In the last two seasons, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry has led the league in yards after contact, en route to becoming the NFL’s leading rusher.
The Titans’ superstar back has put up highlight-reel play after highlight-reel play with explosive runs and eye-popping stiff arms on defenders trying to bring down his 6-foot-3, 247-pound frame.
It hasn’t ended well for most, but it sounds like the Colts are making it a priority to limit Henry’s damage and not have themselves turned into a highlight.
“All I gotta say is, we’re going to tackle him,” Colts safety Julian Blackmon told the media earlier this week. “Yes, we know he’s going to stiff arm — yes, we know that. We have to tackle him; we have to. It’s a point of emphasis for us to tackle him. 2-2. He’s gonna get the ball, get him down. That’s what we know, and we gotta execute. It starts today.
“It’s a mentality of a ‘want-to’. As soon as you kind of, like, pause, you’re on a highlight – you’re on ESPN. That’s what you’re on. So you can’t just second guess. You gotta go in there and want to tackle him – it’s a ‘want-to’ thing.”
On Sunday, the Titans and Colts will clash at Nissan Stadium, and Henry has averaged just under six yards per carry against Indianapolis in 10 career games.
Henry rushed for a combined 281 yards on 46 attempts (6.1 YPC) in two meetings against the Colts last season — and he’s off to a torrid start to begin the 2021 season, highlighted by a 182-yard performance last week in Seattle.
“Well he’s about 270 pounds playing running back. He’s got great vision and their offensive scheme puts him in position to have mismatches on the outside,” Colts linebacker Darius Leonard said. “You see a lot of times they run the Tampa and then the only thing he’s doing is jump cutting, stiff arming the cornerbacks on the outside. So that’s why we have to be great with our crack replace and linebackers scraping over the top, and making sure that we have seven-plus to the ball. We know who we are, we know who he is. It’s a thing that you say, you respect him but don’t be scared of him and that’s the thing you all have to understand. We play ball, we played against these guys, it’s been going on Year Four for me. There’s no fear in anybody’s heart that’s going against him and you have to understand that. There’s one football and there’s eleven guys on defense just trying to get to the ball. We have to make sure we do that.”
Aside from being a threat on the ground, Henry has recently been getting more looks as a receiver out of the backfield. Against the Seahawks, the 27-year-old Alabama product caught a career-high six passes for 55 yards.
Speaking of receivers, the Colts’ secondary will have their hands full with the Titans’ elite duo. Blackmon noted that the A.J. Brown-Julio Jones tandem may be the best the Colts have seen thus far.
“They’re right up there with all those duos, if not the best that we’ve seen. We just have to make sure — you’ve got to pay attention. Tendencies, the big thing with offenses is they can’t help but have tendencies. Just knowing where guys are aligned will help you understand where you should be — at least for my position because I can see everything. I try to tell guys what I’m looking at, what I can see because sometimes they can’t see it,” Blackmon concluded.
Brown is off to a slow start, accumulating just 92 yards on seven catches, but Julio Jones caught six balls for 128 yards against the Seahawks.
Tennessee and Indianapolis are set for a noon CT kickoff on Sunday.
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