How the Jets are Preparing to Stop Titans Running Back Derrick Henry
You can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him.
The Jets have one of their biggest tests of the season on defense this week, facing the Tennessee Titans and running back Derrick Henry.
After leading the league in rushing in each of the last two seasons—accumulating more than 2,000 yards on the ground in 2020—Henry is off to another dominant start this year. The Alabama product has rushed for a league-best 353 yards through three games, paving the way to a 2-1 start for the Titans.
Even if the Titans won't have their top two receivers on Sunday, ruling out Julio Jones and A.J. Brown due to injury, Henry has the potential to take over a game singlehandedly, a matchup that head coach Robert Saleh called an "exciting challenge."
"I think any time you play a superstar, or someone of his caliber, it’s an exciting challenge. He’s every bit of deserving of the accolades that he does have and what he’s done in his entire career," Saleh told reporters earlier this week. "We’ve got to step up to the challenge, we’ve got to bring our hard hats and get ready to stop the run, set a line of scrimmage, set the wall and then take care of their play-action pass and boot game, which is one of the better ones in football."
Tennessee has the third-best rushing attack in football so far this year, averaging 159.3 yards per game on the ground. On the other side, New York is average at stopping the run, allowing an average of 110.7 rushing yards per game in three losses.
That said, it's going to take New York's best performance of the season on defense to limit Tennessee's behemoth in the backfield.
"It’s going to be a collective thing," defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. "You've got to play great up front, which is obviously a huge component of it, but you got to get 11 hats to the ball. You have to assume that he’s going to break a tackle. You can never assume that the man is going to make it. And I think you got to be aggressive."
Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers added that while Henry is in his mind the best running back in the NFL, he isn't treating this week any differently than the other game the Jets have played.
"We do what we do, play our style of defense and if he doesn't start his feet, then he can't run the ball," Franklin-Myers explained. "That's how we game plan. Just set violent edges, knock people back and don't give him a chance to start running."
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Linebacker Quincy Williams, who used to play Henry two times a year when he played for the Jaguars, added that the best way to stop the running back is to be physical up front, always trying to tackle through Henry and avoid his patented stiff arm.
"Number one thing when we play him, they're gonna run the ball," Williams said. "We stop the run, we're going to be good. That's the main thing."
Easier said than done, of course.
With Jones and Brown out, the Jets can stack the box early and often, trying their best to take Henry out of the equation. If they can stay disciplined on play-action passes, not letting Tennessee's backup receivers beat them down the field, New York could be in a position to limit the Titans' offense all afternoon. It's safe to assume Henry is going to be handed (or thrown) the football quite a few times this week, though.
Even if the offense flows through Henry, there's more to do on the defensive side of the ball for the Jets. Saleh is confident that his team can get the job done.
"There’s a lot besides Derrick that this offense presents, but obviously Derrick is a focal point and he’s the one that makes everything work. He’s going to be a load and a challenge," Saleh said.
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