Titans thinking Henry will play Saturday
Derrick Henry hopes to make a triumphant return as the top-seeded Tennessee Titans host the upstart Cincinnati Bengals in an AFC divisional playoff game in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday.
Head coach Mike Vrabel said Thursday that the Titans would make the official call on Henry’s gameday status Friday.
“Derrick is progressing well,” Vrabel said, adding that Henry’s workload has increased throughout the week.
Barring the onset of soreness or a setback Friday, Henry is expected to be activated from injured reserve and play for the first time since sustaining a fractured right foot on Oct. 31. Prior to the injury, the bruising back led the NFL with 219 carries for 937 yards and 10 touchdowns.
“It’s been a while since he’s had contact,” Vrabel said of Henry on Wednesday. “We’re going to have to do these things that come close to replicating what’s going to be asked of him in a football game. We’ll have a week of work, we’ll see how he feels and make a decision.”
Henry would love a repeat of his 2019 performance in the playoffs, as he became the first player in NFL history to rush for 175 or more yards in back-to-back games. He participated in a padded practice Tuesday and said Wednesday he plans to contribute, but to what degree remains uncertain.
“Whatever I can do to help, I am always for it,” Henry said. “... I am ready to go out there and play.”
Whether it’s Henry receiving the full workload or D’Onta Foreman tasked with carrying the mail, the Titans face a stern test against the Bengals’ fifth-ranked rush defense (102.5 yards per game). Tennessee received a boost from Foreman (566 rushing yards, three touchdowns in nine games) to finish the regular season with the fifth-ranked rushing offense (141.4 yards).
“I think we kind of stuck to our guns, and I think the stats will show that,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “We ran the ball really well, even with Derrick out.
“If he is back (for Saturday), it’ll be nice to have him back. But I feel like we’ve stuck to our guns and our game plan and we can insert him back in.”
The threat of a viable play-action passing game should benefit Tannehill (3,734 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, 14 interceptions), who endured a statistically mediocre season at best.
A.J. Brown was Tannehill’s most trusted target with team-leading totals in catches (63), receiving yards (869) and receiving touchdowns (five) despite playing in just 13 games. The Titans have posted an 11-2 record in games in which Brown has played.
Tennessee rested last week with the No. 1 seed in the AFC, while the Bengals outlasted the Raiders 26-19 in the wild-card matchup in Cincinnati.
On the opposite sideline resides confident secondyear quarterback Joe Burrow, who set franchise records in passing yards (4,611) and touchdown passes (34) this season while completing an NFL-best 70.4 percent of his attempts. Burrow fired two touchdown passes in his first career playoff start last weekend, leading fourth-seeded Cincinnati past the Raiders.
Considering Burrow is no stranger when it comes to competing for championships, a wild-card victory wasn’t the end-all, be-all for him.