ExtremeRavens Posted October 2 Posted October 2 Four games into his Ravens career, Derrick Henry is leading the NFL in rushing yards, averaging a career-high 6 yards per carry. He also has the young season’s longest run at 87 yards. Much of that damage has come over the past two weeks, with 151 yards against the Dallas Cowboys followed by 199 against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium. Both were victories and both demonstrated that the second year of Todd Monken’s offense is becoming less about spreading things out and more about taking a step back to perhaps take a giant leap forward. After sputtering to an 0-2 start, Baltimore seems to have found its identity in a familiar way. “We didn’t start the way we wanted to, but like I told those guys, this is why I came here, because of the culture,” Henry said. “Our back is against the wall, 0-2, we just kept believing.” For good reason. Henry, 30, tore through Buffalo for 199 yards. Nine of those runs went for at least 5 yards, including three that covered 25 or more with all of them leading to touchdowns. But Henry was hardly alone in his success, as fullback Pat Ricard and a much-criticized and makeshift offensive line paved the way. He did the rest. Here’s a look at how on his three biggest runs of the night: Distance: 87 yards Down: First-and-10, Baltimore 13-yard line When: 11:02, first quarter Result: Touchdown It was the first snap of the night for the Ravens’ offense, and it had a feeling all week what was going to happen. From the pistol formation, Baltimore ran a “crunch” concept, which uses a combo of a guard trap block and a “wham” block to create an opening for the back, and executed it perfectly. With Ricard and tight end Mark Andrews in a snug split to the right of rookie tackle Roger Rosengarten, center Tyler Linderbaum blocked linebacker Dorian Williams, while Rosengarten went inside-out on defensive end Greg Rousseau and right guard Daniel Faalele down-blocked to the inside on tackle DaQuan Jones. But the biggest block came from Ricard, who came across the formation to block defensive tackle Ed Oliver. With Henry pressing the edge as he took the ball, that allowed Andrews to get a few yards downfield to block safety Taylor Rapp and kept cornerback Rasul Douglas in contain to the outside. From there, Henry did the rest. WHAM pic.twitter.com/VxFa8amz6o — Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) September 30, 2024 He hit the hole and left a trail of defenders in his wake. Henry reached 21.29 mph on what was the longest run in franchise history and set the tone for the night. “I made sure I was low to hit him and all the other blocks were great,” Ricard said. “I wasn’t chasing after him, I was hoping that he scored, and he did.” Distance: 25 yards Down: Second-and-7, Baltimore 40-yard line When: 5:43, third quarter Result: First down Again in a pistol formation, this time the Ravens had three receivers, including Nelson Agholor and Zay Flowers tight to the left on the short side of the field with Ricard motioning across to the left before the snap. Except it only looked like the ball might be going Ricard’s way. While the flow of the play went left, the fullback pulled the other direction to block Oliver, causing linebacker Williams to slow his pursuit and safety Damar Hamlin to get lured to the inside at the threat of a Henry cutback. This time Henry took the ball out wide with Faalele and Rosengarten providing criss-crossing blocks, left tackle Ronnie Stanley eating up defensive end A.J. Epenesa and Agholor picking up defensive back Cam Lewis to spring the back for another long run. Four plays and 29 yards later, Jackson raced around the right side of the line for a 9-yard touchdown. Distance: 38 yards Down: Second-and-7, Buffalo 40-yard line When: 13:39, fourth quarter Result: First down With Likely and Andrews lined up left of Stanley, Agholor the lone receiver split right to the short side of the field and Ricard in a classic fullback position in the I-formation, this was another example of the Ravens’ power game. And even with the Bills having seven defenders in the box, they still didn’t have an answer. As Jackson took the snap from under center, he turned to his right and tossed the ball back to the left to Henry. Out in front of the back, Stanley shuffled left to pick up linebacker Nick Morrow, Andrews locked up defensive end Dawuane Smoot and Likely got downfield to block cornerback and Baltimore native Christian Benford. That left Ricard leading the way through the massive hole, and he promptly took out charging linebacker Baylon Spector with Henry planting and turning inside before juking back to the outside of Ricard, who also swallowed up Hamlin. Meanwhile, Linderbaum was already 12 yards downfield burying his defender before safety Cole Bishop came from the far side of the field to force Henry to briefly cut back inside before he was dragged down by Douglas from behind. Four plays later, Henry plunged into the end zone off right tackle and fumbled the ball right before the goal line. Fittingly, Ricard recovered it in the end zone for the final blow. A week earlier, Cowboys outside linebacker Micah Parsons said that if defenses followed Ricard, that’s where the ball is often going. That was the case again Sunday against the Bills. “It shows that I’m like at the point of attack,” Ricard said. “So, I have to make sure that I am moving them. Because if they think the ball is going where I’m going — which is not the case every time but sometimes — I have to make sure that I’m running full speed, hitting the guy, moving him so the back has the lane. “It’s pretty cool that I’m getting noticed like that.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. Week 5 Ravens at Bengals Sunday, 1 p.m. TV: CBS Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM Line: Ravens by 2 1/2 View the full article Quote
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