TITANS’ HENRY AIMS TO RUN OVER FAVOURED CHIEFS
K.C.’S 26th-ranked rush defence gearing up for showdown with battering ram runner
It’s the safest prediction of the NFL season, certainly the best bet of championship weekend.
Everybody at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday and all those watching on television know what’s going to happen. The whole world knows Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill is going to take the ball from centre Ben Jones and hand it to running back Derrick Henry.
Again and again and again. And then some more.
If the Kansas City Chiefs can keep the damage Henry does to a minimum, they’ll claim the Lamar Hunt Trophy that’s named after their late owner and presented to the AFC champions. And they will advance to the Super Bowl.
If not, the Titans will continue this seldom-before-seen run as underdogs. They’ll become just the third team to knock off the top three seeds in the same post-season.
“Henry is a dynamic running back,” Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones said.
“He’s been playing exceptional. If you look at the last seven or eight weeks, what he’s been doing, the records that have been set, it’s extraordinary.”
Exceptional isn’t a strong enough word to describe what Henry has accomplished in the past two months. More like unprecedented.
In the last eight games Henry has played, including post-season, he has 203 carries for 1,273 yards — more real estate than any running back has ever churned up in an eight-game span. Over that stretch he has a 6.27-yardsper-carry average and 11 touchdowns.
Henry sat out Week 16, as that game against the New Orleans Saints would have no bearing on their post-season plans and he had a hamstring issue.
The following Sunday, in a Week 17, win-or-go-home showdown with the Houston Texans, he carried the ball 32 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Titans to a 35-14 victory and landing them the No. 6 seed in the playoffs. That was just the start of a mind-boggling run for the 26-year old running back.
Against the New England Patriots and their No. 1-ranked defence on wild card weekend, Henry had 34 carries for 182 yards and a touchdown in a stunning 20-13 upset.
Then last week, against the
No. 1 seed Baltimore Ravens and their No. 4-rated defence, the former Alabama star had 30 carries for 195 yards in a 28-12 shocker.
The Chiefs’ defence was ranked eighth, in case you’re wondering, and get this: As far as stopping the run goes, Baltimore was fifth,
New England sixth and Kansas City 26th.
How on Earth are the Chiefs going to have a chance? Especially without Jones? The sixfoot-six, 310-pound nose tackle missed last week’s game with a calf injury, and on Friday was “limited” as he practised for the first time this week.
“We’ve got the pieces,” said Jones. “We’ve got a great coaching staff that I believe in. Great group of guys that we brought in this year to make some things happen, so I feel we’re capable of doing that.”
One of those guys is rush end Frank Clark, who was obtained from the Seattle Seahawks when Dee Ford left as a free agent. You might remember Ford as the player who lined up in the neutral zone with the Chiefs leading the Patriots in the championship game last January. He was flagged for offside, wiping out a Chiefs interception that would have sent them to the Super Bowl.
As confident as the city of Kansas City is, that this is finally going to be the year for their team, that penalty still haunts fans in their dreams.
When it was brought up to Clark on Friday, he showed no sympathy for Ford.
“That’s a mental mistake,” he said. “It’s football. The ball’s right there, it’s simple. You put your hand behind the ball. You go onsides.
“That’s kind of how I’ve been playing football. That’s why I haven’t lined up offsides all season, probably all my career. If I jump offsides, that happens. It’s OK to jump offsides from time to time. But lining up offsides? That’s inexcusable.”
Victory could and should happen for the Chiefs. Overall, they are the better team. They’re long overdue to make another Super Bowl appearance, as is their head coach Andy Reid.
But stopping Henry?
Don’t bet on it.
Henry is a dynamic running back ... If you look at the last seven or eight weeks, what he’s been doing, the records that have been set, it’s extraordinary.