Ravens Clearly Learned Derrick Henry Lesson From Loss To Patriots
They kept feeding their star this time
The Baltimore Ravens didn’t make the same mistake twice with Derrick Henry.
Baltimore’s star running back curiously vanished in the fourth quarter of a Week 16 loss to the New England Patriots. The five-time Pro Bowler compiled 128 yards and two touchdowns before going the final 12:50 minutes without a carry as New England overcame an 11-point deficit to clinch a playoff berth.
John Harbaugh took a much different approach on Saturday night, feeding Henry a full workload throughout a 41-24 win at Lambeau Field.
With Lamar Jackson sidelined, Henry tallied 216 rushing yards and four touchdowns on a career-high 36 carries. He fueled two lengthy fourth-quarter scoring drives with 109 yards and a touchdown on 11 handoffs.
Harbaugh acknowledged after the victory, per Ravens.com’s Ryan Mink, that he wanted to utilize a heavy ground game on Saturday.
“We were intentional about committing to the run, for sure. I’m not going to downgrade that,” Harbaugh said. “It was like a main deal, but it was [a main deal] the week before, and it was a week before that, and it was a week before that, too. So we probably did a better job of it. I do think that. Maybe we were more intentional. Maybe we didn’t get away from it, but we also had more opportunities.”
Perhaps Week 16 would have gone differently for the Patriots if the Ravens had kept utilizing Henry, who now has 1,469 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns this season. It worked out for New England and numerous fantasy football managers about to win a championship behind the bulldozer back.
The Ravens need the Pittsburgh Steelers to lose to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday to set up an AFC North title clash with Pittsburgh in Week 18.
