Two of the most decorated players in Alabama football history will square off in the NFL on Sunday, when running back Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens play defensive tackle Jonathan Allen and the Washington Commanders.

Henry swept the national Player of the Year awards for the 2015 season, when Alabama won the CFP national championship. In addition to the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award, Henry also won the SEC Offensive Player of the Year Award and the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back and received unanimous All-American recognition.

The next season, Allen swept the national Defensive Player of the Year awards by winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award. He also won the SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award, the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation’s best lineman and the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation’s best defensive end. Allen was a unanimous All-American in 2016, when he earned All-SEC selection for third season in a row.

Five games into the 2024 NFL season, Henry leads the league in rushing yards with 572 by averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Already a two-time NFL rushing champion, a third title would make Henry the fourth player to lead the league in rushing at 30 years old or older, joining Marion Motley in 1950, Curtis Martin in 2004 and Adrian Peterson in 2015.

“If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t be playing,” Henry said on Wednesday when asked if he thought he could win another rushing crown. “I always have high standards for myself and what I’m capable of doing.”

Led by the one-two punch of Henry and quarterback Lamar Jackson, the Ravens lead the NFL with 1,056 rushing yards – 164 more than then the No. 2 team, Washington.

The Commanders also are the NFL’s highest-scoring team in 2024. Continuing that success will be a key factor in upending Baltimore on Sunday, Allen said.

“If your offense puts up points, it doesn’t allow them to just run the ball play in and play out,” Allen said during an appearance on “The Sports Junkies” on WJFK-FM in Washington. “But, really, it’s going to come down to a battle of the line of scrimmage. We just have to win the line of scrimmage, and I’m so excited and I’m looking forward to that opportunity come Sunday.”

Allen said he thinks he’s “more than prepared” for Henry.

Allen played 79 percent of Washington’s defensive snaps in 2023 after playing 82 percent in 2022. This season, he’s been on the field for 64 percent of the defensive snaps, and only five defenses in the NFL have faced fewer plays per game than the Commanders.

“You look at how much the offense controls the football and the reps that we’re playing defensively and the rotation that we’re having, I mean I’m just not playing the same numbers that I’ve ever had to in the past, so I feel really good,” Allen said. “… That was one of the first things we talked about when this new coaching staff came in. It was like, ‘You’re playing too much.’ And I’m like, ‘I agree. I am playing too much.’ So we were both on the same page about that. I have no problem with my numbers being down.”

Washington has another former Alabama standout starting at its other defensive-tackle spot in Daron Payne. After two injury-filled seasons, yet another former Crimson Tide defensive tackle, Phidarian Mathis, is rotating onto the field regularly for the Commanders, and Washington used its second-round draft pick on April 26 on defensive tackle Johnny Newton.

“I think they have a disruptive front,” Henry said. “Experienced linebackers who’ve been playing well, who do a great job. They’re playing well in the back end, too, so I think they have a solid all-around group. When you have momentum on a team and you’re playing complementary football, that’s kind of hard to stop, and I feel like they’ve been doing that very well. Offense is playing well and defense is picking up for them and back and forth. They’ve been doing a great job.”

Although Baltimore had the NFL’s best regular-season record in 2023, Washington enters Sunday’s game with a better mark than the Ravens. Baltimore has won three in a row to get to 3-2, but the Commanders have won four straight. Washington hadn’t won four of its first five games since the 2008 season.

“I think this is a good opportunity to see where we’re at as a team and as a franchise,” Allen said. “A game like this hasn’t been around too often for this organization. We’re excited to put in the work. We’re excited to put a good product on the field, and I’m looking forward to this game.”

The Alabama Game of the Week is the Cleveland Browns-Philadelphia Eagles contest on Sunday. Seventeen players from Alabama high schools and colleges are on the teams’ active rosters.

The Week 5 schedule (with all times Central and point spreads from BetMGM):

Thursday

· San Francisco 49ers (-3.5) at Seattle Seahawks, 7:15 p.m. (Prime Video)

Sunday

· Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Chicago Bears (-2) in London, 8:30 a.m. (NFL Network), 8:30 a.m.

· Washington Commanders at Baltimore Ravens (-6.5), noon (WIAT, WTVY, WKRG, WAKA)

· Arizona Cardinals at Green Bay Packers (-5.5), noon

· Houston Texans (-7) at New England Patriots, noon

· Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3.5) at New Orleans Saints, noon (WBRC, WZDX, WALA, WCOV, WDFX)

· Cleveland Browns at Philadelphia Eagles (-9), noon

· Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans (-2.5), noon (WHNT)

· Los Angeles Chargers (-2.5) at Denver Broncos, 3:05 p.m.

· Pittsburgh Steelers (-3) at Las Vegas Raiders, 3:05 p.m.

· Atlanta Falcons (-6) at Carolina Panthers, 3:25 p.m. (WBRC, WZDX, WCOV, WDFX)

· Detroit Lions (-3) at Dallas Cowboys, 3:25 p.m. (WALA)

· Cincinnati Bengals (-3.5) at New York Giants, 7:20 p.m. (NBC)

Monday

· Buffalo Bills (-2.5) at New York Jets, 7:15 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN2)

CHECK OUT MAPS OF SUNDAY’S BROADCAST TV COVERAGE

The teams with open dates in Week 6 include the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.