Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs had a touchdown reception and 20 receiving yards in a 20-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Yet the former Alabama standout did not catch a pass in the game to record a feat that hadn’t occurred in the NFL in 40 years.
How could that happen?
Detroit wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown caught a pass from quarterback Jared Goff for a 1-yard gain, then flipped the football back to Gibbs, who ran the final 20 yards to the end zone on a hook-and-lateral play with 29 seconds left in the first half as the
Lions took a 20-7 lead.
Under NFL scoring rules, the touchdown went into the books as a 21-yard “pass play,” with St. Brown credited with a 1-yard reception and Gibbs picking up 20 receiving yards and a touchdown reception without recording an actual reception.
“That was super fun,” St. Brown said after the game. “We ran that in camp actually. It was one of those training-camp days. We had a scrimmage. We ran it then. I feel like every time we ran it, it’s always worked. It’s been a perfect play, and it was up this week and we might have repped it like once or twice in practice. And so we got out there, and Jared said, ‘I like this call’ before he even told us. And he called it, and I’m like, ‘Oh, damn.’ So the guy was in press in front of me. Usually, we like when the guy’s off, so I can just run a quick in-route and toss to Jahmyr. But he was press, so I was, ‘OK, I got to win off the line.’ I won, caught it and tossed it to Jahmyr, and the rest is history.”
The most recent instance in which an NFL player got credited with a touchdown reception without having a reception in the game came on Nov. 18, 1984.
In Minnesota Vikings’ 42-21 loss to the Denver Broncos, quarterback Wade Wilson completed a pass to tight end Joe Senser, who lateraled the ball to running back Allen Rice to complete the 9-yard touchdown play in the fourth quarter.
Before that, the last time an NFL player had a touchdown reception without a reception came on Oct. 30, 1960, when Los Angeles Rams quarterback Frank Ryan threw a touchdown pass to himself.
In the second quarter of the Rams’ 48-35 victory over the Detroit Lions, Ryan completed a short pass to running back Joe Arnett. Swarmed by the defense, Arnett flipped the football back to Ryan, who ran through the Detroit defense for the final 32 yards of a 37-yard touchdown play.
Gibbs also ran for 83 yards on 16 carries on Sunday as Detroit improved to 2-1. The Lions play the undefeated Seattle Seahawks at 7:15 p.m. Sept. 30 at Ford Field in Detroit in one of the NFL’s Week 4 Monday night games.
