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How Dan Campbell decided to lean on David Montgomery in Detroit Lions Week 1 win vs. Rams
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- How Dan Campbell decided to lean on David Montgomery in Detroit Lions Week 1 win vs. Rams
Dan Campbell didn't go into Sunday's overtime planning to lean on David Montgomery , but that changed with one carry.
Campbell said he decided to ride Montgomery's hot hand for the final five minutes of Sunday's 26-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams after the Detroit Lions running back broke a 21-yard run on the second play of the extra period.
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"I think the first run D-Mo had was really, it was, you just felt like he's about to take this game over," Campbell said Monday. "That first one, he took off and we got good movement up front and you could just see the surge and you could feel No. 5 and it felt like we were going to be able to break through. And we were."
Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery celebrates scoring the winning 1-yard touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams during overtime for a 26-20 victory in the season opener at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024.
Montgomery carried the ball on five of the Lions' eight overtime plays, rushing for 45 yards and scoring the game-winning 1-yard touchdown.
He finished with 91 yards on 17 carries and joined Josh Jacobs , C.J. Anderson and Rashard Mendenhall as the only players to rush for at least 45 yards and a touchdown in the overtime of a game in the past 20 years.
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LIONS VS. RAMS GAME BALLS: David Montgomery among 3 big winners in gritty OT battle
Montgomery said Sunday he felt unstoppable in overtime.
"Nothing against them, I was in the mode though," he said. "I was already locked in at that point where I felt like I had to prove myself to myself and I felt like that was the greatest opportunity for it to happen – for me to showcase what I'm capable of, but at the same time showing how much grit that, that offense and this team has."
Status quo in the preseason
While Montgomery dominated in overtime and several other players delivered big performances Sunday – Campbell singled out Jameson Williams , Aidan Hutchinson , Marcus Davenport , Alex Anzalone , Kerby Joseph , Jack Fox and Khalil Dorsey as standouts – the Lions exhibited plenty of rust in their opener.
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Jared Goff threw an interception and had some operational snafus at quarterback. Brian Branch and Carlton Davis III dropped easy picks. Branch missed two tackles in the first half. And the Lions allowed 317 yards passing.
Campbell chalked his team's inconsistencies Sunday up to being in Week 1 of the NFL season, but said that won't make him reconsider playing his starters in the preseason.
The Lions have not played key starters in exhibition games the past two seasons and even held some top backups out this year.
"Because even then, what, you're going to play them 20 plays?" Campbell said. "I would rather go against ourselves and run 60, which is what we did. Those last two weeks we scrimmaged each other going 60 plays. So no, I'm not (considering changing my approach), especially when you win the game. I feel good with where we're at and I said it last night, do I like that we were not that clean? No, I don't feel great about that, but I'm not upset with the win either. So, we will clean it up, like I told the team, all we have to worry about is getting a little bit better next week."
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Mind games
Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill said he was so amped after Sunday's win that he stayed up long after he got home watching TV.
Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill (54) tries to pressure Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, September 8, 2024.
"I was up till 4 in the morning, just laying there," McNeill said. "I watched the film, and then crazy enough Reba was on. I was watching Reba."
"He said he was what?" Campbell said incredulously when told of McNeill's viewing habits.
"Look, it's hard to sleep anyway after a game, especially when you get home at whatever that is, 2 o'clock, 1 o'clock, I don't' know. It's hard cause your mind's racing and you're watching the tape, you're thinking about it and you're just all the different plays, what you could have done, what you want to do, what went right, what went wrong. So I can imagine. I remember that as a player, so I can understand what Mac's talking about. It's just, you go through it and I think that's what's hard about a night game, it's impossible to sleep I think. Even as tired as you are, it's just hard. the mind won't go to sleep."
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As for his choice of TV shows, McNeill insisted the early-2000s sitcom starring country singer Reba McEntire didn't start out as his choice of programming.
"My girlfriend's been watching it lately a lot, so it's just been on and it was just running all night," McNeill said. "It was on Netflix."
Dave Birkett is the author of the new book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline." Preorder it now from Reedy Press .
Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Dan Campbell knew David Montgomery would dominate in OT for Lions
