The Baltimore Ravens will start the 2025 NFL season where they ended the 2024 season – Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.
On Jan. 19, the Buffalo Bills’ 27-25 victory eliminated Baltimore from the AFC playoffs. On Sunday, the Ravens and Bills square off again at 7:20 CDT to kick off the 2025 season’s slate of Sunday night games. NBC will televise the contest.
In Baltimore’s playoff loss last season, running back Derrick Henry had 84 yards and one touchdown on 16 rushing attempts.
Henry ran for 1,921 yards in the regular season, the 11th-most in one campaign in NFL history, and 186 yards and two touchdowns on 26 rushing attempts in the Ravens’ 28-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the postseason.
The playoff results continued Henry’s career trends. When he has at least 22 carries in a game, his team is 4-0 in the playoffs. When he doesn’t, they’re 0-5. In the regular season, it’s a 36-4 record with 22 or more carries – such as last season’s 35-10 victory over Buffalo, when Henry had 199 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries on Sept. 29 -- and a 42-54 mark when he has fewer attempts.
“They advanced, and we didn’t,” Henry said when asked about any motivation from last year’s playoff meeting with the Bills, “so they have the upper hand on us. They played a hell of a game, and there’s a reason why they won, and we get an opportunity to play those guys again. …
“I think last year was last year. We didn’t like the way it ended last year, but this year is a new year, and we’ll focus on that and what we need to do to put ourselves in a position to win. I know we know what not to do, so just focus on the positive things, fixing things that we need to get better at and go out there and play our style of football.”
Henry will enter his 10th NFL season ranked sixth in rushing touchdowns, 19th in rushing yards and 32nd in rushing attempts in league history.
The former Alabama All-American is tied with Jim Brown on the rushing-touchdowns list with 106. Walter Payton is next up with 110.
Henry is 1,316 yards away from the NFL’s rushing top 10, with Tony Dorsett in the 10th spot. If he gets there, Henry will have passed Brown, Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, Marcus Allen, Franco Harris, Thurman Thomas, Fred Taylor and Steven Jackson on the all-time rushing list in 2025.
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Henry didn’t play in any of the Ravens’ preseason games. He hasn’t carried the football in the preseason since Aug. 25, 2018.
In his seven opening-day starts, Henry has 475 yards and two touchdowns on 126 carries, and his team has a 2-5 record, with the victories coming in Henry’s best two showings – 116 yards on 31 carries in the Tennessee Titans’ 16-14 win over the Denver Broncos in 2020 and 84 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries in the Titans’ 43-13 win over the Cleveland Browns in 2019.
“I’m always excited when football is back,” Henry said. “I’m happy it’s Week 1 and we get to get rolling. …
“I’m excited for everybody. I’m sure everybody’s excited to get back to playing football, and we’re going to go out there and execute and play the way we know how.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.
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