The new beast: Derek Henry

[trents]

Did you guys see the Titans/Jaguars game Thursday night? Did you see that 99 yard take it to the house run by D. Henry? He was throwing would be tacklers around like rag dolls. That one beat the best from the Beast that was in Seattle. And I didn't know Henry had that kind of speed. Very impressive.

[c_hawkbob]

Third best run from scrimmage I ever saw!

[RiverDog]

Third best run from scrimmage I ever saw!

And that's not counting Tony Dorsett!

[NorthHawk]

Did you guys see the Titans/Jaguars game Thursday night? Did you see that 99 yard take it to the house run by D. Henry? He was throwing would be tacklers around like rag dolls. That one beat the best from the Beast that was in Seattle. And I didn't know Henry had that kind of speed. Very impressive.

It was a great run, but he's been pretty soft considering his size for most of his career, so for me he's not yet a "beast" until he consistently runs over guys and breaks a multitude of tackles every game.

[RiverDog]

The only thing more impressive about Henry's run vs. about 3 Beast quakes was the distance it covered. That's not to take anything away from Henry's run. It was electrifying and worth mentioning, but it doesn't hold a candle to the crotch grabs.

[Hawktawk]

Beast broke about 8 tackles in a playoff game vs the defensing world champions and caused an earthquake. I could feel it.I was there sitting at camera angle on the 50 five rows up, still my only playoff game. Henry had a big run, amazing but people forget he's like 240 and Lynch was 216. Beast and Beast 2 in AZ were so much more violent and impressive.

I'll take it to my grave, I saw one of the most physical violent backs ever to play the game wear the Hawks Uni.

[RiverDog]

I'll take it to my grave, I saw one of the most physical violent backs ever to play the game wear the Hawks Uni.

No argument there.

But we can't leave out backs like Earl Campbell and Larry Czonka when the subject is physical, violent backs. FYI Czonka is the only running back in the history of the NFL to have a roughing the tackler penalty called on him.

[Aseahawkfan]

Beast broke about 8 tackles in a playoff game vs the defensing world champions and caused an earthquake. I could feel it.I was there sitting at camera angle on the 50 five rows up, still my only playoff game. Henry had a big run, amazing but people forget he's like 240 and Lynch was 216. Beast and Beast 2 in AZ were so much more violent and impressive.

I'll take it to my grave, I saw one of the most physical violent backs ever to play the game wear the Hawks Uni.

It was like Larry Csonka or Jim Brown reborn. Beastmode was the most brutal runner I've seen in decades. I miss that. Never saw anyone truck a defense like Beast.

[c_hawkbob]

Csonka was an absolute brute, a cave man of a RB. His straight arms were forearm shivers, he broke noses not just tackles. That unnecessary roughness penalty he got for one of those forearm shivers was called when the NFL was a whole lot more violent place than it is now. The ref felt that he swerved to initiate the contact when he could have ran past it just so he could deliver the blow. He was as tough as any player ever, but he was a FB, didn't have the moves other violent runners like Brown, Campbell and Beast had.

Derek Henry may not deserve mention among that group, but that run did, it was the coolest thing I've seen in some time.

[trents]

What's Derek Henry, about 6'3"? He's unusually tall for a RB.

[Hawktawk]

But we can't leave out backs like Earl Campbell and Larry Czonka when the subject is physical, violent backs. FYI Czonka is the only running back in the history of the NFL to have a roughing the tackler penalty called on him.

Key word was "one of". I'm well aware of Csonka and for my money the Tyler Rose was the best power back in history because he not only had the same tackle breaking power as Lynch if not more, the same moves in tight spaces but he had breakaway speed as well.Footage of him bowling people over like a Brahma bull kiting rodeo clowns, running away with multiple would be tacklers hanging from his ripped jersey with his shoulder pads hanging out, unbelievable.

Its sad to see Campbell now. 350 lbs and a completely broken body barely able to walk the last time I saw an interview.It takes a toll playing like that. I think Lynch should rightfully join him in the HOF as a first ballot guy though.

[Hawktawk]

Csonka was an absolute brute, a cave man of a RB. His straight arms were forearm shivers, he broke noses not just tackles. That unnecessary roughness penalty he got for one of those forearm shivers was called when the NFL was a whole lot more violent place than it is now. The ref felt that he swerved to initiate the contact when he could have ran past it just so he could deliver the blow. He was as tough as any player ever, but he was a FB, didn't have the moves other violent runners like Brown, Campbell and Beast had.

Derek Henry may not deserve mention among that group, but that run did, it was the coolest thing I've seen in some time.

I was a bit player on the Coulee city Rams high school state title team in 74 and our FB/defensive end was a guy named Vic Liliequist. He went 230 and could bench over 400 lbs. I saw him block people and knock them backwards 5 yards in midair.

We were playing Entiat in the championship year and Vic got loose on a run after breaking several tackles at the line of scrimmage. He had the angle on the defense and enough speed he had finished second in state in the high hurdles but he hung a sharp right turn and ran over the would be tackler intentionally slamming him headfirst into the turf with a stiff arm before cruising in for a touchdown. I'll never forget that poor sap staggering over to the sidelines with a piece of turf pizza hanging out of his facemask. Vic got a ride to UW but tore his ACL training and never played another down.Honestly I think he could have played on Sundays . He wound up an educator and coach in Ellensburg and tragically died of a heart attack in his early 50s. I know its OT but it was still one of the more violent runs I ever saw on the gridiron and your Csonka story reminded me of it.

[RiverDog]

Key word was "one of". I'm well aware of Csonka and for my money the Tyler Rose was the best power back in history because he not only had the same tackle breaking power as Lynch if not more, the same moves in tight spaces but he had breakaway speed as well.Footage of him bowling people over like a Brahma bull kiting rodeo clowns, running away with multiple would be tacklers hanging from his ripped jersey with his shoulder pads hanging out, unbelievable.

Its sad to see Campbell now. 350 lbs and a completely broken body barely able to walk the last time I saw an interview.It takes a toll playing like that. I think Lynch should rightfully join him in the HOF as a first ballot guy though.

Beast deserves the HOF, but I don't know if he makes it or not. The game has changed, de-emphasizing the importance of the running back. They're not every down players. IMO the only running back from this era that's a sure fire HOF'er is Adrian Peterson. Beast is also an eccentric personality that could rub voters the wrong way in the same manner that T.O. did. Heck, after donning his gold jacket, I wouldn't put it past him to jump off the podium and grab his balls.