NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Derrick Henry leads the NFL in rushing yards this season. Photograph: Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
The NFL is a passing league – or so we are told. It’s been that way for close to 20 years. Every new rule, contract, coaching hire and draft slot reinforces that the sport is now engineered to attack or defend the air. But Derrick Henry, it seems, did not get the memo.
In a league that chews up running backs with a ruthlessness that borders on disdain, Henry continues to plough ahead. In his ninth season, the 30-year-old future Hall of Famer tops the league in rushing – again. And it’s not even particularly close. Six weeks in, Henry leads the rushing race by nearly 100 yards over San Francisco’s Jordan Mason, doing so by thumping away between the tackles.
It’s not just Henry. Offenses across the league have looked to the ground game to ease the pressure on their passing attacks early in the new season, hoping to exploit voids in defensive schemes that are tailored to stem explosive passing games. Teams are rushing at the highest rate through six weeks since 2008, with sides averaging a record 4.5 yards per carry and more rushing per game at this point in a season in 40 years.
Related: Has Caleb Williams finally broken the Bears’ 75-year quarterback curse? | Doug Farrar
But Henry still lives in a world of his own. Baltimore signing the aging back was one of the more intriguing moves of the offseason. Even amid the tantalizing prospect of a Henry-Lamar Jackson backfield, it was fair to wonder about the downside scenarios. How much tread was left on the tires? What if the Ravens were forced to feed him touches, taking the ball out of Jackson’s hands? What if the offense became siloed, bouncing between a structure that suited Henry and one that better served the team’s supernova quarterback?
Henry’s answer to those questions, to paraphrase Marshawn Lynch: run through everyone’s face.
Through the opening six weeks of the season, Henry leads all players in…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ageless-bruising-derrick-henry-making-080008542.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2024-10-17 08:00:08
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
