The vast majority of Henry's big runs have come between the tackles. Sure, he's not great when the holes are clogged. Not many RBs are, especially those weighing 240 lbs. Give him the holes created by the 2008-2012 OLs and he'd have insane stats.
Haha, I almost typed... "I'll standby for nickel double dog's response in defense of King Henry." It's like critiquing Blake Sims and not hearing from Boz.
I have no chart breakdown to prove it either way, but your pov does not stand out to be true to me. But memories are generally affected more strongly by negative results, so who knows. For me, Henry between the tackles is less positive than Henry outside or in space.
He just simply seems to be the most effective when a sweep, counter, or improvised run have him working the edge.
The only between tackle runs that stand out from memory are his counter traps. But then it is misdirection and building up steam to attack a stretched B gap.
Otherwise, his "most memorable" runs come on sweeps or busted plays where he gets outside and a mixture of strong stiff arms on DBs and deceptive speed worked strongly in his favor.
Nothing I'm saying is meant to detract from the fact that he is a physical beast and a great team leader. He is strong with great straight line speed. He is also becoming really strong in pass protection and is great in the pass game when catching the ball in space.
However, he is not agile and doesn't play with the physicality a back of his size normally displays. He certainly does not finish a run looking to bring the pain on the last defender, like a htwmi, mfbatr, or gurley. Both impact his effectiveness between the tackles.
I'd just like to see him consistently hit a gap between the tackles hard and deliver a punishing hit or two. Instead, he seems to run upright looking to slip through traffic like Yeldon, which usually gets him tripped up easily and wastes the asset of his size.
When he sees traffic, he generally tries to back out and bounce outside, which is high risk, high reward for him. He either gets stretched out for a loss or catches the edge for a nice gain. Unfortunately, the former happens too often. I just feel there is some benefit over the course of the game committing to the run and delivering a punishing blow to a LB, even if it results in a small gain.
That said, it is not a knock on him. There is nothing wrong in playing to his strengths and comfort zone. Had CLK done that in Jan, Bama very well may have another championship trophy.
Like a video game, student body left/student body right all day until they stop it.
