The Tennessee Titans designated Derrick Henry to return from Injured Reserve on Wednesday, opening up his 21-day practice window before they have to make a decision on whether to activate him to the 53-man roster.
NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports that the expectation for the Titans is to have Henry back for their first playoff game. The Titans (11-5) currently hold the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs and can secure that spot with a win over the Houston Texans (4-12) on Sunday.
Henry has missed the last nine weeks after suffering a fractured foot on Halloween in a game against the Indianapolis Colts. Titans coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday that Henry will be ramped back up just like any other player returning from IR. Vrabel wants to see how the foot responds as Henry tries to simulate things he’d have to do in a game.
The Buffalo Bills currently sit in the No. 4 slot, which would line them up for a Divisional Round matchup against the Titans on the road should the standings remain this way after Week 18. Of course any conversation around a Titans-Bills matchup is a bit premature, the impact of Henry returning to play looms large after his performance against the Bills back in Week 6.
Henry rushed 20 times in the Titans’ 34-31 win over the Bills. He totaled 143 yards on the ground, a season-high 7.15 yards per attempt, and three touchdowns. Bills safety Micah Hyde said after the game the Bills didn’t do a good enough job against Henry.
“We let him out a few times,” Hyde said. “When that happens, you watch it on film, you can watch all the games on film, and know once he gets through that front line, it’s hard to bring him down. He got through a few times. And from there, the guy is huge, guy is fast, and you got to find a way to get him down.”
Facing elite running backs has been problematic for the Bills this season.
In four of the Bills’ six losses this season, they’ve allowed a running back to eclipse 100 yards. The Bills have only allowed a 100-yard runner in one (at New England) of their 10 wins this season. Tampa Bay’s Leonard Fournette did it in Week 14 for just the second time all season. After the game, Fournette said the Buccaneers knew they wanted to attack the Bills on the ground because they were a bad tackling team.
McDermott was asked about Henry’s three-touchdown game in October and said it’s never just one thing that beats a team. He said because of how much respect the Bills have to give to Henry — especially when he’s running it well — it opens up other areas of the game for quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Tannehill found A.J. Brown seven times in the game for 91 yards.
“Some of it, we were sucking up on the play action a little bit there with the play fake and it opens up the middle,” McDermott said. “That’s where they got their receivers. That’s what 22 [Henry] does to you. He makes you commit to the run. We could have done some other things, too, as well. We’ll look at it as coaches.”
The worst performance of the season for the Bills defense arguably came against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11. Indy rushed for 264 yards and superstar back Jonathan Taylor went for four touchdowns on the ground. The Bills have been better against the run since an early December loss to the Patriots, but it’s going to continue to be a storyline when they face off against good backs in the playoffs.
