Jahmyr Gibbs earned a ton of praise for his breakout performance in the Detroit Lions win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 8. The rookie ran for 152 yards and a touchdown in Detroit’s 26-14 victory on Monday Night Football.
Gibbs wasn’t the only Lions running back who had a great game against the Raiders. Craig Reynolds also thrived in his own right, in his own way. No running back did more against stacked defensive boxes in Week 8 than Reynolds. According to the data tracking from Next Gen Stats, Reynolds ran for a lot more yards than was expected while facing seven or more defenders in the box.
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From Zebra Technologies Week 8 recap,
Craig Reynolds was the only RB that faced a stacked box on 25.0% or more of his carries (35.71%) and generated +5 or more RYOE (+20). For reference, there were 13 other qualified RBs that hit that stacked box threshold this week.
Given the game context, it’s even more impressive for Reynolds. The Lions played without their entire starting interior offensive line and finished the game with backup-to-the-backups’-backup playing left guard.