Derrick Henry and Thursday Night Football at Lambeau Field looks like a match made in heaven. The game's top bell cow running back in freezing temperatures at an iconic field against the Packers soft run defense.
He could be skating past defenders on the Frozen Tundra, especially if history repeats itself. He ran for 238 yards against the Jaguars on Thursday Night Football in 2018, including a jaw-dropping 99-yard run with an infamous stiff arm.
A big performance would only build off a monster start to 2022. He leads the NFL in carries and is eight yards behind Saquon Barkley for the NFL-lead in rushing yards. He is once again punishing opposing defenses, leading the league in rush yards after contact and doubling up anyone else in rush yards against eight-man boxes.
Safe to say he has picked up where he left off after a Jones fracture to his right foot cost him the final nine regular-season games of 2021. Prior to the injury he was cruising toward a third straight rushing title. He had 937 rush yards through Week 8 of 2021, 288 more than anyone else.
As we enter the second half of the 2022 season Henry is once again knocking on the door of a third rushing title, something only eight players in NFL history have done. Seven of them are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including six elected in their first year of eligibility. Adrian Peterson is the only Hall of Famer not on the list, because he's not eligible until 2027.
| MOST RUSHING TITLES IN NFL HISTORY | |
|---|---|
Jim Brown | 8 |
Steve Van Buren | 4 |
O.J. Simpson | 4 |
Eric Dickerson | 4 |
Emmitt Smith | 4 |
Barry Sanders | 4 |
Earl Campbell | 3 |
Adrian Peterson | 3 |
Rushing title or not, Henry is positioned to strengthen a stretch that puts him in the company of the greatest running backs of all-time.
He's averaging 113.1 rushing yards per game since his tear began in 2019. That's currently the second-most in a four-season span in NFL history, behind O.J. Simpson's run in the 1970s.
| MOST RUSH YARDS PER GAME IN A FOUR-YEAR SPAN IN NFL HISTORY | |
|---|---|
O.J. Simpson (1973-76) | 115.1 |
Derrick Henry (2019-22) | 113.1 |
Eric Dickerson (1983-86) | 112.4 |
He's having another monster season in 2022 with 102.6 rushing yards per game. Remarkably, it's the fourth straight season he's averaging 100 rushing yards per game. If he can stay above the century mark, he'd be the fourth player all-time to have four seasons with 100 per game. You may have heard of the other three. Jim Brown. Eric Dickerson. Barry Sanders. Only Brown (1958-61) has done this in four consecutive years like Henry can do.
| MOST SEASONS WITH 100 RUSHING YARDS PER GAME IN NFL HISTORY | |
|---|---|
Jim Brown | 7 |
Eric Dickerson | 5 |
Barry Sanders | 4 |
Derrick Henry | 4 (including 2022) |
And although Henry did not win the rushing title last year, he still led the NFL with 117.6 rushing yards per game in his eight games played. He's second in that category this year, and if he can jump Saquon Barkley he'd join Jim Brown (five straight) and Steve Van Buren (five straight) as the only players in NFL history to lead the league in four straight seasons. Both those all-time greats did so over 60 years ago.
He has the schedule to make a push for history. None of the Titans remaining eight games are against a team with a top-10 rush defense, in terms of rush EPA per game. Five rank 25th or worse, including the Texans, who Henry has four straight 200-yard rushing games against.
| TITANS REMAINING SCHEDULE | OPPONENT | RUSH DEFENSE RANK (EPA/GAME) |
|---|---|---|
Week 11 | at Packers | 27th |
Week 12 | 25th | |
Week 13 | at Eagles | 30th |
Week 14 | Jaguars | 12th |
Week 15 | at Chargers | 29th |
Week 16 | Texans | 28th |
Week 17 | 13th | |
Week 18 | at Jaguars | 12th |
The only thing stopping Henry, besides competition from Saquon Barkley, Nick Chubb and company, would be his health. He's on pace for a career-high 381 carries this season. Only one player, age-28 or older, has ever had more in a season. Eric Dickerson (388) in 1988.
If he reaches 381 carries this year, Henry is looking at 1,409 in the last four seasons, including playoffs. That's a lot of mileage, even for a back built like a fortress. That'd be the most by anyone in a four-year span since LaDainian Tomlinson from 2004-07.
If anyone can take the hits and keep trucking though, it's Henry.
