Ravens RB Derrick Henry Will Test Giants' Make-shift Run Defense

The Giants better ensure their tackling is crisp as they prepare to host Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens this weekend.

Stephen Lebitsch | Dec 10, 2024

Dec 1, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry (22) rushes through Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Eli Ricks (23) tackle attempt during the first half at M&T Bank Stadium. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

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New York Giants

For the second straight season, the New York Giants have struggled immensely at providing a significant enough response to minimize the run efforts of their opponents.

Even with personnel changes to account for their weakness in 2023, the Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll regime haven't found the answers they were looking for when they brought in the run-minded defensive coordinator Shane Bowen from Tennessee.

In Bowen’s three seasons with the Titans, he built a quick legacy on defensive units that prided themselves on swallowing up the run and were efficient on late downs near the red zone. His Titans teams were always hanging around or within the top 10 in the major opponent rushing categories, forcing teams to pave their way through the air.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t transferred with Bowen to the Giants. After finishing with one of the bottom-four spots in the NFL in rushing yards, touchdowns, and average yards per carry that topped off at about 4.7 per attempt, Bowen’s run defense this year has only been prolonged with similar rankings in the first and third categories and a more recent troubling trend in an adjacent stat that could grow scarier on Sunday: a missed tackle epidemic.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants have 125 total missed tackles, 64 of which are against the run, and a missed tackle rate of about 13.6 percent for their overall attempts, which is good for 13th in the NFL.

Seven of the Giants’ well-used defenders have missed nine or more tackles on the year, and almost double the players have been shredded on over 10.7 percent of their opportunities.

In total, it’s led to the Giants giving up a whopping 905 yards after contact, which stands at the second-highest amount behind the Cleveland Browns with only a month left to go in the regular season.

That feat doesn’t factor in the impending reality that awaits them in the Baltimore Ravens, with their all-worldly ball carrier Derrick Henry adding to the grand tally.

Henry, who signed with the Ravens in free agency after eight seasons spent with Tennessee, has been competing with Saquon Barkley for the best rushing performance of the season and one that is in contention for the all-time single-season rushing record held by Rams legend Eric Dickerson (2,105 yards).

In addition to chasing his own career-best campaign from the 2020 season, the 30-year-old running back has risen to his current production of 1,407 yards and 13 scores by being one of the game’s best players at rubbing off defenders.

Per NextGen Stats, Henry has forced 78 total missed tackles this season, is good for the third-most in the league, and has taken them for an additional 587 yards, which completely outpaces the rest of the competitors by 80 yards.

Henry now owns five of the top-12 seasons in yards gained off missed tackles since 2018, and that number only goes as high as two seasons in the same span for any other player chasing his caliber of talent.

To put this season alone into perspective, he has racked up six 100+ yard games in some of the Ravens’ dominant games of the year, and all but one saw him add over 50 yards from post-contact continuation.

With Baltimore fresh off the bye week and Henry’s legs nice and fresh for the final stretch, he’s going to be inspired to get them going against a weak Giants unit that has let backs run rampant on them in recent weeks, including allowing over 100 yards rushing in nine of their last ten games, and 150+ in five of them.

Last week, the Giatns' run defense held Saints running back Alvin Kamara and the Saints' rushing attack to 92 yards with a season-high 11 stops. That’s quite the feat, considering their defensive front consisted of guys who had seldom played or were with the practice squad earlier in the season.

Can the Giants' run defense do the same against Henry, quarterback Lamar Jackson, and the rest of the Ravens' offense, which boasts the league’s second-best rushing offense (179.1 yards per game)?

It’s a tall order, but if they can limit the damage done by the Ravens on the ground, that would certainly go a long way toward giving them a chance to keep the game close.

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Published Dec 10, 2024

STEPHEN LEBITSCH

“Stephen Lebitsch is a graduate of Fordham University, Class of 2021, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications (with a minor in Sports Journalism) and spent three years as a staff writer for The Fordham Ram. With his education and immense passion for the space, he is looking to transfer his knowledge and talents into a career in the sports media industry. Along with his work for the FanNation network and Giants Country, Stephen’s stops include Minute Media and Talking Points Sports.

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