Derrick Henry and the rested Tennessee Titans plan to take their time determining the bulldozing running back’s status for Saturday’s divisional playoff game against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said this week’s practice would determine whether Henry is ready for his first game action since Oct. 31. He had surgery on his broken right foot.
“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,” Vrabel said.
Tennessee had a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
Henry was injured Week 8 and had surgery the first week of November during which an intramedullary screw was inserted on the inside of the damaged metatarsal.
In eight games, Henry had 219 carries for 937 yards and 10 touchdowns. He finished in the top 10 in rushing despite not playing more than half of the season.
D’Onta Foreman would continue filling a bigger role if Henry cannot play.
The Bengals, who defeated the Las Vegas Raiders last week, are preparing for Henry to play, head coach Zac Taylor said. While Cincinnati was fifth in the NFL in rushing defense, the loss of defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi to a season-ending foot injury in the wild-card win is significant.
“We’re going to need to run the football,” Vrabel said.
–Field Level Media