Ravens RB Derrick Henry Downplayed The Revenge Factor Facing The Titans, To A Point

Derrick Henry wants you to believe that it’s “all love” between him and the Titans franchise that abandoned the cornerstone player when he hit age 30.

And at times, speaking on Wednesday before practice about facing Tennessee for first time, Henry could be pretty convincing that Sunday won’t stir his emotions as much as one would expect. To a point. Kinda.

But there were also plenty of subtle signals that he wants to put up a big game against an ownership group that chose to spend money elsewhere and make no attempt to retain a future first-ballot Hall of Fame back who carried an excessive load and propped up some bad offenses with shaky quarterback play. And who also failed to trade him to a contender at the 2023 trade deadline (Baltimore was a suitor) and squatted on him during a lost season instead. Clearly, Henry looks back fondly on his tenure with the Titans overall, and the coaching staff and front office have turned over since his departure.

Still, there’s no way that this is just any old game for him when the Titans visit M&T Bank Stadium. Beyond just this revenge angle, the Ravens offensive line is in shambles, they are auditioning a rookie guard at center, the short-yardage offense – which he takes particularly personally – has been a total mess, and a bad Dallas run defense just held him to 89 yards on 26 carries. Oh, and Baltimore has lost four straight games at home, which must end in Week 4, and the Titans, for their considerable warts, boast one of the most impactful defensive tackles in the NFL in Jeffery Simmons and are allowing just 3.6 yards/carry and have the seventh-best run defense Expected Points Added while facing the second-most rushes in the NFL (to Dallas).

“It’s still like family there,” Henry remarked of Tennessee. “It’s always love. But it ain’t gonna be much love on Sunday.”

No it is not.

Henry highlighted one of the Titans’ top security people when asked who he remains close to there; they’re been texting about this looming homecoming for weeks. But that was about it. Henry didn’t sound overly emotional when explaining how the Titans made zero attempts to re-sign him at the end – it was matter of fact and deliberate – but that’s motivation enough for any player, let alone one who accomplished so much for a Titans franchise that was the dregs before he arrived.

And while it was believable when Henry sounded a little detached, with years passing since he left Nashville, “it feels like a long time,” he said, the timing is noteworthy. Henry, 32 (at the age when most NFL RB carers end) was already going to have a chip on his shoulder after how things went for him against Cowboys in Brazil – even despite two more touchdowns as he soars up the all-time rankings - and he is going out of his way to shoulder blame but a collapsing offensive line is a big issue for the Ravens right now.

Short-Yardage Shortfall

Henry has run the ball three times this season on third or fourth down, needing one yards for a first down. He is 0-for-3, continuing an ugly trade from last season, for -7 net yards. That’s because an offensive line that was terrible a year ago, is even worse now NYPER, after being neglected for yet another year by a general manager who takes Lamar Jackson for granted but also can’t get him signed to a contract extension like a normal franchise.

The plan to sign projects for no money and, eventually, an established center late after those experiments weren’t going to work, but that veteran, Ethan Pocic, was coming off Achilles surgery and not ready to play. And now the established guy and the two projects are all out long-term, for 14th overall pick Vega Ioane is likely making his fourth career start at a brand new position and snapping to Lamar. Reserve Jovaughn Gwyn, who was nowhere close to being a starting center - especially not an alleged Lombardi contender - is now on IR with injury as the Ravens scramble to sign practice-squad bodies as former All-pro guard Kevin Zeitler signs with the Packers.

Oh, and 30-year-old offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, in the face of a line that was getting obliterated inside, opted to call for inside runs in short-yardage spots only for Henry to be jumped in the backfield. Kudos to Henry for offering the following, but he’s truly a symptom of a much larger personnel failure here.

“Got to have them,” Henry said of short-yardage situations. “I’ve got to be better. I can’t stop thinking about them … I’m my own worst critic. I have to be better. I’m not looking at anybody else … It doesn’t matter if somebody’s not blocked, or if we didn’t get the look that we wanted.”

Well, actually, it really does.

And getting mauled by a Dallas front that has been as consistently exposed as any in the NFL the last four years was a brutal signal to the stats of Baltimore’s offense at the line of scrimmage after letting elite center Tyler Linderbaum walk to the now-undefeated Raiders. Henry averaged an abysmal 0.38 yards before contact against Dallas, Doyle better stay creative with his run approach, despite rarely seeing heavy boxes; that’s not him, that’s the supporting cast.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson, when asked about the obvious issues unable to get a yard when needed despite him and Henry in the same backfield, went to lengths to obscure the obvious and team-first to a fault. But the film don’t like. He talking about “cleaning up” without mentioning the bludgeoning going on at the point of attack.

“Just clean up the mishaps and things going on with the plays,” Jackson said of the short-yardage stuff and then, “we have to do a better job of cleaning it up,” and, finally “we’ve got to clean those things up.”

(Hey, DeCosta, you think your latest OL mess will help you convince him to take your boss’s money? Ever wonder why Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes never publicly demanded a trade or got used as collusion pawns on a non-exclusive franchise tag?)

The Titans will not be pushovers in this regard, though there are no excuses not to whip the winless team regardless. Henry, ever focused, will surely try to do his part. Sure, once he blurted out “they shipped me out,” he followed it with more prose about it being all in love, but this will be a very different game for him than any he’s played before.

“It was bittersweet,” he said. “I knew the writing was on the wall throughout that (2023) season, and they were ready to move on … And I knew where I wanted to be, and it was here.”

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