NFL winners and losers, Week 3: That's the Derrick Henry the Ravens wanted

Each week of the NFL season, The Baltimore Sun will recap the best and worst from around the league. Here are our winners and losers from Week 3:

Winner: Derrick Henry

It had been slowly building for two weeks, like a train gathering steam. A bruising touchdown run to give the Ravens their first points of the season. A strong second half to help close what should have been a Week 2 win. Sunday, he reminded everyone why he’s an all-time great.

Henry’s 25-carry, 151-yard, two-touchdown performance in a closer-than-it-should-have-been 28-25 win over the Dallas Cowboys was a breath of fresh air for a Ravens offense that faced questions about its identity during a frustrating 0-2 start.

With quarterback Lamar Jackson relying mostly on his legs and short passes, Henry was the star, battering his way into the end zone for the Ravens’ second touchdown, knifing through the defense and taking a screen pass deep into Cowboys territory on another scoring drive and silencing the home crowd with a devastating 26-yard touchdown run that gave Baltimore a 28-6 lead early in the second half. And, oh, who can forget that vintage stiff arm.

If not for the Ravens’ bungling of the fourth quarter, in which they allowed 19 unanswered points in a near total collapse, Henry’s day might have been more celebrated. Still, he left quite an impression on his new teammates.

“It’s like seeing a superhero in real life,” backup running back Justice Hill said.

“It’s a dream,” fullback Patrick Ricard said of blocking for him. “He is such a beast.”

“He did what kings do,” said Jackson, who joked with Henry that he might have left more yards and touchdowns on the table.

Henry was quick to credit his offensive line, a sore subject for those who saw the Ravens struggling and wondered why changes weren’t made. Coach John Harbaugh stuck with the same lineup, and nobody appreciated it more than Henry.

“They came out with a mindset of moving guys off the line of scrimmage [and] being physical and playing the Ravens style of football – and I think they did a great job of that today,” he said. “For me to have success — I told them before the game — I said, ‘When [you] go, I go.’”

The Ravens and Henry always felt like a perfect match, with his bruising style complementing Jackson’s shiftiness and speed. One big game against a struggling defense doesn’t answer every question, but we got a glimpse of how unstoppable this offense can be when it’s clicking.

Loser: Cleveland Browns

You could not have asked for a better start Sunday. The New York Giants fumbled the opening kickoff, and on the Browns’ first play from scrimmage, Deshaun Watson threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper.

It was all downhill from there.

Playing against a team many wrote off after a frustrating 0-2 start, Cleveland could barely move the ball in a 21-15 loss. After that opening touchdown, the Browns gained just 25 net yards on their next seven possessions, including a three-play drive that lost 15 yards. They punted six times, finished 4 for 14 on third down and fumbled twice while averaging just 3.4 yards per play.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson once again looked lost, taking eight sacks and averaging just 5.3 yards per attempt. Cleveland’s offensive line was once the strength of this team, but mounting injuries and the departure of esteemed coach Bill Callahan has rendered that unit a shell of itself. The absence of running back Nick Chubb hasn’t helped either, but Watson has been among the league’s worst quarterbacks since being suspended for 11 games in 2022 after being accused by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and sexual misconduct. According to ESPN, Watson’s QBR of 23.2 this season is better than only one other qualifier: Bryce Young.

It’s fair to wonder how much more patience the Browns will have with their starting quarterback and the remaining money on his $230 million guaranteed contract. Jameis Winston is waiting in the wings, and two-time NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski has proven he can get the best out of backups after last season’s stunning run with Joe Flacco under center. For the sake of Stefanski’s job and others in the building, it might be time to make a change.

Winner: Malik Willis

Situation matters.

In 2022, the rookie was thrown into the fire by Titans coach Mike Vrabel after Ryan Tannehill was injured and struggled mightily, completing just 11-of-26 passes in two spot starts. He didn’t play much the following year and was traded to Green Bay in August for a seventh-round pick.

When Jordan Love suffered a knee injury in the season opener, Willis was once again back in the starting role. This time, he had a coach and a play-caller who understood how to use him.

After a 30-14 win over his former team Sunday, Willis is 2-0 with the Packers and has looked brilliant along the way. Against the Titans, he completed 13-of-19 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown and was the team’s leading rusher with six carries for 73 yards and a score.

While coach Matt LeFleur has built a creative game plan for the 25-year-old signal-caller to take advantage of his rushing ability, he’s also trusted Willis to throw downfield and has been rewarded. On Sunday, he completed three passes 15-plus yards past the line of scrimmage, including a 37-yard completion to Christian Watson.

“What he’s been able to do is, I’ve never seen something like this,” LaFleur said of Willis after the game.

Of course, there’s no quarterback controversy in Green Bay after Love signed a four-year, $220 million deal this offseason. But Willis has earned a backup role in the league because of what he’s been able to do over the past two weeks.

Winner: Brian Flores

Quarterback Sam Darnold has earned plenty of praise for his career revival in Minnesota. But the man who deserves even more attention for the Vikings’ stunning 3-0 start is their defensive coordinator.

Flores has had a winding career, serving as a key defensive coach under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots before becoming head coach of the Miami Dolphins. After a controversial exit in Miami, which prompted Flores to file a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, Dolphins, Giants and Denver Broncos alleging discrimination, he was hired in 2022 as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Steelers. In 2023, he was hired by the Vikings to take over their defense.

Minnesota showed tremendous growth in Flores’ first season, rising from 24th to 11th in defensive DVOA, a mark of overall efficiency. This year, the Vikings are No. 1.

The season began with a blowout of the Giants and Daniel Jones, who was sacked five times and intercepted twice in a 28-6 win by Minnesota. Then came a 23-17 victory over the 49ers and Brock Purdy, who told Flores “your scheme is crazy” after being sacked six times and throwing an interception as San Francisco went a combined 3 for 13 on third and fourth down.

But Sunday was Flores’ masterpiece. The Vikings completely flummoxed Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, who threw two interceptions — his first since November 2023 — and was sacked four times in Minnesota’s 34-7 blowout win. Stroud was shown on television cameras exasperated with his head in his hands on the sideline, something we haven’t yet seen from the rising star in his young career.

How good has Flores been? The Vikings are the only team over the past 20 years to record five or more sacks in each of their first three games.

“I keep telling people, the way this defense is run, you’ve got to have a crazy person at the head of it,” cornerback Shaq Griffin said after the game, according to The Athletic. “That’s [Flores]. He’s the only person that can do it. That’s the reason why all these teams are still confused.”

If the Vikings keep this up, Flores has earned another shot to be a head coach.

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