Upstart Titans on a roll at right time
Thanks to Henry, team one win away from Super Bowl
BALTIMORE Remember these Titans, upset kings extraordinaire.
Even if they don’t win another game in these playoffs, the Tennessee Titans have done more than enough to rank as one of the top giant killers in NFL post-season history.
The upstarts are just one win from a Super Bowl berth, for a bunch of reasons, but in large part because of the insanely great play of their dominating monster of a running back, Derrick Henry.
He’s gaining yards on the ground like no one in NFL playoff annals after two games, with 372 yards.
A fourth-year player out of the University of Alabama, Henry stands 6-foot-3, weighs 247 pounds and possesses upper-body muscles so chiselled and large you’d swear in person he must be a tight end or defensive end.
But, by gosh, was Henry born to run. He never has looked better than in this month’s huge upset wins.
First, a week ago Saturday, Tennessee knocked off the New England Patriots — the defending Super Bowl champions — in the first round, and on their own turf no less, 20-13. Henry set a new Titans playoff record with 182 yards.
That record lasted exactly seven days.
On Saturday night here at M&T Bank Stadium, as the Titans eliminated the Baltimore Ravens — the NFL’s No. 1 team during the regular season (14-2) that hadn’t lost since September — Henry ran for 190 yards, with 134 coming in an eye-popping second half.
Only one NFL running back since 1950 — Freeman McNeil of the New York Jets, with 202 at Cincinnati in 1983 — has rushed for more yards on the road than Henry’s two Saturday night specials this month.
Henry furthermore on Saturday night became the first running back in NFL history to rush for 180-plus yards in three consecutive games, dating back to the final regular season game in Houston.
“I am happy we won,” Henry said.
“Stats and all that is good, but we got the win, and we are advancing. That is the most important thing.”
Saturday’s AFC divisional playoff game wasn’t even close. The Titans had at least a two-score lead for much of the game, winning 28-12.
Next up for the Titans? The AFC Championship Game next Sunday, on the road again against the Kansas City Chiefs (12-4), who beat the Houston Texans 51-31 Sunday.
A win in that game will put these mighty underdogs in Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2 in Miami.
One of the oldest clichés in sport says you can throw out the regular season records come playoff time. Because it’s not a matter how you played on average over the previous four to six months, only how you’re playing lately.
And the Titans lately have been rather good. They might have opened 2-4, but they finished the regular season winning seven out of 10 games, and are now a stunning 2-0 in the post-season.
It’s the most impressive showing by a wild-card playoff team since the NFC wild-card New York Giants went all the way following the 2007 season.