DETROIT – It was late. He was tired. He had to put his child to bed. For many reasons, David Montgomery hates working overtime.
He also played accordingly and finally sent the Los Angeles Rams onto the defensive.
The Detroit Lions running back left tire tracks all over the Rams in overtime on Sunday night, running five times for 46 yards and charging into the end zone for a touchdown that clinched the game’s 26-20 opening night victory at Ford Field. He finished with 91 total yards on 17 carries.
“I’ll be honest, I hate overtime,” Montgomery said a few minutes later. “It’s a late game, I want to see my son. But we got there, coach (Dan) Campbell always says when your number is called and when you get an opportunity, you absolutely have to strike when it’s called. I assured myself that whenever I get the opportunity, I’m going to take full advantage of it.”
During his more than year-long stay in Detroit, Montgomery took full advantage of his opportunities. He was a really good player during his years in Chicago and immediately ran for a career-high 4.6 yards per carry in his first season in Detroit. Despite all the excitement surrounding Jahmyr Gibbs’ breakout rookie season, it was Montgomery who led the Lions’ strong running game with 1,015 rushing yards.
But what makes Montgomery so great goes far beyond the scoresheet. He sets the tone physically early in games and has a special talent for deciding games late. Then, when Jake Bates sent the season’s opening game into overtime and Jared Goff won the ensuing coin toss, there was never any doubt where the Lions were going with the football.
“Just give it to D-Mo, man,” Goff said. “He’s a battering ram. Just give it to him and he did the rest, and it was fun. It was fun to watch him — getting his second wind in overtime, so to speak, and our O-line as well. I joked with him when we called the play at the 1-yard line, it was like, ‘That’s a point.’ There was no doubt about it — and he slammed it in. It was great.”
After opening overtime with an end-around to Kalif Raymond, the Lions called Montgomery’s name five times on the final seven plays of the night. The first touch was the best of all, bouncing off a defender and leading to a 21-yard run that gave Detroit the ball near the halfway line.
On the next snap, the Lions ran the same play on the other side of the field. There was no mystery as to what they were doing, where they were going, or who was getting the ball. They basically dared LA to stop Montgomery.
Then Montgomery bounced off three defenders and gained another 9 yards.
After Jahmyr Gibbs touched the ball a few times, Montgomery was all his own for the final three plays of the night. He dragged Rams scrums 6 and 8 yards, then stormed into the end zone at the goal line after a pancake block by Frank Ragnow and scored the winning goal.
That’s seven running plays in eight overtime plays, five of which went to Montgomery for 46 yards and one of which ended the night without Matthew Stafford ever touching the football again.
No hype, just old-fashioned determination until victory.
“Nothing against them, but I was in the mood,” Montgomery said. “I was already determined to prove myself at that point, so it felt good to be able to go out there and finish it.”
And this is David Montgomery, one of the best closers in the league.
“He runs hard,” Campbell said. “He’s tough, he’s physical and I think he’s a catalyst for us. He’s starting to wear it and keep getting better and I think the line feeds off him and he feeds off them. This guy is a stud.”
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