Derrick Henry leads the NFL in rushing with 873 yards entering Week 8, on pace to set the single-season rushing record.
He also leads the league in carries with 134, but Head Coach John Harbaugh is pleased with Henry's workload.
Before the season, Harbaugh said, "We didn't bring Derrick in here to be the guy that gets the ball 30 times a game." The Ravens have held true to that, with Henry averaging 19.1carries per game, with a season-high 25 attempts against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3.
"It's not 30 (carries)," Harbaugh said smiling. "Thirty is kind of a high number. I protected myself on that.
"I'm happy with it because it does mean that we've had a lot of carries in the fourth quarter, which means that we have the lead, and that's what you want. I also feel like over the course of the season, it's going to be OK if it's not 19 or 25. When it's 10 or 12, that's OK, too. That's one thing about Derrick; you'll never hear him concern himself with that. He wants it – there is no doubt about it – but he wants it because it helps us win, and that's all he ever talks about."
Henry is on pace to finish with 325 carries, which would only be the third highest of his career. With the Tennessee Titans, he had 378 carries in 2020 and 349 in '22. He's a threat break a long run on any play, using his unique combination of power and speed.
Averaging a career-best 6.5 yards per attempt, Henry feels he's in a great situation playing in an offense ranked No. 1 in the league (461.4 yards per game) with so many weapons.
"It opens up for everybody, and the guys that are blocking, they just make my job easier," Henry said. "All I've got to do is just get the ball, get north and south and make the best out of the play. They've been making it easy, so I give the credit to all of them for the stats and everything else.
"But as far as touches, I don't try to worry about that. If I get an opportunity, I try to make the best of it."
The Ravens could take some more off Henry's plate once Keaton Mitchell, who returned to the practice field Wednesday, is ready for game action.
Lamar Jackson Keeps Cool Against Blitz
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers blitzed Lamar Jackson consistently on Monday night, and he burned them for it. Now will he do the same against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday?
According to Next Gen Stats (NGS), Jackson was blitzed on 61.5% of his dropbacks against Tampa Bay, the second-highest rate of his career. However, Jackson was 11-of-15 for 166 yards and three touchdowns on those dropbacks. Jackson's success rate against the blitz (63.2%) this season ranks second behind the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes (65.1%).
Jackson and Baltimore's coaching staff spent ample time during the offseason studying different blitz packages used against him and found successful ways to counter.
"That's pretty much what I study, the blitzes," Jackson said. "The best thing for me is just go in the film room, get with [Quarterbacks] Coach Tee [Martin], get with Josh [Johnson], get with 'Dev' (Devin Leary), and [Director of Football Strategy/Assistant Quarterbacks Coach] Danny (Daniel Stern) – we're just in the room trying to get better. Blitzes are one of the main things we go over the most and knowing the protections and pickups and stuff like that."
"When I was younger, I would see the blitz happening, and I would pretty much just try to beat the blitz without flipping the protection … sometimes I had to pay for it. My biggest thing over the last few years is just getting my line to where it should be going, and if a guy is going to be free, I'm going to know how to navigate the ball and get it away from him just to get us in a positive situation."
The Cleveland Browns are blitzing on 39.6% of their defensive snaps, third highest in the NFL and a significant increase from 2023 when they blitzed 29.6%, according to NGS. It will not surprise the Ravens if the Browns bring heavy blitz pressure in Week 8, despite Jackson's success against it.
"Cleveland is a big blitz team – they're one of the best blitzing teams in football," Harbaugh said. "[Defensive Coordinator] Jim Schwartz does a great job, and we're going to have to be on point."
Personnel Changes Could Be Coming on Hands Team
The Buccaneers became the second team to recover an onside kick against the Ravens this season. No other NFL team has allowed an opponent to recover an onside kick.
Zay Flowers mishandled the first one in Dallas, then he slightly hesitated on the second in Tampa Bay and the Bucs player went unblocked to cut Flowers off to the ball.
That's not acceptable to Harbaugh, who is considering making personnel changes on the hands team. Trailing 41-24 in the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers' onside kick recovery kept their hopes alive and allowed them to score a touchdown on the ensuing drive.
"If you recover that kick, the game is kind of over," Harbaugh said. "Yes, we will [consider personnel changes]. Not everybody wants to be on the hands team; I can tell you. It's tough. But yes, the rest of the league has given up zero, and we've given up two. Nobody is very envious of that right now, so we'll flip some guys around and try to get some guys in spots that we think can make sure we come up with the next one."
