No Simple Bears Task: Halt Runaway Titans Train Derrick Henry
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson was asked how you stop running back Derrck Henry when he stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 247 pounds.
"I don't think there is another running back built the way he is," Johnson said.
True enough.
Johnson tore up the league in the second half of last season and this year averages a career-high 110.7 yards a game.
The Titans love using him on stretch plays, counters off the stretch and mix in a screen pass now and then to terrify would-be tacklers. Trying to stop a player in the open field that big, one who runs a 4.5-second 40, is like volunteering to be the proverbial bug meeting the grill of a semi on the interstate.
"Very physical running back," Johnson said. "We've all seen the highlights of what he can do to guys.
"I mean at the end of the day, we've got to attack him and not let him deliver blows to us and get after him from the jump."
Preventing Henry from building up momentum is the key.
Some teams have done it. Pittsburgh held him to 75 yards and Buffalo to 57. Both of those defenses like to blitz and it can be a way to keep Henry from moving toward the line instead of horizontally so he can build up a head of steam.
"It's gonna be all hands on deck," defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. "No edge, no chance. If you don't set an edge and he gets the sideline, we've seen that. If you aren't great inside and your gap integrity isn't great, then he's gonna split the defense and make a guy miss in the open field and then he can take it to the house."
Hitting Henry low is critical if he does get rolling.
"That's definitely important, because we can't just rely on the front seven to bring him down," Johnson said. "We've also got to come down with that same intensity, just take him low.
"Everybody that goes high doesn’t really succeed. So we just gotta come in aggressive, go low, just wrap him up and just make plays all around the field."
Safety Tashaun Gipson has faced Henry as an AFC South defender and has a feel for it.
"You know how you chop a tree down, man, you know you've got to go low," Gipson said. "But no, honestly, I think that he's the best running back in football right now."
The Bears defense hasn't exactly been adept at stopping runners like Henry this year after nose tackle Eddie Goldman opted out.
And now they have another challenge. Nose tackle John Jenkins suffered an anke injury against New Orleans and hasn't practiced this week.
"We are going to miss him because he played his best game last game," Pagano said. "He was really stout inside. He's a hard guy to move, he can hold the point, he's a great anchor in there."
The Bears are a disappointing 16th against the run and have held only one team to less than 103 yards rushing in a game, and that was the Giants after they had knocked Saquon Barkley out with a torn ACL.
So it will be up to Bilal Nichols, Brent Urban and Roy Robertson Harris to make up for losing another key run stpper.
"He (Jenkins) dealt with the thumb earlier, came back from that, just started to get his mojo back, get into the flow of things and use his hands," Pagano said. "Big loss for us but somebody else has to step up."
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