Four years ago, in the final year that an NFL season was 16 games long, Derrick Henry rushed for 2,027 yards, 73 yards shy of the single-season record.
That record (2,105 rushing yards), belonging to Eric Dickerson, will turn 40 this year. The year after Henry came close to breaking his record, 2021, Dickerson had an exclusive with The Sports Bank, where he discussed why his records have stood the test of time.
“Guys have gotten really close, but it’s tough because everything has got to go perfect,” Dickerson said.
“It’s like Derrick Henry, he got it (2,000+ yards in 2020) last year and was ahead of the pace this year (2021), and he got hurt.
“I was ahead of the pace a couple times, and although I got there, I just couldn’t get there again.”
When Dickerson says everything has to go perfectly, he is not exaggerating.
You have to stay healthy all season long. Your team can’t fall behind too much or too often, as doing so will force you to emphasize the passing attack and ditch the run game strongly.
Also, your team can’t get up too big too often because then you’ll exit the game too early. Just ask the legendary former Ravens running back Jamal Lewis.
In 2003, he came within 41 yards of tying Dickerson, and this offseason, he talked to the team’s in-house video channel about why he thinks he ultimately fell short.
Henry was with the Titans in 2020, but now that he’s with the Ravens and playing a 17-game season, he might actually have an outside chance of setting the new milestone.
Averaging 123.9 yards per game gets you the record. In ’20, Henry averaged 126.7. If that seems unrealistic, then refer back to what Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken said in May:
“I know this: If [Henry] carries it 300 times, we’re having a helluva year.”
Henry has carried the ball 300+ times in three of the past five seasons. His career-high was 378 carries in 2020, and he averaged 5.4 yards per carry.
If he could average 5.5 yards per rush in Monken’s system this season, 383 carries would get him to a mark surpassing Dickerson. This is the tallest of orders and far from a likely scenario, but look at what The King has already accomplished.
He’s not that far off from getting to the mountaintop. The Ravens led the NFL in rushing last year and three of the past five years.
In the other two seasons, they finished in the top three in the league, so Henry is going to get his opportunities.