Derrick Henry credits Chiefs' game plan following loss

Stop Derrick Henry. Stop the Tennessee Titans.

Heading into the AFC Championship Game, the Kansas City Chiefs defense knew it had cut the legs out from under the behemoth running back. Henry entered the game motoring the Titans offense through two postseason games. Henry became the only player in NFL playoff history with 180-plus rush yards in two consecutive games, and his 377 rush yards in the Titans' first two playoff games were the most to start a postseason in NFL history.

The Chiefs closed the record books on Henry Sunday.

The K.C. smothered the RB, holding him to a meager 69 rushing yards and a TD on 19 carries in the Chiefs 35-24 victory.

"They just had a great game plan, man," Henry said after the loss. "They were coming off the ball, those guys were being physical. They played a great game today on defense and you know their offense, we know the type of offense that is: explosive, can score at any moment. Like I said, we just came up short. All the credit to them and good luck to them."

The Chiefs sold out to stop Henry, and it worked. Even when Henry compiled 62 yards on 16 first-half carries with a score, the Titans never consistently gashed K.C. Henry's longest run of the game went for just 13 yards.

Chiefs edge rusher Frank Clark made waves this week saying Henry was "not that hard to tackle." On Sunday, Clark & Co. made good on those words. The Chiefs plugged nearly every hole Henry tried.

"I don't think we were able to run as many snaps and get things going," coach Mike Vrabel said. "He didn't break a big one. I felt like it was efficient, very efficient first half. They put some long drives together to kind of get the chew up some clock there in the third quarter."

The Chiefs' offensive deluge led by Patrick Mahomes to snatch the lead and run away, took the Titans out of their game plan in the second half.

Henry toted the rock just three times in the final two frames for seven yards. After the big back got stuffed early in the third quarter, he became an afterthought. Henry was asked about getting limited work in the second half.

"Just wish we could've did things better to help us win," he replied. "They're a great team. If you give opportunities to score, they're going to take advantage of it. They did a great job on defense. Hats off to them. They did a great job today. That's why they're the AFC champs."

The Chiefs cut the heart out of the Titans offense both by stymieing the run and putting points on the board when Mahomes had the ball. That combo thwarted an upstart Tennessee squad. K.C. proved Sunday they can win in every way imaginable on both sides of the ball.