The opening chapter in the Cowboys’ 2024 story was a thriller, with the larger-than-life heroes mopping the floor with the enemy forces and setting the stage for a season-long epic adventure. Week 2, though, brought a major plot twist, proving that nothing will come easy for our star-clad protagonists.
Now with a new foe waiting in the wings, Eric Kendricks is ready to turn the page.
“We can sit here and talk about last week, but I am so over that,” the Cowboys linebacker told media members this week. “We’ve got a great opportunity. I’m ready to move on.”
Exorcising the demons of last Sunday’s 44-19 blowout loss at the hands of the Saints- and doing so quickly- will be paramount. The Baltimore Ravens come to town with a shocking 0-2 record and their fans already talking about must-win games.
So after a thoroughly disappointing performance of their own, with their own unit’s leader calling effort into question, Kendricks knows this weekend’s contest will be a fierce battle.
“This is what we love doing. This is what we want to do. Let’s go out and do it,” he said. “You’re going to get hit in the mouth; wipe the blood off and get going.”
The Cowboys were left plenty bloodied by a Saints attack that saw Alvin Kamara rip off 115 rushing yards and score four total touchdowns, a top-5 all-time day for the five-time Pro Bowler.
Now comes Derrick Henry, four inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. The two-time rushing champ has just 130 yards in two outings, so he’s likely salivating over the thought of gashing the team that most observers- not to mention Henry himself- thought would sign him during free agency this offseason.
King Henry will instead face a Dallas defense he’s logged just six career carries against, his fewest against any team in the league besides Tennessee, where he spent his first eight seasons.
But he’s no unknown commodity. Just ask Kendricks, who squared off against him in Henry’s very first game as a pro- he gained just three yards on five carries in his 2016 NFL debut- and then again in 2020, when Henry rolled for 119 yards and two scores. (Kendricks was inactive when the Chargers played Henry last year, watching him go for another 80 yards and a touchdown.)
“He’s a veteran,” the linebacker explained. “He knows what he’s seeing on the other side of the ball. He runs the ball hard, and he has those big jump cuts. And once he gets those going, he’s hard to stop. We have to get our weight behind our pads and we’ve got to bring it.”
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And it’s not just Henry. The Ravens also have a speedy change-of-pace back in Justice Hill as well as the most dangerous dual-threat quarterback in the sport, Lamar Jackson.
“You know what you’re going to get,” Kendricks said. “Baltimore is downhill. Lamar is going to be running the ball like a running back… Lamar is a running back.”
But don’t mistake any of that buildup from Kendricks for intimidation. Talking about Week 3’s late-afternoon tilt against Henry, Jackson, and the formidable Ravens- who have averaged 11 wins per season over the past six years- Kendricks was visibly beaming.
“This is a great opportunity we have. We’re playing the Baltimore Ravens, you know what I mean? This is a team that we’ve known these past couple years to be a serious contender, and this is a huge opportunity for us to show what we’re made of as a linebacker corps. So have a smile on your face when we’re preparing.”
He was, in fact, smiling, having put last week’s “good piece of humble pie” behind him, but Kendricks assured reporters that he’ll be in the proper mindset when the teams take the field on Sunday.
“You’ve always got to play a little bit pissed off, man. That’s defense.”
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