The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Henry poised for more history
NASHVILLE, TENN. >> Derrick Henry is a man of few words, preferring to work hard with a tunnel-vision focus and let his play do all the talking.
Henry has been almost shouting the way he keeps running into the NFL record books.
Now the NFL’s back-toback rushing leader has the opportunity in 2021 to add even more history to what’s been an amazing couple years. Fresh off becoming just the eighth man to run for at least 2,000 yards, Henry now has a 17th game giving him a chance at Eric Dickerson’s league record of 2,105 yards set in 1984.
Henry also could become the first man — fifth all time — to lead the NFL in rushing in three consecutive seasons in nearly three decades. Emmitt Smith was the last with his three-peat coming between 1991 and 1993.
“I don’t get caught up in that,” Henry said. “I just focus on me getting better. I
say it a lot. That’s all I focus on. Just getting better every day. Working hard, putting in the work and competing. That’s all you can do. Let everything else take care of itself.”
The 2020 NFL Offensive Player of the Year and All-Pro certainly has done that better than anyone in the NFL the past two seasons. No one has more carries than Henry’s 782 combined rushes in the regular season and playoffs. When he ran for 2,027 yards last
season, it was the fifth-best single-season total.
Henry, who averaged 126 yards per game, could become only the second in NFL history to lead the league in rushing yards, attempts and rushing touchdowns for a third straight season. Steve Van Buren did it 1947-49.
Only four other men have led the NFL in rushing at least three straight seasons. Before Smith, Earl Campbell did it between 19781980, Jim Brown between 1958 and ‘61, and Van Buren.
The 2015 Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama also is the NFL’s first running back with at least two seasons of at least 300 rushing attempts, 15 TD runs and a 5-yard rushing average.
Ryan Tannehill has had an up-close view since becoming the Titans’ starting quarterback in October 2019, and he says it’s impressive to see the running back’s sustained success and dependability at the 6-foot-3 and 247 pounds Henry is listed by the Titans.
How Henry physically withstands all the hits and carries yet keeps plugging away? Tannehill calls it “wild.”
“You talk to him on Monday and Tuesday, and he is, ‘Oh, I am not sore. I am good,’” Tannehill said. “Think some of that is God’s gift to him, of just being a physical freak and being 6-3 and 250 or whatever he is. He has the attitude, the mindset, and he loves playing football.”