Derrick Henry Runs All Over Steelers in Playoff Win

That ground and pound drive broke the Steelers defense and broke the game open. Of the Ravens’ first 32 plays, 24 were runs.

“That’s a lineman’s dream right there,” center Tyler Linderbaum said. “Continue to wear on them. It’s a physical team; you’ve got to exceed the physicality. I thought we did that today. I thought we set the tone early what kind of game it was going to be. They knew we were going to try to come in and run the ball and it was their job to stop it.”

The Steelers never did stop it. Just when Pittsburgh started to close the gap in the second half, pulling to 14 points down on their first drive of the third quarter, Henry slammed the door in their face again, this time with the 44-yard run up the gut.

Asked about that run, Queen simply said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Fellow former Raven turned Steelers safety DeShon Elliott put it bluntly.

“Having 300 yards rushing on you is worse than 300 yards passing,” Elliott said. “They definitely put belt to butt today.”

Five years ago to the day, as a member of the Tennessee Titans, Henry ran over the top-seeded 2019 Ravens with 30 carries for 195 yards. His stiff-arm on Earl Thomas went viral that night, and he added a few more to the highlight reel Saturday versus the Steelers.

Now the Ravens have the King on their side, and they’re going to be tough to dethrone the rest of the way in the playoffs. But Henry is staying humble.

“Give credit to the guys blocking and the man above,” Henry said.

“We’re not going to get too [far] ahead of ourselves and go off the walls about how great we are. We’re going to stay level-headed, enjoy this one, watch the film, see where we can get better at and then move onto the next one.”