Move Over Tom Brady and Michael Jordan, Derrick Henry Is 'Greatest Older Athlete of All Time'
After watching Derrick Henry's dominant performance in the Ravens' season-opening win over the Indianapolis Colts, Sal Iacono (a.k.a. Cousin Sal) of "The Bill Simmons Podcast" referred to the star running back as "the greatest older athlete of all time.'
That almost sounds like a backhanded compliment akin to "you look good for your age," but there's nothing backhanded about being mentioned in the same sentence as Tom Brady and NBA legend Michael Jordan.
"You could say Brady, but Brady doesn't take hits like Henry," Iacono said. "Henry gets tackled every time he gets the ball, almost every time he gets the ball."
Simmons agreed, noting that Henry is every bit the bruising running back at 32 that he was in his 20s.
"What's crazy about it is he still is physically dominant and overpowering the same way he was at his peak," Simmons said. "Nothing has changed about how he plays. It's not like when Jordan got older and it's like, 'Oh, now he has a fadeaway, now he's figured out the mental game and he's not going to try to dunk on you all the time.'
"You can watch Derrick Henry highlights this year, and they're the same highlights as Derrick Henry in 2019."
ESPN's Rich Eisen also marveled at Henry's ability to defy conventional thinking about running backs over 30.
"Does that look like a guy that's over the hill?" Eisen said on "The Rich Eisen Show." "You know that hill that you go over when you're a 30-year-old running back? It looks like he's training on that hill. Just going up it and then daring anybody half his age to just stick up with him. Jeez!"
Chris Simms Says Zay Flowers Would've Had 300 Receiving Yards if He Hadn't Suffered Injury
NBC Sports' Chris Simms said the debate over whether Zay Flowers is a "true" No. 1 wide receiver should finally be put to rest after his electric performance against the Colts.
Flowers had a career-high 150 receiving yards and a touchdown in the first half before exiting with a hamstring injury.
"If Zay Flowers stayed healthy [Sunday] and doesn't pull his hamstring, he's going to have 300 yards receiving," Simms said. "For all the haters out there on Zay Flowers. 'Oh, he's getting $35 million a year. He shouldn't get as much as Justin Jefferson.' Oh, yeah? Well eat that crap right there.
"You can see why they like him. First off, he can do things in space that a lot of receivers can't do. And he fits the way they play."
For context, only four receivers have ever had 300 receiving yards in a game in the Super Bowl era.
ESPN's Dan Orlovsky and CBS Sports' Leger Douzable also were impressed by Flowers, who is “day to day,” according to Head Coach Jesse Minter.
Orlovsky saw elements of All-Pro wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Cooper Kupp in Flowers, while Douzable said Flowers is "the best receiver in the NFL against man coverage because he's so twitchy at the line of scrimmage and we saw how dynamic he is in open space."
Lamar Jackson's Magical Play Makes Tiresome Narratives Disappear
As impressive as Henry and Flowers were in Week 1, Lamar Jackson also put on a show.
In addition to throwing for 324 yards and scoring two touchdowns (one passing, one rushing), the two-time MVP added yet another magical play to his career highlight reel.
"It's the damndest thing. You can watch Lamar Jackson play hundreds of snaps, do the most incredible things you've ever seen on a football field and drill into your brain that you should never underestimate him," The Baltimore Banner’s Kyle Goon wrote. "And, still, his next highlight will take you by surprise.
"Even scrutinizing the pixels of a slow-motion replay, it's hard to see how Jackson found daylight beneath the tangle of four players much, much larger than he is. Somehow, from underneath Arden Key and DeForest Buckner, from the narrowest gap between his linemen Ronnie Stanley and Jovaughn Gwyn, Jackson didn't just emerge but blistered forward. Not only was he somehow Not Sacked, but he was almost immediately weaving around blockers on his way to one of the most unlikely third-and-16 conversions anyone has ever seen."
The Athletic's Candace Buckner called Jackson "an illusionist in pads."
"Moments like that leave us — the fans in purple who made this trip to downtown Indy, the men who have a front-row seat to this on the practice fields at Owings Mills, Md., any observer who understands the significance of the LJ Era — awestruck," Buckner wrote. "But plays like that make Jackson all but yawn. To him, it's just playing football.
"But if Jackson keeps playing like he did Sunday, leading the Ravens to a 41-23 takedown of the overwhelmed Colts, he's going to cost some people their jobs. Warning to defensive coordinators on the Ravens' schedule: Lamar's healthy again. His 324 yards through the air (the 11th 300-yard passing game of his career) and 40 additional yards on the ground prove it. Even more, if he keeps playing like this, then Jackson is confidently strolling into the 2026 MVP conversation and asking everyone else: 'Who's coming in second?'"
Goon said all the tiresome offseason chatter from Jackson's critics don't matter once he steps onto the field.
"The biggest Jackson escape act, however, occurs annually at kickoff," Goon wrote. "Every offseason, Baltimore's franchise quarterback is locked in a cage of discourse — a spiral of often repeating narratives around his ability, his expectations and his future. If the offseason is Jackson's hell, the season itself is a kind of heaven. It reminds us his otherworldly talent is why he commands so much attention in the first place.
"We are witnessing a special football talent, someone who does things no other quarterback — let's face it, no other athlete — is doing in the NFL. The long wait through the offseason is worth it, if only because Jackson transcends the usual bounds of reality."
