With the Ravens 0-2 entering the game, Henry scored a touchdown every week, but managed 46 yards in Week 1 and 84 in Week 2. On Sunday, he more than doubled his rushing total.
Henry became Baltimore’s first running back to rush for 25+ yards in a game since Justin Forsett in Week 4 of 2015 (27). Sunday was his 12th career game with 150+ yards rushing and two+ TDs (tied for second all-time with LaDanian Tomlinson, only Jim Brown is better).
Henry is the first 30-year-old or older to record 150 rush yards and two rush TDs in a game since Adrian Peterson of the Vikings in Week 12 of 2015 (he is the 14th to do so at age 30 or older in the Super Bowl era).
It was rumored all offseason that the Cowboys could have used a player like Henry. The running back even talked about his desire to play in Dallas, but noted in April that the Cowboys never contacted him.
After Henry overran Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he had no regrets about how the offseason went.
“Hats off to him. He had a great day today. I have all the respect in the world for him,” Jones said, according to ESPN. “And that’s what happens when you don’t sign good players: They can come back and have a great game against you. But the bottom line is, we can’t afford Derrick Henry.”
Henry signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the Ravens, including $9 million in guaranteed salary.
Jones added: “Why can’t you buy a mansion if you live in a different type of house? We couldn’t afford it. We can’t juggle it all. It’s as simple as that.”
After three weeks, Henry has 281 rush yards and four rush TDs (5.0 yards/carry), the third-most rush yards and most rush TDs in a Week 3 of his career. The four-time Pro Bowler has not averaged more than 4.4 yards in any season since 2020.
After two weeks of struggle, the Ravens’ running game finally got going, with better blocking and more cohesion between Lamar Jackson and Henry on read plays. The Ravens ran 45 times for 274 yards and scored three touchdowns.
The question in Baltimore is whether they simply took advantage of the Cowboys’ porous run defense and a positive game scenario, or whether this is the type of offense we should expect to see throughout the 2024 season.
