NFL rushing TD record: Can Derrick Henry break LaDainian Tomlinson’s single-season record?

The 2024 NFL season is the year of the running game. Through six weeks, NFL teams are averaging 4.5 yards per carry for just the second time in history, the first time in 2022. Teams are averaging 121.7 yards per game, the highest since 1987.

As the ground game returns, Baltimore’s Derrick Henry is leading the way. The Ravens running back has 704 yards through six games, nearly 100 more than San Francisco’s Jordan Mason in second. These two are the only running backs to reach 500 yards in Week 6.

Henry also finds the end zone with eight rushing touchdowns, the most in six games in NFL history. Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson holds the NFL record for rushing touchdowns in a single season with 28 in 2006.

Will Henry be able to break the record? Here’s what his chances of making scoring history look like in 2024.

Can Derrick Henry break the TD rushing record?

At its current pace, no. Henry has scored 23 touchdowns this season, good for sixth all-time. He will be behind:

• Tomlinson (28 in 2006)

• Shawn Alexander (27 in 2005)

• Priest Holmes (27 in 2003)

• Emmitt Smith (25 in 2005)

• John Riggins (24 in 1983)

Tomlinson threw just seven rushing touchdowns in six games during his record-breaking season.

Henry will need 20 rushing touchdowns in his remaining 11 games to match Tomlinson’s record. Of those 11 games, three were against top-10 rushing defenses: Pittsburgh (twice) and the Los Angeles Chargers. Week 10 has only one game against a top-10 rushing defense, Cincinnati.

LaDainian Tomlinson’s stats for the 2006 season

Tomlinson won the NFL MVP award in 2006 after a career year. His regular season results were:

• Rush: 348 carries, 1,815 yards, 28 touchdowns

• Receipt: 56 catches, 508 yards, three touchdowns.

• Walkthrough: 2 of 3 for 20 yards and two touchdowns.

His 33 total touchdowns that season remain the single-season record for a non-quarterback in NFL history.

After scoring just nine touchdowns in his first six games, Tomlinson turned things around. He totaled 24 touchdowns (21 rushing, two receiving, one passing) in the next nine games, breaking the single-season record. Despite going scoreless in the final two weeks of the regular season, he had the best productive year by a running back in NFL history.

Derrick Henry vs. LaDainian Tomlinson Career Stats

Henry is in his ninth season in the NFL. Tomlinson played 11 games: nine with the Chargers and two with the New York Jets. Here’s how they compare the start of Week 7’s “MNF” as the Ravens take the field:

Derrick Henry

LaDainian Tomlinson

Henry is the active NFL career leader in these fast-moving categories.

Henry ranks 31st in career rushing yards and 11th in career rushing touchdowns in NFL history. If he finishes the season in line with his career averages (rather than a record-breaking campaign), he would move up to 24th in rushing yards and tied for seventh all-time in those categories, respectively.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can Derrick Henry break LaDainian Tomlinson’s TD record?