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The Tennessee Titans played their very first of what will be several video games without having Derrick Henry on Sunday evening, and simply because they received that recreation towards the Los Angeles Rams in an unequivocal romp, it would be irresponsible, really, to transfer into the subsequent paragraph with out all over again acknowledging that achievement: The Titans, participating in without the need of the rhinoceros of a working back again so central to their identity, traveled across the state and swamped the Rams — as in, the had-dropped-after-due to the fact-Labor-Working day-Rams — by 28-16 at SoFi Stadium.
But although they skip Henry dearly, it’s instructive to don’t forget that Tennessee’s roster is populated on both sides of the ball with several other huge, agile men who are skilled at what they do. The same men who served the Titans (7-2) thwart Indianapolis very last 7 days — and demolish Kansas City the week prior to that, and outlast Buffalo the 7 days in advance of that, and rout Jacksonville the week ahead of that — helped them offset Henry’s absence and administer a defeat that resonated in the course of the league.
It resonated simply because the Titans’ defensive entrance, one particular of the more imposing in the N.F.L., ensured that they gained a fifth consecutive game to remain atop the A.F.C., as the conference’s only seven-get crew, at the halfway position of this 18-week time.
With Jeffery Simmons throttling Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford up the middle and Denico Autry pestering him off the edge, the Titans ransacked his offensive line devoid of needing to blitz. In keeping the large-scoring Rams without a touchdown until finally the final 24 seconds, Tennessee sacked Stafford 5 instances — Los Angeles experienced permitted eight throughout its 1st 8 video games — and if not bedeviled him to these an extent that in the 2nd quarter he assumed it wiser to fling a go into targeted visitors by the goal line than to be sacked for a opportunity basic safety.
As they did on a identical participate in a 7 days ago, the Titans grabbed the errant move and transformed it into a landing, the 1st of two they scored inside an 11-second span to transform a 3- deficit into a 14-3 gain: On the Rams’ up coming offensive snap, Titans safety Kevin Byard swooped in front of Robert Woods and returned an interception 24 yards untouched.
“I hope it does not operate out,” Mentor Mike Vrabel said of the Titans’ penchant for massive defensive plays. “I know you just cannot depend on it, but once more, you put plenty of strain and I’m emotion it around on the sidelines. I’m experience that type of stress.”
It was, in other words and phrases, the type of strain sought by Rams Normal Supervisor Les Snead past Monday when he obtained from Denver the edge rusher Von Miller, who was inactive Sunday with an ankle personal injury. In a league that prizes draft decisions, Snead bargains them, preferring the relative certainty of proven gamers to the possible, and not known, of picks out of university. The insistence on profitable now and stressing about the potential afterwards redoubles the significance of, you know, successful now, and while the Rams (7-2) continue to be a strong contender, they dropped a recreation powering the Arizona Cardinals — who won the teams’ very first meeting — in the N.F.C. West.
As Snead was completing the trade for Miller, the Titans had been mastering the extent of Henry’s injury. Right until breaking a bone in his proper foot, Henry led the N.F.L. in hurrying attempts, yardage and touchdowns, as he did in 2019 and 2020. When asked immediately after Sunday’s sport about Henry, Vrabel scrunched his encounter in a temporary grimace, probably figuring out that his response would breach one of coaching’s unwritten protocols: Really don’t chat about unavailable gamers.
“We’ve moved on since Derrick,” Vrabel explained, adding, “Coaches acquired players prepared that weren’t here, and they performed in the match and they created plays to aid us win.”
Replacing a person 2,000-garden rusher with another, the Titans signed Adrian Peterson, 36, who scored their last touchdown, with a few minutes remaining. He blended with D’Onta Foreman and Jeremy McNichols, Tennessee’s ordinary 3rd-down back, to rush for 74 yards on 22 carries.
Just as Henry’s outsize existence defined the Titans, his absence will, way too. They received a season-reduced 194 yards, and their longest series traveled 44 yards of their other eight that didn’t start at the Rams’ 2-property line or consist of a kneeldown, none went beyond 30. That almost certainly is not a sustainable solution prolonged-phrase, but the Titans are an odd staff.
As Aaron Schatz of Soccer Outsiders famous, they have permitted additional yards for every engage in this period than they have obtained, a development that continued Sunday evening (4.7 to 3.5). Tennessee also shed to the Jets, which should have promptly plunged the Titans to the bottom of the A.F.C., as if they had landed on a slide in Chutes and Ladders.
The Titans are also a great team, even though just one that wins near video games and rattles star quarterbacks and helps make clutch plays — like Amani Hooker’s deal with in room that, with the Rams trailing by 21-9 early in the fourth quarter, restricted Darrell Henderson to a 2-yard capture on third and 3 at the Tennessee 43 the Titans proceeded to stymie Stafford on fourth down.
Their pathway to the No. 1 seed and attendant house-field benefit, at any time additional important in an expanded postseason configuration that awards only just one initial-spherical bye, should really be manageable, or at least not unmanageable. Future up is a residence matchup in opposition to the New Orleans Saints, who will begin a backup at quarterback. Soon after that: Houston, at New England and Jacksonville, heading into the closing quarter of the period.
It is possible that Henry heals in time to rejoin the Titans in the course of the playoffs. By demonstrating they can gain without him, they improved their likelihood of profitable again — back at SoFi in February, potentially, for the Tremendous Bowl — with him.
