Jahmyr Gibbs was offered oxygen off the bench after a 78-yard run.
He rejected her.
Obviously he wasn’t breathing.
Gibbs scored on a long rushing run in the second quarter, had a five-yard dunk in the third quarter 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.
“I felt this coming,” Detroit coach Dan Campbell said. “This has been built.”
The Lions (5-2) bounced back from the loss as they played flawlessly for nearly three years, continuing their NFL-long streak of 51 games without losing two straight regular-season games.
“The guys responded, which is what I knew they would do,” Campbell said.
Tampa Bay (5-2) was outgained by more than 200 yards in the first half, but trailed 14-3 because Detroit intercepted, fumbled, turned it over 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 couldn’t slow down Gibbs.
On the next 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.
He finished the third year in a row 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 only four showings for the franchise this century.
Gibbs is the first NFL player to rush for at least 135 yards and have 80 receiving yards plus two scores on the ground since Chris Johnson accomplished 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 Tesla 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 in the game, ending hopes of a potential comeback.
“As a skill group, we didn’t connect on a lot of plays,” Mayfield said. “Once the defense knows we’re going to have to pass, they can cover their ears. That’s not a fair situation for the offensive line.”
Gibbs took advantage of the big hole and his speed to score on a 78-yard run late in the second quarter to put Detroit up 14-0.
“If I can get him to the second level, he can do the rest,” Campbell said.
After Detroit’s Jake Betts missed a 54-yard field goal, Chase McLaughlin hit a 53-yard field goal to end the half and put the Bucs on the scoreboard.
Betts connected on a 58-yard field goal early in the fourth, hitting it upright, to give the Lions a 24-9 lead.
“It’s a tough game for every team right now,” Bowles said. “We know about the loud crowd. We didn’t execute, but they played a very good game.”
The Lions are 13-3 in night games under Campbell and have won five straight games on Monday Night Football.
Houston Texans 19-27 Seattle Seahawks
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had his fifth NFL 100-yard game this season as the Seahawks beat the Texans 27-19 on Monday night.
Smith-Njigba, who entered the game leading the league in receiving yards, gave Seattle a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter when he caught an 11-yard TD pass from Sam Darnold. Smith-Njigba celebrated his fourth of the season by diving over the crossbar into the goal posts, earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the process.
In total, Smith-Njigba caught eight passes for 123 yards. He became the second player in franchise history to record three consecutive 100-yard games, and his five 100-yard games this season is tied for the second-most in a single year by any Seahawks player.
Seattle struck first when RB Zach Charbonnet fell from one yard out on the Seahawks’ second drive of the game to give them a 7-0 lead. They had excellent field position thanks to LB Uchenna Nwosu sacking CJ Stroud for an 18-yard loss, pinning the Texans on their own one-yard line. It was the third-longest sack in Seahawks franchise history.
Charbonnet scored his second touchdown of the game, a two-yard rush, late in the third quarter to give the Seahawks a 27-12 advantage.
Meanwhile, Houston scored its first touchdown of the game when Darnold was sacked in his own end zone midway through the third quarter. Texans rusher Will Anderson Jr. recovered the fumble in the Seahawks’ end zone, but Houston failed to convert its two-point conversion attempt.
The Texans’ only offensive touchdown came thanks to a four-yard TD pass from Stroud to running back Woody Marks with just 2:04 remaining in regulation.
Kaimi Fairbairn added two field goals for the Texans, whose two-game winning streak was snapped and fell to 2-4 on the year. Meanwhile, Jason Myers converted two of three attempts for the Seahawks, who moved to 5-2 on the season and moved into a tie atop the NFC West with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams.
The win brought Seattle’s home record to 2-2. Last season, the Seahawks went 6-3 at Lumen Field. The Texans are 1-3 on the road.