Derrick Henry carried the Ravens offense on his shoulders for large chunks of Sunday night's game in Buffalo. He ran over and past their defense for two touchdowns.
But as another cruel fate would have it, Henry was also left putting the Ravens' 41-40 loss to the Bills on those mighty shoulders, too.
"I have to take care of the ball," Henry said. "I told my teammates after the game that the loss is on me. I own it."
Henry fumbled with just over three minutes left with the Ravens trying to put away a game they led by eight points at the time. The Bills were hanging in, but it was still in hand for a Ravens offense that was, for the most part, unstoppable.
But yet again, just like in last year's playoff loss on the same field, a Ravens star committed an uncharacteristic and ultimately fatal mistake that adds to the sour taste the Ravens were hoping to expunge.
"Got to keep it high and tight. Got lackadaisical," said Henry, who had just three fumbles all last season on 325 carries. "They made a play, but I put this loss on me."
It's especially tough considering Henry had a monster game outside of the gaffe. He put up a staggering 169 yards on 18 carries, good for an average of 9.4 yards per rush.
Henry ripped off touchdown runs of 30 and 46 yards, displaying his unreal talents (still at age 31) on each.
First, he ran over Bills safety Cole Bishop with a vicious stiff-arm on his 30-yard gallop in the second quarter. Then Henry ran by Buffalo's other starting safety, Taylor Rapp, on his 46-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Henry surpassed all-time great Jim Brown with his 107th career rushing touchdown (he now has 108) and immediately vaulted to the league lead in rushing yards through the first week. But that didn't matter to him after the game.
"No more self-inflicted wounds. Taking care of the football," Henry said. "Like I said, I put that on me. It gives a team like that a chance to get the momentum and flip the game and put yourself in a bad spot, and I put the team in a bad spot by not taking care of the ball."
The Ravens had a chance to still come away with a win after Nate Wiggins broke up a two-point conversion attempt that kept Baltimore ahead by two points with less than two minutes to play. Baltimore needed just one first down, but Henry was stopped for a 1-yard gain, Zay Flowers got nothing on a jet sweep, and the Ravens went three-and-out.
Baltimore's offense certainly scored enough points to win but still felt complicit in leaving Highmark Stadium with a loss.
"As an offense, we had an opportunity to put the game away and we didn't," center Tyler Linderbaum said. "We did a lot of good things early on, but when it comes to crunch time, we've got to be able to execute and just win."
