Sophia Michaels
The Tennessee Titans offense is, by definition, a big man offense. They want to run the football, first and foremost, with their massive running back, turning Derrick Henry loose on defenses and daring them to tackle him over and over.
Henry’s success is not due to sheer individual effort, although sometimes what he does in space and in one-on-one moments with defenders is incredible. He has one of the league’s best run blocking offensive lines in front of him, and when you have beefy 300-plus pound men who are good blocking for a beefy 250-pound man that can run a 4.5, you have a recipe for quite the rushing attack.
On Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, Henry and the Titans got off to a hot start against the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, taking a 10-0 lead before the Chiefs answered back to make it 10-7 at the end of the first quarter. Given how last week’s Divisional round game went in Kansas City, Tennessee had to answer to avoid letting the Chiefs get rolling, and they did so with an impressive eight-plus minute drive. Henry played a big role on the drive, but it was capped off with a Ryan Tannehill touchdown pass to Dennis Kelly.
The important part of this is that Kelly is not a receiver typically. He is an offensive lineman that checked in as eligible, hauling in his second touchdown pass of the season on some trickery from Tennessee to make it 17-7.
It’s a clever play design, setting Henry up in the fullback spot (where he got a carry earlier in the game) and motioning a receiver out of the backfield to draw attention that way for playaction thought from the defense. All the while, Kelly just slips into the end zone, turns around, and catches it, falling to the ground to ensure he secures the touchdown grab.
The Chiefs would answer on the ensuing drive, showing the Titans are going to have to keep up the pace, but Tennessee has shown they’ll dip deep in their bag of tricks to try and make it to the Super Bowl with a third straight upset.
Written by: Uproxx
