Following the Baltimore Ravens' wild-card demolition of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Lamar Jackson compared Derrick Henry to the Pixar character Lightning McQueen. It's a nickname that The King is leaning into.
"I don't want to be called anything else but McQueen. Don't call me Derrick, just call me McQueen," Henry said Thursday, smirking, via the team's official transcript. "No, I'm kidding. It was funny. I didn't think that would be the comparison, but 'L' [Lamar Jackson] is 'L.' I told him he needs to be a comedian when he's done playing, but I definitely got a kick and a laugh out of that."
Henry blasted off for a 44-yard touchdown in the third quarter of last week's romp over Pittsburgh, a score that essentially clinched the game for Baltimore.
"I just made sure, I said, 'Were you serious on that?'" Henry said of Jackson's comparison to the fictional speed racer. "He was like, 'I was dead serious.' I was like, 'OK then. McQueen, it is then.' It was funny. I don't know who he was talking to saying he might be too old to watch the movie, but I'm sure everybody knows about the 'Ka-chow' because everybody has seen Lightning McQueen."
Like Jackson, most want to be watching Derrick "McQueen" Henry rather than trying to stop him from scoring.
"It looked like a movie, I'm not going to lie to you," Jackson said of Henry's TD run. "But I'd rather be watching it than be on the other side of the ball; I know that."
Buffalo Bills defenders don't have that luxury Sunday night.