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    • Derrick Henry has a big fan in NFL legend Eric Dickerson
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    Derrick Henry has a big fan in NFL legend Eric Dickerson

    Eira Gwyneth Posted on

    NFL Notebook Week 6 delves into Eric Dickerson’s thoughts on Derrick Henry, the Bucs’ relocation efforts amid Hurricane Milton and more.

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    Eric Dickerson suspects he knows exactly what the average defensive back is thinking when faced with the decision to face 247-pound running back Derrick Henry in the open field.

    “You see these DBs and you can read their minds,” Dickerson told USA TODAY Sports. “They say, ‘Oh, no! “Don’t put me on a highlight reel.”

    Dickerson, the 64-year-old Hall of Famer who holds the NFL single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards set in 1984, didn’t hesitate when asked about his favorite running back in today’s NFL.

    Sure, King Henry, who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens, is an easy choice. Especially now. He led the NFL with 572 rushing yards after five weeks, averaging 6 yards per carry, and enters Sunday’s Battle of the Beltway against Washington having just become a new member of the league’s 10,000-yard rushing club.

    Alongside Lamar Jackson, the NFL’s most prolific quarterback-runner, Henry showed why so many teams were hesitant about pursuing him in free agency in the offseason after he and the Tennessee Titans parted ways after an eight-year partnership.

    That includes you, Jerry Jones, because Henry, who lives in Dallas, was hoping for a call from the Dallas Cowboys, who could certainly use him right now. Jones said after Henry tore the Cowboys for 151 yards and two touchdowns in Week 3 that his salary-cap-strapped team couldn’t afford Henry. However, that point is moot, especially for an owner who stated his team is “all in” chasing that elusive championship.

    In any case, the Ravens signed the 30-year-old Henry to a two-year, $16 million contract that could be worth $20 million with incentives. And now Baltimore (3-2), riding a three-game winning streak, once again fields the NFL’s No. 1 rushing attack.

    “I thought it was them or the Cowboys,” Dickerson said. “I’m not a Cowboys fan, but they don’t run like Baltimore. It definitely suits him perfectly.”

    In some ways, Henry Dickerson is reminiscent of himself.

    “In many ways, not,” Dickerson said. “The way he runs when he enters the open field is he runs upright. That’s for sure. He’s a big guy, a really big guy. I’m a big guy.”

    Dickerson, who stands at 6-3, was slightly slimmer and his maximum playing weight was 225 pounds. He chuckled as he remembered the first time he met Henry, who was also listed at 6-3, albeit with more mass.

    “I thought, ‘Damn, you’re big!'” Dickerson said. “Big legs, calves, all the way down.”

    And when that package really gets going – Henry has seven rushes of at least 20 yards at the NFL level this season – the combination of power and speed can be demoralizing for opposing defenses. Henry opened the Week 4 win over the Buffalo Bills with an 87-yard TD excursion. Last weekend in Cincinnati, he delivered the decisive blow when he made a 51-yard run in overtime that set up Justin Tucker’s game-winning field goal – and put him within 10,000 yards.

    “People don’t realize it, they think those 2- and 5-yard runs don’t mean much,” Dickerson said. “But on defense it takes its toll. And suddenly the 5-yard run becomes a 15-yard run. That 10-yard run becomes a 50-yard touchdown run. Because the defense is tired of chasing.

    “They say, ‘I have to fend off these offensive linemen and then I have to take this guy down.’ Now I have to attack the passerby. Now I have to try to tackle it again.’ ”

    The physicality of Henry’s game certainly resonates with Dickerson, who ranks ninth on the NFL’s all-time rushing list with 13,259 yards. To illustrate his point, Dickerson recalled a conversation with some other credible voices — Hall of Fame members Lawrence Taylor, Bruce Smith and Rickey Jackson.

    “We had this discussion,” Dickerson remembers. “I said, ‘Let me ask you all a question: How would you like to play in a game where a running back doesn’t even run the ball – no running, just passing?’ Everyone was like, “Man, we’d like that.”

    “They get tired of chasing running backs. It wears them down.”

    It’s no wonder Henry can be even deadlier as the games go on. In five games, he averaged 8.2 yards in the third quarter and recorded more carries (26) in the fourth quarter than in any other quarter.

    “I’ve always liked big backs,” Dickerson said. “I guess because I had a big back. Especially when it comes to taking penalties in the fourth quarter when the defense is good and you’re also big and strong. Then it is most effective. You see, the DBs don’t want to tackle him, and the linebackers don’t want to tackle him either.”

    Weather the storm

    When the Buccaneers took two chartered jets from Tampa to New Orleans on Tuesday because of the threat of Hurricane Milton, the traveling party consisted of about 350 players, coaches, staff and family members – and 32 pets.

    “There were big dogs, little dogs, cats,” Bucs spokesman Nelson Luis said. “I’ve never seen so many pets together, so well-behaved.”

    It was a bond of sorts for the Bucs as they prepared for Sunday’s NFC South matchup against the arch-rival Saints. Luis compared logistics to putting together a puzzle. The team practiced at Tulane University and later in the week had to change hotels from the Hyatt to the JW Marriott due to a weekend convention. Meanwhile, team meetings took place at the Ritz-Carlton.

    “Most of (the players) have their families here with them, so that’s a big relief for them and they can focus on football,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles told reporters.

    Bowles said the Bucs also learned lessons from the team’s last evacuation in 2022, when they fled to Miami due to Hurricane Ian.

    “The takeaway from that is that we’re a little bit more organized in terms of when we meet, how we meet, when families eat and getting everyone together,” Bowles said. “I don’t want to say it was simpler, but it was a little more structured.”

    Families also attended many of the team meals. Activities were organized for the children, including a trip to the zoo.

    The Bucs owners, the Glazer family, deserve credit for their response to the crisis. Hotels were also secured in Gainesville, Florida, for family members not traveling to New Orleans. With the storm knocking out an estimated 70% of homes in the Tampa area, the team is making sure emergency shelters are available when the Bucs return following Sunday’s game.

    The Bucs have back-to-back home games scheduled over the next two weeks, with a Monday night showcase against the Ravens on Oct. 21, followed by another NFC South game against the Falcons six days later.

    After further review, hurry up and show the HD video!

    Despite everything the NFL has done to tighten its process to get everything right on instant replay reviews — including the time-saving use of “replay wizard,” which corrects calls without requiring coaches to do so — a limitation was imposed on Thursday night revealed. as officials in the league’s replay center didn’t see definitive video of a muffed Seahawks punt return until it was too late.

    Early in the fourth quarter, with the 49ers leading 23-17, San Francisco recovered the football that bounced off the hand of Seahawks returner Dee Williams. Officials ruled that Williams did not touch the football and that the 49ers knocked him down at the Seattle 18-yard line, prompting a challenge from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

    “I thought they had a lot of camera angles,” Shanahan said, prompted to raise his red challenge flag after a 49ers employee saw a replay showing Williams’ hand gesture after the ball was near him bounced off the grass.

    But replay officials never saw the enhanced video that Amazon showed after referee Craig Wrolstad announced the on-field decision stood.

    “About two minutes later I heard all the guys in the (coaches) box freaking out and saying they saw a different angle and it was a fumble,” Shanahan added.

    Mark Butterworth, the NFL’s vice president of instant replay, explained the mishap to a pool reporter.

    “We went through every angle available and got the raw feed off the truck,” Butterworth said. “And there was no clear and obvious video evidence that the returner touched the ball.”

    It came down to timing. The officers in New York didn’t get the best video. But as much as the NFL has managed to implement a reliable system that has improved the efficiency of decision-making with replays in recent years, it is equally terrible when millions of viewers can see on the live stream what is not happening in the command center was see.

    This time the NFL got lucky. The mistake didn’t cost the 49ers the game, but secured a 36:24 victory. But it was such a crucial play that allowed the Seahawks to keep the ball and give themselves a chance to take a potential lead.

    Perhaps the take-home lesson here is: In the future, someone should be assigned in the Replay Center to watch the broadcast or live stream. Just in case. Just like the 49ers staffer saw it.

    Fast lean angles

    • Steelers dynamo TJ Watt, the only player to lead the NFL in sacks three times, recorded his 100th career sack in his 109th game on Sunday night. This makes Watt the second fastest to reach this milestone, surpassing DeMarcus Ware’s pace (113 games). Reggie White hit the mark in 96 games.
    • The Titans have allowed just 243.8 yards per game with the NFL’s best defense and enter Sunday’s matchup against the Colts as one of two teams (along with the Chargers) that does not yet have a 300-yard passer or 100-yard passer – Rusher or 100-yard receiver this season.
    • Lamar Jackson is 8 yards away from passing Cam Newton (5,628) for the second-most rushing yards by a quarterback in his career. Michael Vick set the bar at 6,109 yards, a mark the Ravens star could surpass in just a few weeks.
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    Eira Gwyneth
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