Ravens hoping new-look Derrick Henry will play to his old standard down the stretch

Running back Derrick Henry came out of the Baltimore Ravens’ bye week with a different look. Instead of his familiar long locks, Henry got a haircut and now has cornrows.

“I just wanted to change something” Henry said. “I’ve been wanting to do it and I finally did it.”

One thing the Ravens don’t want changed about Henry is his historic performance in the waning games of the season. During his career, Henry’s average win per rushing attempts increased as the season progressed. Henry’s average yards per carry during his career has been 4.18 yards in September, 4.83 yards in October, 4.95 yards in November, 5.08 yards in December and 5.89 yards in January.

“I think the players I played with did a great job of making my job easier,” Henry said. “For me to do my job, the guys up front have to do a good job, and that’s the credit for that. It’s happened in the past, but just focused on right now. I know there’s this December story, but I’m just focused on me playing better, being better and being the best player I can to help this team.”

In his first season with the Ravens, Henry averaged 6.00 yards per carry. carries in September, 7.17 in October and 4.99 in November before gaining 82 yards on 19 carries in Baltimore’s only December game — a 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago.

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Henry ranks second in rushing attempts in the NFL in 2024. But with Baltimore vacating its opener last week, the Ravens believe they have a rested running back for the final four weeks of the NFL’s 2024 regular season.

“Derrick hasn’t had a lot of carries, a lot of wear and tear on him this year,” Ravens running backs coach said Willie Taggart last week, “so I think it’s perfectly set up for him to finish the year the way he’s capable of and what we expect from him.

“Derrick is healthy right now and that’s great. I think this bye week is perfect timing for us, and again, he’s hungry. He wants to come back. He wishes we played this week. But I think the way he’s training himself, the way he’s practicing, the way he’s preparing, he’ll be ready to finish the year the way we need him to.

While Henry has averaged 18.5 rushing attempts per game for Baltimore in 2024, his average over the previous five seasons had been 21.2.

The former Alabama All-American said the bye week came at a good time for the Ravens.

“I think that’s the key for everybody,” Henry said. “Get your minds and bodies right and get away for a bit, reset and then come back ready to work. …

“Everybody’s energized. Everybody’s excited to be back. Had a great bye week — being able to reset — and I know we definitely miss playing football, but great to be back flying around and getting ready to play this week.”

Baltimore will try to hold on to an AFC playoff position over the next month, playing three of the remaining four in 11 days.

The Ravens visit the New York Giants at 12:00 p.m. CST on Sunday, after which they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, December 21st and visit the Houston Texans on Wednesday, December 25th. Baltimore closes out the regular season with a home game against the Cleveland Browns on January. 5.