Is David Montgomery playing tonight? Latest injury update on Lions running back
After enjoying a bye, the Detroit Lions will return to action in the divisional round of the playoffs on Saturday when they host the Washington Commanders at Ford Field. The Lions will also be welcoming back running back David Montgomery.
Montgomery suffered a knee injury in Week 15 that was reportedly expected to keep him out for the rest of the season. However, after getting more opinions from doctors, Montgomery decided to rehab the injury instead of opting for surgery.
But Montgomery recently revealed that nothing had been decided in terms of surgery and the initial reports saying he was going under the knife were news to him.
“I think the speculation that I was getting surgery or that was kind of the end-all, be-all. Nobody really ever knew,” he said, per ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. “So when it got put out, I didn’t know that I was getting surgery. So the media told me, so it was news to me, but I’m always pretty confident in who I am and how I prepare.”
After a week of practice, Montgomery’s status for the divisional round game versus the Commanders is now clear. Here’s the latest on the veteran running back.
Is David Montgomery playing tonight?According to the Lions’ official injury report, Montgomery was a full participant in practice all week and carries no designation into the playoff game against the Commanders, so he’s officially good to go.
During the week, both Montgomery and head coach Dan Campbell touched on his return to action. Campbell believes that Montgomery will contribute immediately.
“It’s refreshing,” Montgomery said. “Kind of to be back in the position to where I can help the team, yeah, I missed it, so happy to be back.”
“It’ll mean a lot,” Campbell admitted. “Five’s a big part of us. He’s a huge part of us, and to me, he’s a bell cow. He’s somebody that is a tone-setter. He’s a catalyst, so there’s a place for him. There’s a place for him here, so there’ll be a place for him in this game. So it’s going to be good to get him back.”
In Montgomery’s absence, fellow running back Jahmyr Gibbs took on a workhorse role and was fantastic. That has led some to wonder if the Lions shouldn’t deploy their usual workload split between the two backs, but that’s not something we anticipate Detroit doing.
Whatever the Lions do, Sonic is just happy to have Knuckles back.
“I missed him a lot” Gibbs said of Montgomery, per Brad Galli of WXYZ Detroit. “I just love watching what he does. It’s gonna be fun to get back to what we were doing.”
The Lions and Commanders will meet at Ford Field on Saturday night, with kickoff set for 8 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on FOX.
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