He turned it down.
Clearly, he was not out of breath.
Gibbs scored on a long sprint in the second quarter, a 5-yard spinning plunge in the third and accounted for a career-high 218 yards from scrimmage to lead the Detroit Lions in a 24-9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
“You felt like this was coming,” Detroit coach Dan Campbell said. “This has been building.”
The Lions (5-2) bounced back from a loss as they have done flawlessly for nearly three years, extending their NFL-long streak of 51 games without dropping two straight in the regular season.
“The guys responded, which I knew they would,” Campbell said.
Tampa Bay (5-2) was outgained by more than 200 yards in the first half, but trailed 14-3 because Detroit had an interception, fumble, turned it over on downs and missed a field goal.
Rookie Tez Johnson had a 22-yard touchdown reception to open the second half, pulling the Bucs within five points, but they could not slow down Gibbs.
On the ensuing drive, Gibbs had a 15-yard run and a 28-yard reception to set up his second touchdown that gave the Lions a 21-9 lead late in the third quarter.
The third-year running back finished with a season-high 136 yards rushing on 17 carries and a season-high 82 yards receiving on three catches, giving him a total that trails just four performances for the franchise this century.
Gibbs is the first NFL player with at least 135 yards rushing and 80 yards receiving along with two scores on the ground since Chris Johnson pulled off the feat with Tennessee in 2009.
“He’s a very talented running back and when you miss a gap, he can turn it into a big play,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said.
Detroit’s Jared Goff was 20 of 29 for 241 yards with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown on the game’s opening drive. Goff, though, lost a fumble and overthrew rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa on fourth-and-2 on the next two possessions and later threw an interception — all in Tampa Bay territory.
Baker Mayfield was 28 of 50 for 228 yards with one touchdown and one interception against a short-handed defense. Mayfield threw an incomplete pass in the end zone with 4:24 left, ending potential comeback hopes.
“As a skill group, we didn’t connect on a lot of plays,” Mayfield said. “Once the defense knows we are going to have to pass, they can pin their ears back. That’s not a fair situation to the offensive line.”
Gibbs took advantage of a big hole and his speed to score on a career-long, 78-yard run late in the second quarter to put Detroit ahead 14-0.
“If you can get him to second level, he can do the rest,” Campbell said.
After Detroit’s Jake Bates missed a 54-yard field goal, Chase McLaughlin made a 53-yard field goal to end the half and put the Bucs on the scoreboard.
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Bates did connect on a 58-yard field goal early in the fourth, knocking it in off an upright, to give the Lions a 24-9 lead.
“They are a tough matchup for every team right now,” Bowles said. “We know about the loud crowd. We just didn’t execute, but they played a very good game.”
Prime time
The Lions are 13-3 in night games under Campbell and they’ve won five straight on Monday Night Football.
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