- Five-time Pro Bowler’s recent fumbles happening at a rate that’s never before occurred in his 10-year career.
- Henry has been openly transparent and accountable in the aftermath of his turnovers.
- The Ravens face the Chiefs in a battle of 1-2 teams Sunday, and Henry usually plays well against K.C.
It was striking to see such an intimidating man, one who’s terrorized brutes the likes of NFL defenders for the better part of a decade, so disconsolate.
But that would describe 6-2, 252-pound Baltimore Ravens superstar running back Derrick Henry on Monday night, his third fumble in three games contributing to his team’s second loss. Both of his lost fumbles have corresponded to the defeats of a 1-2 team awash in Super Bowl expectations in 2025.
Wearing a gray sweatshirt at the team’s training facility Wednesday, Henry, his hood framing his face, didn’t seem to be shouldering the entire weight of the world two days later. Yet he remained heavily burdened by his untimely mistakes – his fumbles in those losses to the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions both occurring in the fourth quarter.
“I’m still pissed off. I’m still mad at myself,” Henry told reporters. “(I)t’s a problem I have to get fixed, so I’m working on it. I’m working as hard as I can to get this issue resolved, and it’s tough right now.
“It’s just been consecutive weeks, back-to-back-to back, which is crazy. That’s why you all saw me distraught. I was just like, ‘I can’t believe this happened for a third time.’ But, I’ve just got to go back to work and push forward even though it’s hard. Nobody can fix it but yourself, so I’ve got to accept it like a man. Everything that comes with it, I accept, because it’s my responsibility to take care of the ball for this organization.”
Henry, 31, a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time rushing king is in his 10th NFL season and second with the Ravens. He’s gone entire years without fumbling. He lost just one in 2024, when he led the AFC with 1,921 rushing yards. Prior to Monday, he’d never lost multiple fourth-quarter fumbles in the same campaign.
This almost certainly isn’t a chronic issue, yet Henry is attacking it with Biblical ferocity.
“Maybe it’s just something God wanted to put me through, and maybe he’s testing my faith right now,” he said. “I just have to keep believing and keep working. I told my family the other day, ‘Those tables turn, and this hasn’t turned my way, but when they do, I’ll be ready.’
“I feel like I’m letting my teammates down, which I don’t want to do. Everybody knows it’s not happening on purpose, but it’s a problem that I have to get fixed, and I’m going to go out there and work every day to make sure that the problem is resolved.”
The Ravens don’t have much time to wait.
Already in the midst of a short week, they’re traveling to Kansas City to face the Chiefs, who are grappling with their own disappointing 1-2 start. But K.C. is also 5-1 against Baltimore since the teams’ respective quarterbacks and multiple MVP winners, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, became starters.
“(I)t is a huge game. We’re 1-2. We don’t want to be 1-2, and the same thing for them,” said Henry.
“(W)e’ve got to be focused and do what we need to do to be ready for Sunday.”
Henry certainly seems to be and has been especially effective over the years against the Chiefs, against whom he’s averaged nearly 100 rushing yards and scored nine touchdowns in seven career meetings.
But he deserves credit for more than that.
Early Tuesday morning, then again Wednesday, he provided insightful, thoughtful answers to his struggles while exposing his vulnerability. He also made himself available – not once, but twice – to face the music when he could have given clipped, boilerplate responses or hidden from reporters entirely as many embattled players over the years have chosen to do.
Maybe that’s why, aside from Henry’s own concern, no one else in the Ravens’ flock seems to be sharing it.
“He is very, very accountable. When somebody cares so much about what they’re doing, and they’re so accomplished – so talented and so good, works so hard – as a coach, you just can’t worry about that,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday.
“I’m not worried about Derrick Henry at all.”
It’s also worth noting that his fumble against Buffalo completely changed the arc of a game that Baltimore lost 41-40 after blowing a 15-point fourth-quarter lead. But his giveaway against Detroit occurred with 8:26 to go and only cost the Ravens a field goal. They had plenty of time to overcome the gaffe – even if it might be a while before Henry escapes his newfound meme status after slipping and crashing onto Baltimore’s bench after slamming his helmet in frustration following his miscue.
“(Y)ou’re going to always put the blame on yourself,” Jackson said Wednesday.
“We still could have executed and made something happen. We can’t fault him for that. Players mess up.”
And let’s not forget to credit defensive end Aidan Hutchinson for masterfully forcing the fumble, Henry never seeing the Lions star retracing his way into the play before punching the ball loose.
Moving forward? Seems like a fairly safe bet that Henry goes back to spilling defenders with his patented stiff-arm as opposed to spilling the ball yet again – particularly considering how he’s feeling.
“It’s embarrassing for me to be talking about this, because I am having this issue,” he said. “But you have to hold the ball high and tight to keep it away from the defense, keep it away from the defender so you keep the ball.
“But just know I’m working. I’m working, and it’s rough right now, but it’s going to come back around. I promise you.”
Sounds like a man poised to come up big, literally and figuratively.