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Turron Davenport, ESPN
NASHVILLE, Tenn.– The Tennessee Titans broke away from what has actually been their winning formula in their 16-15 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
The Titans had actually generally utilized running back Derrick Henry as a hammer to use down defenses and after that opted for the knockout blow in the 4th quarter.
Tennessee had a chance to do that in New Orleans when it got the ball by itself 27-yard line with 6 minutes, 42 seconds left on the clock, down by one point. However rather of riding Henry to the lead, the Titans made use of novice back Tyjae Spears, who hurried for 8 lawns on the drive’s very first play, ultimately resulting in a 29-yard basket to pull within one point with a little over 2 minutes left.
Spears’ 33 snaps were 5 more than Henry, who saw the field for 28 plays.
” We’re simply attempting to get everyone included,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel stated Monday. “Let’s continue to discover methods to get Tyjae and Derrick therein.”
Henry led the NFL in hurrying efforts in 3 of the previous 4 seasons, representing an NFL-high 36% of the Titans’ lawns on offense, according to ESPN Statistics & & Details. Throughout that stretch, Tennessee made an AFC National championship look and won successive AFC South Department titles.
Vrabel confessed to attempting to run a couple of times with Henry, however it wasn’t effective. Henry had 5 brings for 12 lawns in the 4th quarter, consisting of 2 for minus-1 backyard on the last drive. Henry ended up with 15 brings for 63 lawns and captured 2 passes for 56.
At 29 years of ages, Henry remains in the last year of a four-year, $50 million agreement with the Titans he checked in July 2020. The offseason was difficult sledding for running backs searching for a brand-new agreement.
The New York City Giants signed 26-year-old back Saquon Barkley to a 1 year, $11 million agreement after positioning the franchise tag on him. Josh Jacobs led the NFL with 1,653 hurrying lawns however had the franchise tag put on him prior to accepting a 1 year, $11.7 million handle the Las Vegas Raiders
The decline of the running back position triggered gamer to have a Zoom call that progressed from a group text that Henry sent out to the league’s leading ball providers.
Henry made it clear that he isn’t annoyed about not getting the ball in the season opener as much as he typically does.
” I rely on the training personnel, what we do,” Henry stated. “Everyone requires to touch the ball. It’s not everything about me.”
When inquired about Henry’s participation moving forward, Vrabel stated the Saints video game was an outlier.
” We’re going to require Derrick and everyone so we can determine what we can do regularly,” Vrabel stated. “Derrick will be a substantial part of that, I can ensure you.”