I’m sure we’re all aware of the historic 4 game run Derrick Henry went on last season. He had over 580 yards rushing, a whopping 6.7 YPC, and added a meh 7 touchdowns.
Sarcasm folks.
But the question coming into 2019 was whether he’d be able to duplicate the success that legitimately carried the Titans to position themselves for a playoff spot.
This time, there would be no sort of issue regarding limited carries for Henry. The Titans committed to running this offense through Henry, giving him the first real shot of being “the guy” in the NFL.
I mean who wouldn’t? Considering the tear he went on in the last 4 games of 2018, not giving him a chance seemed like a pretty asinine idea.
As the 2019 season has chugged along, we now know the Titans made the right decision in running their offense through the 250 lb. battering ram. Who in return, has yielded the Titans some pretty nice results.
Through week 12, Derrick Henry ranks 4th in the entire NFL in rushing yards with 991, his 4.8 YPC ranks 7th in the league for players with at least 100 carries, and his 10 touchdowns are good for 4th in the league among running backs.
These are numbers a Titans running back hasn’t even come close to since Chris Johnson, and he was pretty good if I say so myself.
Check this out.
Derrick Henry has more yards, a better YPC average, and a better touchdown total than these notable names.
Ezekiel Elliott, Todd Gurley, and LeVeon Bell.
3 of the more talked about and decorated running backs the NFL has today.
Crazy right?
With these stats and thoughts, it all boils down to Henry and how deserves much more respect and should start to be in the conversation as one of the best running backs in the NFL.
Henry rightfully deserves the recognition and attention that should come from his outstanding performance. However, it simply hasn’t worked out that way.
We’ve said a thousand times about how the Titans are in a small market and that they’ve just not been consistent enough over the years to remain a critical talking point for national pundits.
The “easy” solution would be for the Titans to win and then others will start to scavenge this roster for tremendous performance. Just so they can spend days and months making TV topics out of those players until we all start to get a tad annoyed.
But nothing is ever that easy, not in life and definitely being a consistent winner in the NFL.
Just ask the Titans themselves, who went through a drought of consistent success of their own from 2009-2017.
Bottom line is, Derrick Henry has carried this Titans offense through the thick and thin all year long. Whether its been in a loss where the offense has looked borderline anemic, to wins when the offense looks like a totally different unit, its all been Henry at the forefront.
We, as in people involved within the league whether that’s fans, media, or even executives do the same thing. Elevate a players’ position on the talent totem pole based on recent, consistent success. Most of these cases revolve around dynamic talents that are threat to change a game every time they touch the football.
Why not reward Henry, who’s been one of the more consistent backs in the league all year long?
Now that Henry has done it for some time now, including those last 4 games of 2018, it’s time to do one simple thing.
Crown the king.
You won’t be sorry.
