The Baltimore Ravens need a win this weekend to stay alive in their hunt for the playoffs. At 7-8, a loss ends Baltimore’s chances to clinch a playoff berth for the fourth straight year.
The Ravens don’t control their own destiny however; the Pittsburgh Steelers can clinch the AFC North with a win over the Browns. Baltimore cannot reach any of the Wild Card slots, so the division is their only path to the playoffs remaining.
Because the Ravens play on Saturday and the Steelers play on Sunday, Baltimore can play the full game without being eliminated before game’s end. This is an important factor for many Ravens starters, including Derrick Henry, who is coming up on etching his name in NFL history this weekend.
Henry Set to Join Top 10 NFL Rushers of All Time
Heading into this weekend, Derrick Henry sits in 11th place in career rushing yards in NFL history. Henry currently has 12,676 rushing yards in his career; right above him on the list is longtime Cowboys running back, Tony Dorsett, who has 12,739.
With 64 rushing yards on Saturday against the Green Bay Packers, Henry will crack the top 10.
Henry has two of the top 11 rushing seasons in NFL history: he had 2,027 yards in 2020 with Tennessee, the fifth most in a single season all time, and 1,921 last season with Baltimore, good for 11th on the single season rushing list.
Henry’s had one of the more inconsistent seasons of his career, but he still has 1,253 yards this year, fourth most in the league. He’s cracked 100 in his last two games, and has broken the 64 yard mark in 10 of his 15 games this season.
If Henry continues his dominance in the 2026 season, he’ll need less than 1,000 yards to overtake the next three guys on the all time list, Eric Dickerson, Jerome Bettis, and LaDainian Tomlinson. With 1,200 yards next season, he’d have a chance to pass Curtis Martin as well to get to No. 6 all time.
It’s well known that the lifespan of an NFL running back isn’t long, and Henry has been in the league for 10 years now. If he can break the mold of running backs retiring early, he could potentially reach Frank Gore at No. 3; the 16,000 yard mark.
Ravens Battling to Stay Alive This Weekend
The Ravens path to the playoffs is incredibly unlikely, due mostly to the Steelers three-game winning streak. The only way Baltimore can make the playoffs now is for them to win their final two games and Pittsburgh to lose their final two games.
Baltimore and Pittsburgh will play each other in week 18, so if the Steelers lose to Cleveland this week and the Ravens win against the Packers, that week 18 game will determine the AFC North and the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoff picture.
The Ravens have a tough test in front of them in Green Bay, who lost a heartbreaker to the Chicago Bears last week.
The good news for Baltimore is that the Packers have already clinched a playoff spot, meaning they won’t be as desperate for a win this week. But Green Bay has lost two straight, so they won’t want to go into the playoffs on a losing streak, so that is where their motivation will be coming from.
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