No back in football has been more dominant in the past three weeks than Derrick Henry. The Titans feature back put 188 yards against the Chiefs three weeks ago and hasn’t slowed down since. Last week he had 149 yards against the Colts after putting up 159 against the Jaguars. That’s nearly 500 yards in three games while averaging 7.29 yards per carry.
Henry’s three-week explosion has jumped him to within striking distance of leading the in rushing. He has 1140 yards which is just 35 yards being Nick Chubb (1175) for the league lead.
Unlike Chubb and Christian McCaffrey (1167) who had their season-highs early in the season, Henry seems to be playing his best football down the stretch. Jon Gruden knows the Raiders defense will have their hands full Sunday.
“Yeah I think the secret sauce in Henry is he’s got all the talent, and size, and running instincts, but he never tires. He does not get tired. He’s a machine, man,” said Gruden. “This guy wears you down – physical – he can wear you down. You’ve got to gang tackle him. He’s a better-than-advertised receiver, but he just never tires. The more they give him the ball, the better he gets. It’s an impressive human being.”
“Monster” might be another way to describe Henry. He is a load at 6-3, 247 pounds. Handing him can take its toll on a defense. Especially with his ability to finish runs by driving through defenders. Consistently getting 2-3 yards after contact really adds up.
“You’ve got to play the blocks,” said defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. “First and foremost, you’ve got to be in the right spots, play the block, and then when he gets through there you’ve got to have eleven guys to the ball. He does a good job of trying to get extra yards, so we’ve got to put hats on him wherever he is, on his body as he’s trying to get those extra yards. We’ve got to make sure we get eleven to him.”
This season the Raiders have done a decent job at stopping the run. In only two of their losses did they allow over 100 yards rushing and just four times overall. They are currently ranked 11th in the league in rushing yards allowed.
The problem is focusing on Henry and selling out to stop him is it can cause you to lose discipline and bite on fakes. The next thing you know, Ryan Tannehill keeps it and makes a big play downfield. Or, as Patrick Mahomes did last week, he scoots in for a rushing touchdown of his own. That conundrum is part of the Titans have won three straight and five of their last six games to jump to 7-5 on the season.
Tannehill has been running this Titans offense to perfection of late and having Henry back there to get good yards makes his job a lot easier. And the job of the Raiders defense on Sunday a lot harder.
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