice, knows Jahmyr Gibbs is a massive star. Still, he asked Gibbs to improve on his passing blocking. After all, in Week 9 Goff was sacked five times. In Week 10, none.
Choice spoke on the matter. “Our first thing is protect the football, then protect the quarterback. Pass protection is 80 percent just want to... It’s a three-second fight most of the time. For him, the biggest thing that happened to him was when we came out of the Minnesota game because I was on his a–. Tough, had to be. I was on him. And he responded the right way, and that’s what you want from players.”
Week 10 was really Gibbs’ bounceback game
In Week 9, not only was Goff sacked, but Gibbs also had a season-low 28 yards. Week 10 was another story. Not only did he block way better, he exploded for 172 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns.
Gibbs now has 920 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns in the season. Gibbs is among the elite running backs in the NFL and he clearly provides explosiveness and agility to an otherwise physical backfield.
Choice and Gibbs go way back
These two guys have known each other for a while now. Choice was Gibbs RB coach at Georgia Tech back in 2021. Hence, Choice knows what gets Gibbs going and how to bring the best out of him.
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? Hence, having Choice as Gibbs coach here in Detroit is almost a guaranteed success. As Gibbs keeps improving and evolving, this coach-player duo keeps growing as one of the best in the NFL.