Before they were D-Mo'd, David Montgomery knew they were done. It's "nothing against" the Rams, he said. He was just "in the mode." When Montgomery ripped open the right side of the defense on his first carry of overtime and barreled through the left on his second, it was only a matter of time before he plunged into the end zone.
"Just hand it to D-Mo, man, a battering ram," said Jared Goff. "I was joking with him when we called the play on the one-yard line, I was like, ‘This is scoring.’ There was no doubt. And he punched it in."
On his last run of the night, Montgomery went straight through the face of a linebacker at the goal line to lift the Lions to a season-opening win over the Rams. They needed overtime to do it, which bothered him for the fact that it was already late and he wanted to get home to see his son. Montgomery made sure it was over quickly. He rushed for 45 big-boy yards in the extra frame, and averaged 5.4 on the night.
"I felt like that was the greatest opportunity for me to showcase what I’m capable of, but at the same time showing how much grit this offense and this team has," Montgomery said.
The Lions wear that word -- GRIT -- proudly across their chests. Montgomery is one of the many players who brings it to life. He had the best season of his life in his first year in Detroit, then spent the offseason getting stronger. And faster. He went viral in a video this summer for deadlifting over 700 pounds. He came into training camp in such good shape, said Dan Campbell, that he barely broke a sweat in the Lions' conditioning test -- which some players couldn't even pass.
And then Montgomery had the best camp of "damn near anybody that I've been around," running backs coach Scottie Montgomery said last week. "He came back as polished as I've seen a guy."
Meanwhile, the Lions' offense looked rusty Sunday night. The Rams' young defensive line gave them problems up front, especially in closing down rushing lanes. Montgomery went about making some of his own. It wasn't always pretty, and it didn't need to be. The way Montgomery totes that thing , as his teammates would say, sets the tempo for an offense built on the run. His downhill demeanor sets the tone.
"Just badass," said Frank Ragnow. "Just a badass dude who frickin’ runs with a purpose. It seems like every run, he’s making someone pay if they want to try and tackle him. It’s an honor to block for him. Just violent."
"There’s just so much want-to," said Kevin Zeitler after his Lions debut. "He’s so focused. So neutral, in the right way: just goes, and goes, and goes. You keep watching as an O-lineman and you just want to block better for him, you want to keep finishing and keep pushing, because he wants to keep going."
"David is like a man possessed at some points in the game," said Graham Glasgow. "Even when he was running earlier in the game, he doesn’t care, he’ll put his head down, he’ll try to run through somebody. And it’s awesome to see. It’s easy to want to block for someone who’s going to try to get the extra yards as much as he can. He’s a tank."
"That demeanor shows up every single play he’s in the game," said Taylor Decker. "We just weren’t making the blocks we needed to to get him going. That guy is incredible. He doesn’t get enough credit for how good of a player he is. He really is a tone-setter and a bruiser for us, and then at the same time, he can make one cut and go for 70 yards."
Montgomery calls "them boys" up front the "best O-line in the league." He all but rolled his eyes last week when asked what makes the unit so good, like he'd been asked what makes water so wet: "I think that question is already answered, for real. You see who’s in front of me." As Campbell put it, "The line feeds off of him, and he feeds off of them, and we get what we get. That guy’s a stud."
Even the defensive players can feel it, at times literally. Alex Anzalone said he was happy when training camp ended because "I'm tired of tackling him -- attempting to tackle him." Montgomery either makes you miss, or makes you feel it. Terrion Arnold calls him "a man child," 225 pounds of muscle.
"That video that went viral of him dead-lifting all that weight, you just know, man, that’s a freight train coming through," Arnold said. "When he pounded the ball down the field (in overtime), I wasn’t surprised, because I know our team is full of grit. And when it comes down to those big moments and those big plays, I’ve seen him do that."
In the locker room after the Lions' 26-20 win, Campbell flipped Montgomery a game ball: "You can start the game with this guy and you can finish it with him, and anything in between," said the coach . Montgomery told his teammates to settle down when they yelled for a speech, then obliged and said that while "it was ugly for a lil' minute ... sh*t, we finished it together as a team."
Asked later about the work he put in ahead of this season, the 27-year-old said he wants to be sure "that I take advantage of everything that's in front of me."
"I know what I’m capable of, ultimately, and I know exactly what this team and this offense is capable of," Montgomery said. "If I don’t go out there with my best foot forward, I feel like I’m letting them down, I’m letting myself down."
Montgomery talked last week about being overlooked among the top running backs in the NFL. He was ranked No. 23 at his position on one list entering this season, despite finishing in the top 10 last season in yards, yards per carry and touchdowns. He said that it doesn't really bother him anymore, but "I’ve been in the league going on six years, I feel like I’ve never got the credit I deserve."
"I think I get labeled a lot for what people say that I can’t do, but I feel like I’ve proven people wrong every single time," Montgomery said.
That might be true outside the walls of Allen Park, but not within them. The Lions know full well Montgomery's worth. On Sunday night, it was on national TV for everyone to see. Jahmyr Gibbs is the more dynamic back of the two, and he ran for a hard touchdown himself. But Montgomery is "as valuable to our team as anybody," said Goff.
"He’s a catalyst for us," said Campbell.
"When I step in this building," said Montgomery, "I feel loved."
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