Derrick Henry didn’t just show up in Baltimore’s Week 1 rout of the Colts. He announced himself in the kind of way that makes a defense feel every carry.
Henry ran 24 times for 144 yards in the Ravens’ 41-23 win at Lucas Oil Stadium, and he did the heavy lifting in the old-school look rookie coordinator Declan Doyle brought with him. Baltimore leaned into under-center runs, the kind of setup Henry lived in for years in Tennessee, and the results were loud: 21 of his carries went for 137 yards from under center, and he averaged 6.5 per attempt in those looks.
That production mattered just as much as Lamar Jackson’s big day. Jackson threw for 320 yards and ran for another 40 as Baltimore piled up 500 total yards, but Henry was the hammer that kept the Colts from settling in. The Ravens ran the ball 37 times for 202 yards as a team, controlled the game late, and finished with 12 rushing first downs, seven of them from Henry.
The scoring came in waves. Henry scored twice in the first half, including a 32-yard burst that put the game firmly out of reach shortly after Zay Flowers hit from 50 yards and a Colts turnover flipped the field again.
He added another touchdown late as Indianapolis wore down. In all, he crossed the 125-career rushing touchdown mark and moved past Marcus Allen for third all-time in rushing touchdowns with three scores on Sunday.
“That’s who Derrick is,” head coach Jesse Minter said of the first ballot Hall of Famer. “And the work that guy puts in and how much he puts into it and how well he takes care of himself … It’s unbelievable to watch and see. Don’t want to take it for granted, those kind of performances, because it’s really special.”
For Henry, the record-book climb was part of the day, but not the whole point. He said, “It is cool,” Henry said of his move up the record books. “I love Marcus Allen and get to know him through the Heisman commercials … He’s a great dude - I’m honored and very grateful.”
What stood out even more was how natural the fit looked. Baltimore’s offense had its share of issues before the snap, after the snap and in pass protection, with penalties wiping out some chunk plays.
But when the Ravens could line up, get downhill and let Henry build momentum, the Colts had a hard time slowing the train. Even with Indianapolis stacking the box on half his runs, Henry had only one carry that didn’t gain positive yardage.
Age 32 is where most running backs start to fade, but Henry keeps forcing that conversation to go somewhere else. He has never topped 300 carries in three straight seasons, yet this debut suggested Baltimore may be willing to feed him more than most teams would dare. Doyle has already signaled he’s not scared of a heavy workload for his new centerpiece, and Henry himself has rarely looked more suited to the assignment.
He only topped 24 carries twice all of last season, which makes Sunday feel like more than a strong opener. It felt like a statement.
“It was definitely a great start,” Henry said. “We knew what we were capable of, and the guys just had to go out there and do it. It wasn’t perfect … but it was a great game to build off of.”
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Baltimore leaned into a mix of nickel and dime looks to make sure Hendrickson could attack in different ways, and that flexibility may end up being just as important as the individual numbers. The production was there even without the sack column filling up, and it raised the kind of question defensive coaches love to have: what does this pass rush look like once the pieces around him are fully in place? [Read more 🡒]