Derrick Henry didn’t reach the end zone for the first time as a Raven, but he did more than enough damage to fry the Chargers.
After Lamar Jackson and the offense got off to a shaky start, Henry got Baltimore’s offense moving and kept it rolling with 140 rushing yards in the Ravens’ 30-23 victory.
The Ravens and the Chargers are cut from the same Harbaugh cloth. But on “Monday Night Football,” it was big brother Baltimore that won the tug of war.
“If we can get Derrick going, it feeds off everything else,” tight end Mark Andrews said. “He’s so talented, and our O-Line is playing incredibly well. For us to be able to get the run game going and get him kind of rolling was awesome for us.”
The Ravens ran for 212 yards – the most the Chargers have given up this season and the most any team has ever run for against a Jim Harbaugh-coached NFL team.
Meanwhile, the Chargers ran for just 83 yards even though Baltimore was without leading inside linebacker Roquan Smith. Los Angeles did lose top running back J.K. Dobbins to a knee injury in the first half, however.
After back-to-back punts to start the game, Henry picked up Baltimore’s offense with runs of 19 and 14 yards to kick off a 70-yard touchdown drive capped by a Jackson 10-yard touchdown run.
“It definitely added a spark,” Henry said. “It got us some momentum on our side, and to be able to get down there and get in the end zone, [I’m] just happy that we were able to put a drive together so we can finish a drive with points to get us going.”
The Ravens’ dominance showed up in short-yardage situations throughout the game. An early turning point was the Ravens’ decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 16, when Andrews converted on a “tush push.”
Henry also converted on two fourth downs during a critical touchdown drive in the second half, running through the Chargers’ secondary for a 27-yard gain on the first and powering forward for two yards on the second.
Baltimore put the game way on two third-down runs in the fourth quarter, one by Henry when he stiff armed two Chargers defenders in the backfield, and another when Justice Hill shot a gap and raced 51 yards for a touchdown.
“I let [Henry] do most of the wearing down, and then I’ll come in and do a little something after,” Hill said.
“Nobody wants to stand in front of [Derrick Henry] every single play, every single run. You can do it one time, two times, three times, but when you have to do it 20 to 25 times, it starts to wear down. I’m glad we stuck with the run game this game, and it played out for us.”
