Sonic Speeds Ahead, Knuckles Gets Left Behind
September 29, 2025
I had a feeling heading into the season that the gap would be a bit wider this season between Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Detroit had the opportunity to get a good look at how Gibbs would handle a workload last season when Montgomery was lost to injury. It has continued into this year but the Lions week 3 victory over the Ravens somewhat skewed the numbers as the Baltimore defense struggled mightily to get Montgomery to the ground.
Through 15 weeks in 2024, Montgomery played 40% of the snaps or more 8 times, that number jumps to 10 if you want to include 39%. Through the first three weeks of the 2025 season, Montgomery has eclipsed the 40% snap share not even one time. Meanwhile, Gibbs hasn’t dropped below 56%. What we’re saying is that there is a clear mission to feature Gibbs more than ever before. It continued into their week 4 matchup against Cleveland where Gibbs out-touched Montgomery 17 to 11. The total productivity is broken down below.
Gibbs – 15 att 91 yds 1 td – 2 rec 6 yds
Montgomery – 9 att 12 yds
Not only was Gibbs featured more against the Browns, but he was far more productive gaining 6.1 yards per carry against a very good Browns defensive front. Most importantly, Detroit is 3-1 and still winning with this new philosophy. Montgomery is the type of runner that needs the carries to get going and find that momentum. A carry here or there is going to severely disrupt any rhythm and could result in more games with similar stat lines to week 4 in the future. As much as I hate to see it, we may be seeing less of a Sonic & Knuckles duo moving forward.
Keith, Author
Keith runs youth flag football leagues by day, and by night he hosts the podcast and writes articles with the confidence of a man who’s been rushing quarterbacks since dial-up. A longtime flag football DE and lifelong Falcons fan, he’s no stranger to heartbreak and enjoys watching the bears get slaughtered each week. Equal parts coach, critic, and chaos, Keith calls it like he sees it… even if it hurts.
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