The Baltimore Ravens' win streak came to a crashing halt on Thanksgiving, as they not only lost to the Cincinnati Bengals but got blown out by their divisional foe. Fans were annoyed by quite a bit in the loss but something that stood out in a major way was the lack of usage for star running back Derrick Henry when the Ravens were still very much in the game.
Henry finished the game with just 10 carries for 60 yards. While, yes, the Ravens couldn't run the ball later on due to the score, the fact of the matter is that Henry was still virtually ignored when the game was within reach early on. That should not be the case when you have a player of Henry's caliber.
When asked about the lack of usage for Henry in the second quarter, John Harbaugh offered an explanation that infuriated Ravens fans. Harbaugh was asked if he was okay with the usage of his star running back and immediately said no.
"Of course not. That's not the numbers we want at all," Harbaugh told the media. "When you look at the game, we went seven plays down the field and scored. Then we went three-and-out, three-and-out, then we were in two-minute. So that explains the lack of carries in the second quarter. We didn't have any plays in the second quarter to have a chance to even run the ball. We had 21 two-minute plays. That's way too high. ... The circumstances of the game took us in that direction."
John Harbaugh’s Derrick Henry message has Ravens fans completely baffled
Harbaugh's explanation here is confusing, to say the least. The Ravens had plenty of opportunities to run the ball on those two three-and-outs and opted not to do so despite the Bengals being one of the worst teams in the league at stopping the run.
Hopefully Harbaugh learned something from all of this and the Ravens lean on Henry more moving forward. The division is still very much within reach and with their schedule getting tougher down the stretch, this is when the Ravens need to rely on Henry to do for them what he was brought in to do, which was eat up yards on the ground and wear defenses out.