Can Derrick Henry help Lamar Jackson and the Ravens reach a Super Bowl?

August 02, 2024

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The disappointment and frustration from their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in last season’s AFC championship game have been filed away, available to be accessed as a motivational tool or as a cautionary tale come January. A new season is nearing, and the slate, for now, is clean. For the Baltimore Ravens, it is time to start over and try again.

They must try again to be the dominant team they were last season, only better at the biggest moment. They must try again to give quarterback Lamar Jackson the resources to be the NFL’s most breathtaking player. And they must try again to make all of that translate, finally, to the first Super Bowl appearance of Jackson’s career.

“We had a great season last year,” wide receiver Zay Flowers said Sunday after the Ravens completed their opening practice of training camp. “We want to improve on that and get to the ultimate goal.”

It’s not exactly Super Bowl or bust. No one around here suggests that Coach John Harbaugh’s job security depends on taking that recently elusive next step or that Jackson, a two-time league MVP at age 27, is anywhere close to his last, best title chance. But the Jackson-led Ravens have reached the point at which the success of their season probably will hinge on whether they’re among the final two teams playing in February.

“Super Bowl,” wideout Rashod Bateman said Sunday. “Super Bowl. It’s not about me. I need to do what’s best for this team, whatever that is, whatever my role is.”

Harbaugh said the central theme of his opening training-camp address to his players had to do with “vision and … standards and the ability to meet the standard and raise the standard.”

Harbaugh also spent the final 2 minutes 43 seconds of his opening news conference defending his quarterback against any and all criticism for the team’s inability to turn such a promising 2023 season into a championship. He said the Ravens “take it personally” when Jackson is criticized, adding that “the vision for Lamar Jackson” involves all-time greatness.

“It’s a vision,” Harbaugh said. “It’s something you see it like it’s already happened. You can see it like it’s already been done. The victory has already been won when you pour into a vision. And the vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League. … And I believe it like we’ve already seen it.”

Six seasons into his NFL career, Jackson already has become the league’s 11th multiple-time MVP. He joined Patrick Mahomes, Kurt Warner, Steve Young and Joe Montana as two-time winners. Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Jim Brown and Johnny Unitas won three MVP awards each. Aaron Rodgers has won four and Peyton Manning five.

But to secure a spot as prominent in the sport’s history as Harbaugh envisions, Jackson will have to reach some Super Bowls. And that means starting with one.

The Ravens were well positioned in 2023. They were the NFL’s best team for much of the season, beating very good teams in lopsided fashion and securing the AFC’s top seed. But for the second time in five years, they failed to turn the No. 1 seed — and an MVP season by Jackson — into a Super Bowl appearance. They lost the AFC championship game at home to the Chiefs, 17-10. It was a mistake-filled performance in which Flowers, after an often-impressive rookie season, committed two key gaffes: a costly taunting penalty and a lost fumble near the goal line.

He and the Ravens get an immediate opportunity for a tiny measure of redemption when they face the Chiefs in the NFL’s season-opening game Sept. 5 in Kansas City. But Flowers said he isn’t fixated on last season’s painful ending.

“It’s over now,” Flowers said. “I get to see them the first game. We’ll go play there. What’s in the past is already in the past. It already happened.”

The Ravens had more than their share of offseason turnover. Defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald was hired as the coach of the Seattle Seahawks and was replaced by inside linebackers coach Zach Orr. The prominent players to depart included wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, guards Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson, offensive tackle Morgan Moses, linebacker Patrick Queen, safety Geno Stone and pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

“That is part of how it works in the National Football League,” Harbaugh said. “And we embrace it. … I like our guys, and I’m very optimistic that they’ll do very well.”

The most meaningful addition came with the free agent signing of Derrick Henry, the former 2,000-yard rusher for the Tennessee Titans. The Ravens hope he has enough left, at age 30 and more than 2,000 carries into his NFL career, to punish any defense that focuses too heavily on containing Jackson.

“You seen him before?” Flowers said. “You see him in person? You’ve got to stop that first before you worry about somebody of my stature.”

Jackson missed the first three days of training camp because of an illness. He was on the field Wednesday but failed to finish the practice before exiting. He and the Ravens probably will not enter the season as the team to beat, with the Chiefs attempting to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. But they certainly should be a factor, and the pairing of Henry and Jackson will make their offense even more captivating.

“I’m excited to see what it looks like,” Bateman said. “I don’t really know either. … At the end of the day, you’ve got Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. So, I mean, I’m kind of like everybody else: I’m just excited to watch it.”

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