Baltimore Ravens, the ball carrier Derrick Henry, was in his second year of Pop Warner football when he discovered the move that would scare defenders over the next two decades.
At 7 years old, Henry was a large and tagged ball who saw a defender close for the tackle. Then he just did it.
Henry extended his arm and pushed his opponent to the ground.
“It was just something that came to me natural,” said Henry. “So, I kept putting my arm there, and I would go for 50 meters.”
Henry’s steep arm helped him become one of the great runners of all time in the NFL and leave spots on the reputation of the best defensive players in the league. When Henry surpasses the seconds and defensive backs, it can cause years of embarrassment, leaving more mental scars than physical backs.
If Henry becomes head-to-head with a potential platform when the Ravens face the Lions of Detroit on Monday evening (8:15 p.m. he, ESPN), he will probably release his rigid arm, which could lead to another long term as well as a meme on social networks.
The Ravens cornerback, Chidobe Awuzie, recalls time there are four seasons when he played against Henry in a Bengals-Titan eliminatory match and just escaped a steep arm.
“My life definitively broke out before me,” said Awuzie. “You don’t want to be on Twitter for bad reasons.”
Some running backs are released by making defenders. Others count on spin movements. Henry perfected this tactic at the old school to use his free hand to throw potential plates out of his way.
Henry recorded 64 rigid career weapons on precipitation attempts since 2017, when ESPN searches began to follow them. It is 36 more than any other player.
His ability to lose plated paved the way at 5,704 Yards de la NFL after contact since he was drafted by Tennessee titans in 2016 and prompted a teammate to wonder if Henry should be allowed to continue using his rigid arm.
“It’s no longer a punch,” said the Ravens corner half, Marlon Humphrey last season. “But if it is part of my team, it’s good. If it’s against me, I want it to be illegal.”
Henry’s first steep arm of the year came at the opening of the season when he used his left arm to deliver a quick blow to Cole Bishop who left the safety of the Buffalo Bills on the ground. Henry went intact the rest of the path for a touch of 30 yards.
But it was a difficult season so far for Henry. He made an expensive escape from the fourth quarter of a 41-40 defeat in Buffalo and was held at 23 yards on the ground during the 41-17 Sunday victory on the Browns, statistically his worst match in two seasons as a crow.
Baltimore thinks that when Henry returns on the right track, this will create the usual situation of the defenses.
“Once you see Derrick in person, you can understand that if he has put these legs, there will be problems,” said Ravens Backs coach Willie Taggart. “When he showed it on a film once, everyone knows that it can happen when they get there. So I think that sometimes there are commercial decisions to tackle or not.”
Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken met Henry for the first time in 2009, when Monken was the wide receiver coach for Jacksonville and Henry Jaguars was a first -year student at Yulee High School nearby.
Someone told Monken that Henry was a ball carrier.
“I say to myself:” What? “Recalls Monken this summer.” The guy is 14 years old. He seems to be 28 years old. [It was] A bit like when I saw Adrian Peterson for the first time, when you see someone who is just different. “”
Players and coaches say that the reason for which Henry is so effective with his rigid weapons – and why the others are simply not built to do so – is his size and long arms combination.
Henry is listed at 252 pounds. The only other NFL balloon carrier who is currently listed at 250 pounds is CJ HAM, which is the back for the Vikings of Minnesota.
Henry’s scale was measured at 80.75 inches at the NFL combination in 2016. It is the third longer scale by a ball carrier measured in combination since 2003, when this data was recorded for the first time.
“He also has a very good timing on it,” said the brought winger of Ravens Charlie Kolar. “He does a very good job to redirect the momentum of a defender.”
Kolar then took a break and said: “And he is really very strong. Sometimes it’s not that complicated.”
Henry has the power to brush the plates. He also has the speed to run away to reach the goal area.
According to NFL NFL statistics, Henry has reached 20 miles per hour or faster 32 times since 2018, which is third at the Large Tyreek Hill (75) and Saquon Barkley (36) receiver.
“You can see guys with this size, but they are not as fast,” said the Center des Ravens Tyler Linderbaum. “But you see guys with this speed, and they are not as tall as him. He has a little of everything. He is a special player, and there is a reason why he will fall into history as one of the best backs to do it.”
Ravens Running Back Justice Hill thinks that it is more than physical features that allow Henry to excel with steep weapons. When Hill asked Henry how he executed it, Henry replied: “Bro, I give everything in it and I put everything in it.”
Henry’s most famous The rigid arm came on October 13, 2020, and it did not count technically.
Henry, who was with the Titans at the time, arrived at the left edge where he struck Josh Norman in his right shoulder and sent the all-pro corner half in the air and a few meters in front of him. The game was canceled by compensating for the penalties, but fans of football fans have long been recalled. A YouTube video of the rigid arm has 3.8 million views.
In an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” three months after the play, Norman said: “For me, I don’t look at him from the point of view of what people say afterwards. We can laugh. It’s a joke. I mean, we like to see the Oohs and the Aahs and the Glitz and the Glamor of Sport.
A month after this Norman jet, Henry delivered another impressive rigid arm. He sought to turn the corner against the Indianapolis colts and got his hands under the mask of Grover Stewart. Henry pushed the defensive tackle of 314 pounds on the ground.
The teammates played with Stewart over the years on Henry’s rigid arm. Stewart tried to explain how he was tearing up a block and was stripped by Henry.
“My father even said to me:” Hey, someone said he armed you “, said Stewart last month. “I said,” Hey, wait a minute. Go watch the movie, guy. “”
Minkah Fitzpatrick, security in five times Pro Bowl, shares a similar experience that he would like to forget. During last season’s victory over the Steelers, Henry took a direct shot and then put his right hand on the side of the Fitzpatrick helmet, which returned it back.
“It’s not fun to be at the reception of this,” said Fitzpatrick last month. “I was more angry with myself. I knew it was going to happen, but I hesitated and I did not believe what I saw on the film. He is a guy who likes to get head-up with defensive backs and embarrass them.”
The teammates can sometimes get caught in the middle of a rigid arm. Last December, Linderbaum sought to block a defensive back of the Eagles about 10 meters below when he felt Henry’s hand on the back. Linderbaum was then launched forward and out of his feet.
“I felt the weight,” said Linderbaum. “He is the one who tells me to move faster, so I have to go.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was asked how he would fight one of Henry’s rigid weapons.
“As a old defensive back, I imagined myself just trying to overthrow this thing and hang on to expensive life,” said Harbaugh.
There were other runners known for their steep weapons from Earl Campbell to Marshawn Lynch. Henry transformed it into science.
Henry has mastered various rigid weapons for different situations. It was surprised that others noticed it.
“It just depends on the race and the angle,” said Henry. “If I had the time and I can configure it, then I’m really going to throw it out with power. If I try to break a quick tackle and get up, then it’s more a short arm. If I had a guy, I’m just trying to give him a little rigid arm to break the tackle and keep going down the ground.”
Since Henry joined the Ravens in 2024, some of his teammates used his famous rigid arm. Last October, the quarter-Arrière Lamar Jackson Armed Bengals defensive Sam Hubbard to buy time to launch a pass of a touchdown in Isaiah probably. Then, in the Joker’s victory against the Steelers, probably used the rigid arm to slam the Cameron Cameron Sutton on the ground.
Henry said he had not given any advice in rigid weapons, adding: “I am not the coordinator of the rigid arms.”
Henry, however, is the resident rigid arms expert. From Pop Warner to the NFL, Henry has built the reputation of getting rid of its own path in the goal area and in the League tradition.
So what is Henry’s favorite rigid arm?
“I always say that I have no favorite yet,” said Henry before cracking a smile. “I still play. It could be below the line.”
Stephen Holder d’Espn and Marcel Louis-Jacques contributed to this story.
