Derrick Henry had a lot of large shoes to fill as he played for the Baltimore Ravens against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13.
Yes, Baltimore’s rushing offense has been among the best in the NFL this season. Charm City’s top players have produced insane amounts on the ground thanks to Henry and Lamar Jackson’s one-two punch. But if you remember, Saquon Barkley had one of the best rushing performances of all time the previous evening, gaining 255 yards while leading the Eagles to victory over the Rams.
Since Henry would be competing on the same field, would he take it as motivation? Or would he be held back, getting farther and farther away from Barkley’s rushing total with every little gain?
As it happens, Henry had a decent game himself, gaining 140 rushing yards on 24 carries. However, following the game, he chose to consider Barkley’s performance as well, kindly asking the Eagles rusher to—well, you’ll see—while also praising the return of running backs to the NFL level.
First of all, “Slow your a** down,” said Saquon [Barkley]. (laughing) “The Eagles are an incredible team, and he is an incredible player.” Together, they’ve been performing admirably. How many games have they won? I believe they have won nine in a row. Henry informed reporters. Regarding running backs, however, we simply want to go out there and perform our duties—do them well [and] demonstrate that the position is important. Hopefully, we’ve been performing well enough to contribute to the future of this position and the people who will be coming up and getting paid.
It’s a fantastic moment for us to succeed, and hopefully it will spread to the other men who will soon have the chance to earn a living.
Is the running back’s age formally back? With the success of Barkley, Henry, and Jahmyr Gibbs (who was selected 12th overall in 2023), will teams begin selecting them in the first round once more? Or does this matter more on a case-by-case basis? In any case, Week 13 could end up being the greatest running game of the 2024 NFL season, so Henry is anticipating big things.
Henry then turned to Week 13 and talked about the difficulty of facing the Eagles and their top-tier rushing defense, which is eighth in the NFL in terms of yards allowed on the ground after 12 weeks. Henry acknowledged that the Ravens are playing a tough opponent in a short week and said Baltimore needs to focus on the game to equal one of the NFC’s top teams.
Henry told reporters, “We have a short week and a great win against a great team; [we’ve] got to play Sunday.” “So, after enjoying this for a short while, we’ll prepare for [the Eagles].” They’re a fantastic squad, too, and I think we play a tough opponent every week, so we need to be focused, execute well, and recover physically so we’re ready for Sunday.
Henry and company, who have so far this season averaged 6.0 running yards per game for the Ravens, will have to contend with an Eagles defense that has only given up 4.3 yards per carry. Which side will prevail? To discover out, viewers will need to watch on Sunday.
