Derrick Henry, Ravens Humiliate Packers Despite Malik Willis’ Heroics

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Malik Willis was Supermam.

His right shoulder eventually was his kryptonite.

Led by Derrick Henry, the Baltimore Ravens ran over, around and through the inept Green Bay Packers’ defense from start to finish. Henry ran for four touchdowns and the Ravens rushed for 307 yards to humiliate the slumping Packers 41-24.

With that, Baltimore (8-8) stayed alive in the AFC North. The Packers lost their third consecutive game, fell to 9-6-1 and are stuck as a No. 7 seed for a third consecutive year.

“That was a humbling night,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Give Baltimore a ton of credit. They came in here and were in complete control the whole game and, unfortunately, it wasn’t up to our standard in regards to how we played, how we coached, and that’s what happens.”

Willis, getting the start with Jordan Love in the concussion protocol, put up a superhuman effort to keep the Packers in the game.

With Green Bay trailing 34-24 midway through the fourth quarter, Willis completed a pass to the sideline to Christian Watson for a first down at the Ravens’ 35. On the throw, Willis aggravated the shoulder injury sustained a week earlier in the loss at Chicago. Willis left the game and, two plays later, No. 3 quarterback Clayton Tune’s pass went through the hands of Bo Melton and was intercepted by Marlon Humphrey.

“I just felt a little tweak,” he said. “I think all the treatment had me feeling good and I think a little soreness just built up to that point in the game. I slid and kind of hit it a little bit and, on that throw, I kind of threw it all arm and I kind of felt it a little bit. Just wanted to check it out and make sure that everything was all right.”

At the time, Willis had 348 total passing and rushing yards. That accounted for every inch of Green Bay’s total. He could have gone back in if the defense would have gotten a stop.

“He made plays, he threw the ball accurately,” LaFleur said. “It was kind of a crazy week in regards to him not getting really any reps, missed a day being sick, came back. He was dialed in, man, and I thought he played outstanding.”

After the turnovers, the Ravens faced a third-and-5 and Willis jogged out of the locker room and back to the sideline. Fittingly, Henry blew through a huge hole to the right for a 12-yard gain. The Packers had another chance to get off the field but, on fourth-and-1, Karl Brooks jumped offside with 3:44 remaining.

The Packers had one last chance. On third-and-5, Tyler Huntley booted to his left, avoided a couple defenders and picked up the first down just before the 2-minute warning.

The Ravens delivered the knockout on the next play with Henry running untouched for a 25-yard touchdown. It gave him 216 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries. The Ravens ran for an astounding 307 yards – about triple Green Bay’s season average.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) runs for a touchdown during the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens. | Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images

Willis was nothing short of incredible. He was 18-of-21 passing for 288 yards and one touchdown, good for a passer rating of 134.6. He also was the team’s leading rusher with nine carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns.

“I walk out grateful yet disappointed,” Willis said. “Obviously, you want to go out and win every game, but it don’t work out like that sometimes.”

Watson caught five passes for 113 yards and one touchdown. Four players had a catch of at least 30 yards.

The problem was Willis didn’t play defense. Nobody on the Packers bothered to play defense. It was the 11th-most rushing yards allowed in Packers history. The Packers gave up 363 rushing yards at the Eagles in 2022. That’s the only other 300-yard rushing game against the Packers over the past 45 yards.

The Packers trailed 27-14 at halftime and drove to a chip-shot field goal to start the third quarter. Finally, Green Bay got its first stop of the game, keyed by Kingsley Enagbare’s 5-yard tackle for loss of Henry.

Willis could not be stopped. First, he drew the Ravens offside on third-and-5. Then, he hit Christian Watson for 22. On third-and-2, Willis went deep and showed deft touch on a 34-yard pass to Bo Melton to the 11. Willis scored a zone-read keeper on the next play to make it 27-24.

At that point, the Packers had 311 yards of total offense. With 272 passing yards and 45 rushing yards, Willis had 317.

With momentum on their side and the crowd back in the game, the Ravens turned back to Henry. First, he plowed ahead for 9 on third-and-5. On the next play, which was the final play of the third quarter, he broke two tackles on a toss to the right for a gain of 30.

Huntley scrambled to pick up a third-and-4, then threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers on third-and-9 to give the Ravens a 34-24 lead with 10:10 remaining.

The first half was utter domination. The Ravens were like a tractor-trailer going 75 mph down the interstate through a swam of gnats to take their 27-14 lead.

The Ravens got the ball five times and scored on them all. That included touchdown runs of 3, 1 and 3 yards by Henry.

Mark Twain famously said there are lies, damned lies and statistics. These statistics told no lies. At halftime, this was the tale of the tape.

Total yards: Ravens led, 258 to 155.

Plays: Ravens led, 45 to 14.

Rushing: Ravens led, 175 to 22.

Time off possession: Ravens led, 23:46 to 6:14.

Willis did all he could to keep pace. He was 8-of-8 passing for 133 yards. Along with his 22-yard touchdown run, he has accounted for all 155 yards.

Henry had 21 carries for 106 yards in the first half. The Packers entered the game allowing a ninth-ranked 103.8 rushing yards per game.

Baltimore took the opening kickoff and drove 75 plays in 13 yards to set up Henry’s first touchdown. The Packers wasted no time in answering, with Willis going deep to Romeo Doubs for 40 and Christian Watson for 39 yards and a touchdown.

So, the Ravens drove 74 yards in 13 plays to set up Henry’s second touchdown. The Packers went four-and-out, with Willis getting stuffed on a third-and-1 sneak and Josh Jacobs getting stuffed on a fourth-and-1 run. Neither play had a prayer of working as Baltimore’s lines were bullying the Packers on both sides of the ball.

The Packers limited the damaged to a chip-shot field goal but were back on the field moments later. With Willis canning the play, Sean Rhyan’s shotgun snap drilled him right in the facemask. The Ravens pounced on the loose ball but once again managed only a short field goal to make it 20-7.

Willis got the Packers back into the game with a 22-yard touchdown run on a zone read in which he suckered the defense and then turned on the jets.

The problem was the Ravens got the ball back with 1:24 remaining. Henry capped that 65-yard drive with his third touchdown.

The Packers properly were booed off the field.

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