The Baltimore Ravens did the unthinkable on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. The defense held running back Derrick Henry below 100 yards on the ground. In fact, they held him to just 40 rushing yards on the day and no first downs.
After getting dominated on the ground in last year’s divisional-round game against the Titans, the Ravens brought in defensive end Calais Campbell seemingly just for this matchup. Campbell and the rest of Baltimore’s defense did everything they needed to, often hitting Henry in the backfield and keeping him from breaking many tackles.
Following the game, Campbell gave Henry plenty of respect but also let it be known the defense wasn’t going to have any of what they saw last season.
“We knew it was gonna be a tough matchup. He’s the king, he’s a beast — 2,000 yards,” Campbell said to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. “But today, he wasn’t gonna run the ball.”
In addition to holding Henry to just 40 rushing yards, no touchdowns, and no first downs, the Ravens held him to a 2.2 yards-per-carry average on the day. That’s Henry’s third-lowest output throughout his 47 career starts and the second-lowest when counting games with at least 18 rushing attempts.
Campbell missed out on the first Ravens-Titans matchup back in Week 11. While Baltimore did a great job limiting Henry for three quarters, the star running back wore down the Ravens’ defense and gashed them big in the fourth quarter and overtime, finishing with 133 rushing yards and a game-winning touchdown run.
I think the job Baltimore did here isn’t getting quite enough love immediately after the game. The secondary had some lapses but that was partially because of how much the Ravens committed to stopping Henry. With no other running back left in the playoffs that dangerous, Baltimore’s defense is primed for some big things in the postseason. At the very least, I don’t think any offense wants to go up against Campbell when he’s that fired up.
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