Let this marinate in your Ravens cerebrum a few seconds: Derrick Henry is on pace for 2,040 rushing yards this season. Lamar Jackson, 1,309.
Here’s another fact: Henry turns 31 the day before Baltimore’s regular-season finale at Cleveland in Week 18. Since 2010, only three players have reached 1,000 rushing yards after their 30th birthdays: Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore and Raheem Mostert.
“I’m sure it’s different for every single person, but there’s a lot of things about Derrick that make him unique,” head coach John Harbaugh said Monday, the day after Baltimore’s 35-10 win over Buffalo. “Talent is one of them for sure, and work ethic is another one for sure. He’s just a very tough human being. Really, the proof is in the results, and you kind of go by what you see.”
Buffalo saw those results on the first play from scrimmage Sunday night. The 247-pound Henry found a seam over right tackle and raced for an 87-yard touchdown, longest in Ravens franchise history. Per Next Gen Stats, he reached 21.29 mph on his way to 199 rushing yards against Buffalo. Henry enters Week 5 leading the NFL with 480 yards.
After reaching 2,027 yards in 2020 with Tennessee, Henry is on pace to become the first player in NFL history with multiple 2,000-yard rushing seasons.
“When we were evaluating the possibility of bringing him in here,” Harbaugh said Monday, “I just think we looked at how he’s been playing. And to see that continue on obviously is great, but we did expect him to play this way, and we’re excited about it.”
Excited because Harbaugh’s teams are 36-5 (.878) when they reach 200 rushing yards, and 16-1 when they reach 250. The Ravens had 271 on Sunday night. A week earlier in a win at Dallas, they had 274.
What’s more, Baltimore’s ground game has been so dominant this season that the Ravens are the first team in NFL annals to have at least 100 more rushing yards than an opponent in each of the first four games of a season. And, no surprise, Henry and Jackson have 788 combined rushing yards, the most ever by a running back/quarterback tandem through a team’s first four games.
The Maryland sky seemed to be collapsing on team headquarters just two weeks ago, after a toenail and last-second field goal left Baltimore at 0-2. So, as the Ravens (2-2) get ready for a division clash at Cincinnati (1-3) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS), is it pointless to think Baltimore could easily be 4-0? Harbaugh answered quickly.
“Yes, it’s pointless.”