The top-seeded Tennessee Titans anticipate the return of Derrick Henry for Saturday's Divisional Round matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.
"It's going to be a big week of practice for us to continue to get Derrick back out there and get him acclimated to running the football and to seeing blocking schemes and seeing where guys are and to see where the cuts are," coach Mike Vrabel said Monday, via The Tennessean.
Henry has been out since Week 8 due to a foot injury that required surgery. He remains on injured reserve but is expected to be activated this week.
The engine of the Titans offense, Henry generated 937 yards and 10 TDs on 219 carries in eight games in 2021. His 27.4 carries per game and 117.1 rushing yards per game led the NFL. Despite missing nine games, Henry still finished in the top 10 in the NFL in carries, rushing yards and rushing TDs. Nine games are the most missed by any player to finish a regular season ranked in the top 10 in rushing yards in NFL history (Henry ranked ninth).
The Bengals ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing yards allowed this season but suffered a massive loss with defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi going on injured reserve Monday.
With Henry set to play his first game since Halloween, the question for the Titans is how big a workload the lead back will get Saturday. D'Onta Foreman has played well as a stand-in and will likely split carries as Tennessee eases Henry back into the lineup. Regardless of how the reps are divvied up, Vrabel said the run game would be key in keeping Joe Burrow and the explosive Bengals offense on the sideline.
"We're going to need to run the football," Vrabel said. "We're going to need to do that to be who we are and to be at our best and not be one dimensional. To be able to run it to set up things to be able to run our offense. That's always been critical."
