Brown, Others Offset Henry's Absence
NASHVILLE – No Derrick Henry? No problem.
Even without their leading rusher, the centerpiece of their offense in recent weeks, the Tennessee Titans found ways to run the ball Sunday in their 38-28 loss to the New Orleans Saints, including one unexpected – yet highly effective – way.
Backups Dion Lewis and Dalyn Dawkins did most of the work, but rookie wide receiver A.J. Brown delivered the biggest moment on the ground when he took a first-quarter handoff and went 49 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest gain of the day for the offense and gave the Titans an early 14-0 lead.
“A lot of guys doing their job,” Brown said. “A lot of guys going unnoticed. I got the touchdown, but a lot of guys were doing their job.”
Brown, a second-round pick out of Ole Miss, has made big plays part of his job description. Up until now, though, all of those plays had been passes.
He now has a team-high nine gains of 30 yards or more, including six in the last five games. His first seven were all receptions, and he added a 34-yard catch in the fourth quarter against the Saints.
It was his run – the product of a creative design and some well-executed blocks – that was something different. He now joins Henry and tight end Jonnu Smith as the only Titans with at least one run and one reception of 30 yards or more this season. Smith became part of that group last week with a 59-yard run in the loss to Houston.
“I know that [tight end MyCole] Pruitt and [left tackle Taylor] Lewan had great blocks and great adjustments on the pressure,” coach Mike Vrabel said. ‘They pressured right into the one that (Brown) was able to score on and that was probably the most difficult look that they could have gotten and they both blocked it very well.”
The rest of the contest involved more traditional runs. The Titans came in averaging 27.1 rushes and 130.6 rushing yards per game. Against the Saints, the ran it 26 times for 149 yards.
Lewis was Tennessee’s leading rusher with 68 yards on 15 carries, including a 17-yard gain that was his longest of the season. That last time he had at least that many carries was Nov. 11, 2018 against New England and the last time he had at least that many years was Oct. 21, 2018 against the L.A. Chargers.
Dawkins added 24 yards on nine carries in the most significant playing time of his young career, and quarterback Ryan Tannehill chipped in eight yards on one scramble.
“Those guys have been coming up big for us all year,” Tannehill said. “Obviously, it’s tough not having (Henry) back there, but we had guys step up and make plays.”
Henry likely could have played had there been more at stake in this contest. Ultimately, though, coaches decided to let him rest his ailing hamstring with an eye toward next week’s game at Houston, where the Titans can clinch a playoff berth with a victory.
“There’s a lot of things that we kind of go through to figure out when we’re making decisions,” Vrabel said. “I would say that that’s probably something else that factored into the decision. … You can only hope that (the rest) would help, and that’s why we made the decision that we made.”
