Derrick Henry is still an elite back.

[IsntLifeFunny]

5 hours ago, Mythos27 said:

There was no running room up the middle. Backs don't just bounce outside for fun. That's why I'm asking you to go back and look. No back sees a nice hole right where the play is designed to go and says "nah, I'll take my chances outside where no one is expecting me to be". 

I know what I saw. He consistently bounced things out instead of being patient and sticking with the designed play. He's literally on record admitting this lol. He was going down too easily and bouncing outside wau too much. 

Edited August 24 by IsntLifeFunny

[Mythos27]

12 minutes ago, IsntLifeFunny said:

I know what I saw. He consistently bounced things out instead of being patient and sticking with the designed play. He's literally on record admitting this lol. He was going down too easily and bouncing outside wau too much. 

Are you stating that there where plenty of holes to hit inside?

[IsntLifeFunny]

Just now, Mythos27 said:

Are you stating that there where plenty of holes to hit inside?

No. I'm stating by his own words he was bouncing outside too much and not running with enough power, which is simply true, especially in 2018. Doesn't mean the OL and QB situation didn't hinder his play. He's literally stating to everyone he knows for a fact he was not playing his best football and had to correct himself. Not sure what else there is to argue about. 

[Mythos27]

17 minutes ago, IsntLifeFunny said:

I know what I saw. He consistently bounced things out instead of being patient and sticking with the designed play. He's literally on record admitting this lol. He was going down too easily and bouncing outside wau too much. 

You started to see him have more success running inside so you attributed that increased success to his change in approach. I'm telling you that this change in apporach only bore fruit because his blocking inside also improved. The change alone would've been fruitless. 

Edited August 24 by Mythos27

[IsntLifeFunny]

1 minute ago, Mythos27 said:

You started to see him have more success running inside so you attributed that increased success on his change in approach. I'm telling you that this change in apporach only bore fruit because his blocking inside also improved. The change alone would've been fruitless. 

Nah. We saw it starting with the Jacksonville game. It wasn't just about running inside. It was, as he said, about keeping his legs churning on contact and sticking with the play instead of bouncing so much. The version of Henry in 16, 17, and the first 12 games of 18 doesn't become the GOAT RB of our generation just because the OL and QB got better. I get you think it's football speak, and normally I would agree about that, but Henry admitted he was not focused enough, training hard the way he does now, running through contact and punishing defenders, and that he wasn't sticking with the designed run. 

[IsntLifeFunny]

I do find it hilarious me and Mythos, the two largest Henry supporters on the board, are arguing over this instead of taking a victory lap  

[Mythos27]

7 minutes ago, IsntLifeFunny said:

Nah. We saw it starting with the Jacksonville game. It wasn't just about running inside. It was, as he said, about keeping his legs churning on contact and sticking with the play instead of bouncing so much. The version of Henry in 16, 17, and the first 12 games of 18 doesn't become the GOAT RB of our generation just because the OL and QB got better. I get you think it's football speak, and normally I would agree about that, but Henry admitted he was not focused enough, training hard the way he does now, running through contact and punishing defenders, and that he wasn't sticking with the designed run. 

I just flat out disagree. Without a significant improvement from his OL and QB all we would've seen in Henry pounding it inside more often but for no gain or gains less than 3 yards because that's what was being blocked for. This is precisely why each time we stuggled up front AFTER this change in approach he went right back to struggling and posters here went right back to blaming him. I get what it LOOKED like to you but I'm telling you, it didn't go down the way you think. RBs are much more a product of their OLs than the other way around. The OL improvement had to come first and it's what made his more conservative approach work. If simply "running hard" and not bouncing runs was a magic bullet the league would be full of Derrick Henrys. 

Edited August 24 by Mythos27

[Mythos27]

4 minutes ago, IsntLifeFunny said:

I do find it hilarious me and Mythos, the two largest Henry supporters on the board, are arguing over this instead of taking a victory lap  

That's because we care about being right for the right reasons, not just being right to rub it in people's faces. We largely agree on that 40/40/20 split. We're quibbling about details at this point. 

[IsntLifeFunny]

46 minutes ago, Mythos27 said:

That's because we care about being right for the right reasons, not just being right to rub it in people's faces. We largely agree on that 40/40/20 split. We're quibbling about details at this point. 

I get ancy when there's no one left to argue with in the political section lol. 

[OILERMAN]

9 hours ago, IsntLifeFunny said:

I do find it hilarious me and Mythos, the two largest Henry supporters on the board, are arguing over this instead of taking a victory lap  

 

I'm not kidding, it's a more ridiculous take than any Anti-Henry take. 

 

Henry himself, Eddie George said it, two coaching staffs said it, he was benched.....It's not up for any serious debate

[titanruss]

34 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

 

I'm not kidding, it's a more ridiculous take than any Anti-Henry take. 

 

Henry himself, Eddie George said it, two coaching staffs said it, he was benched.....It's not up for any serious debate

Pretty sure you were on the other side of this debate at one point. 

[Mythos27]

On 8/24/2026 at 9:33 PM, OILERMAN said:

 

I'm not kidding, it's a more ridiculous take than any Anti-Henry take. 

 

Henry himself, Eddie George said it, two coaching staffs said it, he was benched.....It's not up for any serious debate

There is no debate that they said these things. The debate is wether their assessment of the root problem is correct. It's not. They're wrong. 

[BudsOilers]

This is just a weird take @Mythos27as you know ball.  Henry himself said he made adjustments.  It's also undeniable that he had been dropped on the depth chart and on the trade block prior to his adjustments.

 

While he certainly could have also benefitted from improved blocking - run blocking typically takes time to gel given the soft practices in TC and in week - but he and others have explicitly said he made adjustments.

 

If anything, Henry deserves a ton of credit for doing so and going from the bench to a stud runner.

[Mythos27]

On 8/28/2026 at 9:56 PM, BudsOilers said:

This is just a weird take @Mythos27as you know ball.  Henry himself said he made adjustments.  It's also undeniable that he had been dropped on the depth chart and on the trade block prior to his adjustments.

 

While he certainly could have also benefitted from improved blocking - run blocking typically takes time to gel given the soft practices in TC and in week - but he and others have explicitly said he made adjustments.

 

If anything, Henry deserves a ton of credit for doing so and going from the bench to a stud runner.

I've not contested that he felt he needed to make changes nor that those changes happened. What I'm contesting is the idea that these changes were anywhere near as impactful as the OL improving and him lucking into a QB that played at an elite level. My contention is that without the latter, the former wouldn't have amounted to much and so far so no one has made an argument that the opposite is true.

[OILERMAN]

I thought when this thread popped up Tomato Can didn't make the cut