Jets must dethrone Titans' King Henry
THE JETS need a cause that has nothing to do with their floundering rookie quarterback. Desperate to avoid a repeat of last year’s grim march to oblivion, the Jets (0-3) need something, anything, as a rallying point that is not tethered to Zach Wilson, who looks like a lost little boy.
Meet Derrick Henry, all 6-foot-3 and 247 pounds of him. If you believe that your average NFL scout or executive isn’t much better at identifying college talent than your average NFL fan, Henry is your man. Imagine watching him pancake people for 2,219 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns at Alabama in 2015, and then picking 44 prospects in the next draft before saying, Oh, what the hell, let’s take a flyer on this guy at No. 45.
Last year, in his fifth season with the Titans, Henry became the eighth running back in pro football history to rush for at least 2,000 yards in a single season. Including the playoffs, Henry rushed for a combined 4,053 yards and 35 touchdowns over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He has rushed for 353 yards and three more scores so far this year.
But Henry is not a man to be measured solely by the numbers. When Henry steps off the bus, he makes a statement few running backs have ever made. He’s an inch taller and 15 pounds heavier than Jim Brown was in his prime. Henry has four inches and 15 pounds on Earl Campbell, and two inches and 27 pounds on Adrian Peterson.
“Have you guys ever seen him in person?” Jets head coach Robert Saleh asked reporters the other day. “Wait until you guys see this one. He is a massive human being. … He looks like an offensive lineman carrying the football.”
More than anything, Henry looks like someone you would rather not meet at full speed on Sunday afternoon. Yet when he arrives with the Titans at MetLife Stadium, Henry will represent a golden opportunity for the home team.
Why? Because containing a powerful running back is about toughness and desire more than it is about execution, that’s why.
To date, the Jets have proven incapable of executing much of anything, at least on the offensive side of the ball. They are a mistake machine, which is why Saleh spent a brief part of his Friday morning explaining that his Jets have to learn how to not lose a game before they learn how to win one.
But more than other sports, football allows extreme effort and physicality to overcome execution breakdowns. So if the Jets want to salvage their season before it’s too late, bringing the fight to Henry could go a long way toward achieving that goal, while also giving the gasping Wilson a chance to catch his breath.
Yes, you can file that suggestion under much easier said than done.
“You’ve got to get 11 hats to the ball,” said defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, using the time-honored cliché for swarming defenders leading with their helmets, a tactic that is now, you know, discouraged by the rulebook. Ulbrich observed that the defenses that have had the most success against Henry are “the people that really attack him.”
Jets linebacker Quincy Williams, who while a member of the Jaguars regularly faced Henry in the AFC South, said, “You’re going to have to run through him.”
Henry has the kind of strength, speed, and all-world stiff arm that prevents defenders from doing that. But the Titans won’t have injured star receivers Julio Jones and A.J. Brown to keep the Jets from focusing almost entirely on their running back. Ryan Tannehill has been throwing more to Henry to begin with, making it imperative that the Jets hit Henry as often as humanly possible.
In other words, the Jets need to wear down Henry in the first three quarters before he has a chance to wear them out in the fourth.
“I think any time you play a superstar or someone of his caliber, you know it’s an exciting challenge,” Saleh said. “He’s every bit as deserving of the accolades that he does have, and what he’s done in his entire career. … He’s the one that makes everything work, and he’s going to be a load and a challenge.”
The Jets should eagerly embrace that challenge. Though their quarterback, Wilson, will finally get a chance to throw the ball to Jamison Crowder and Denzel Mims against a Titans defense that doesn’t remind anyone of the 1985 Bears, this game should not be about the Jets’ offense.
As a gift to a tormented fan base, the Jets’ defense needs to make a stand. The Jets need to save their season by force and, for one Sunday, knock the great
King Henry off his throne.