Derrick Henry once again showed why he’s an MVP frontrunner over Lamar Jackson
Derrick Henry has had a significant impact on the Ravens offense and it is because of him that Lamar Jackson has been able to perform better than his previous MVP years.
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Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry (Image Credits: L-via IMAGO, R-via Open Source)
The Baltimore Ravens made the best off-season decision by signing Derrick Henry. The move has paid dividends as their offense is the best in the NFL averaging 424 yards per game.
The offense is succeeding because of two of its stars, Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. Both of them are in the race to win the MVP award, but after his performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers last night, the running back has made his case to prove that he is more deserving of the award than the quarterback.
After last night’s performance of 24 carries and 162 yards with an average of 6.8 yards per carry, King Henry joined the elite company of Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, and Edgerrin James as he became the fifth player in NFL history with four or more seasons with 1,500 rushing yards.
Derrick Henry is on track to have his best season in the NFL
With 1,636 yards on 278 carries and 13 touchdowns so far, Henry is hoping to reach the 2,000-yard threshold, a feat that will serve as the nail in the coffin in his case to win the MVP this season. If he manages to have two, 200-yard games in the next three weeks, then he has a chance to match or beat his own record of 2,027 yards set in 2020. The ambitious goal would be to beat Adrian Peterson’s 2012 record of 2066 yards and ultimately Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards, but those seem unlikely at this rate.
What would it take for Derrick Henry to eclipse Lamar Jackson in the MVP race? He will need to break the 2,000-yard barrier and get another 7 touchdowns at the least. The former is achievable while the latter is an ambitious figure. With Henry in the mix, the Ravens have achieved a boost in successful first downs per rushing attempt. 31.8% of his attempts have resulted in a first down as opposed to Lamar Jackson’s 27.9%.
Before Henry, the Ravens could run the ball but now, their offense should be rightfully monikered the ‘Pick your poison’ offense. Any defense that goes up against this team will need to focus on stopping the running game as well as the passing game because an attempt to just limit Henry and Jackson will result in open opportunities for Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman, and Zay Flowers down the lane.
The Baltimore Ravens would not be 10-5 without Derrick Henry
In 9 out of their 10 wins this season, the Ravens have scored 30 or more points. In 10 of their games, he has scored one or more touchdowns. Without the addition of Henry, Baltimore does not put up as many points on a regular basis, without him, they do not go on to become a 10-win team.
Last season was viewed as being Lamar Jackson’s best shot to make the Super Bowl but this year, that opportunity has surfaced once again. If the Ravens go on to hoist the Lombardi this year, it will not be because of the two-time MVP. The quarterback is putting up great numbers but he can do that because Henry is taking some of the heat from defenses upon himself.
Despite the numbers, Derrick Henry will not win the MVP award
As per the latest MVP odds, the race to win the award is between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. However, apart from Henry another running back is in this race and that is Saquon Barkley who leads the NFL with 1,688 rushing yards.
At this point, it is a race between the two to 2,000 yards. But irrespective of what number they will finish the year with, the NFL’s historical pattern while determining the MVP has always been leaning towards quarterbacks. In a perfect world, the MVP race would be between Josh Allen, Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, and Lamar Jackson.
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Sumedh Joshi
(2272 Articles Published)