The first game of David Montgomery’s post-Lions career with the Houston Texans was one for the ages. He didn’t exactly rack up the yardage with 79 total yards on 23 touches (20 carries and three catches), but he scored three touchdowns.
Not many players have debuts like that these days, and Montgomery looked like he was going to be a perfect fit in Houston playing behind CJ Stroud and with an exciting offense.
Since then, Montgomery has come crashing down to earth.
In the next game immediately following that three-touchdown effort against the Bills, Montgomery rushed for just 10 yards on six carries. OK, one bad game happens, but as long as it doesn’t snowball, it’s fine. The next game? Eleven carries for 33 yards. And that led into Week 4, in which he carried the ball 10 times against the Cowboys for just 24 yards.
Somehow, his 24 yards rushing against the Cowboys led the Texans, even though Woody Marks was more efficient with 22 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Montgomery needs to be careful because a couple more games like the past three that he’s had could lead to him losing his starting job to the fourth-round pick from 2025 out of USC.
However, Marks’ 3.1 yards per carry average isn’t all that much better than Montgomery’s 2.7 per touch. Both guys need to be better, but Montgomery definitely didn’t expect to struggle this much out of the gate, especially since he never averaged less than 4.2 yards per carry in three seasons with the Lions.
Montgomery is on pace to finish with a career-low in rushing yards and yards per carry, which could just mean that his offensive line in Houston isn’t what he saw in Detroit.
It could also mean that his age (29) is starting to show.
David Montgomery is sorely missed in Detroit
While Montgomery has clearly taken a massive step back with the Texans, he’s sorely missed in Detroit, especially since Jahmyr Gibbs needs someone to take a little pressure off his shoulders.
Isiah Pacheco was brought in to play the role of Montgomery when the veteran left for Houston, and injuries have kept him off the field and on IR. That means that the backup role is being played by Sione Vaki, who has nine carries for 40 yards in four games. That’s not exactly taking any pressure off Gibbs’ shoulders, as he has to carry the run game for Detroit.
It would be nice to have a guy like Montgomery who rushed for at least 700 yards in each season with Detroit, and surely the ex-Lions running back misses how good he had it over the past three years.
This is a rare care of both sides suffering after moving on.
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