It has to be all hands on deck this week for the Detroit Lions' defense in trying to stop Titans running back Derrick Henry Sunday in Tennessee.
Just how difficult will the challenge be for Detroit's defense?
Henry rushed for 215 yards and two touchdowns in the Titans' 31-10 win at Jacksonville last week. He is the first player in NFL history with four career games with at least 200 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Henry has seven career games with at least 170 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, which is tied with Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson for the third most such games in NFL history. Only Hall of Famers LaDainian Tomlinson (11) and Jim Brown (nine) have more.
Henry rushed for 212 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 6 win against Houston and 178 yards and three touchdowns in Tennessee's Week 12 victory over the Colts.
View photos of the starters for the Tennessee Titans.
HC: Mike Vrabel
Offensive Coordinator: Arthur Smith
WR: Corey Davis
Backed up by Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
TE: Jonnu Smith
Backed up by MyCole Pruitt, Anthony Firkser & Geoff Swaim
LT: David Quessenberry
LG: Rodger Saffold III
Backed up by Jamil Douglas
C: Ben Jones
Backed up by Jamil Douglas
RG: Nate Davis
Backed up by Aaron Brewer
RT: Dennis Kelly
Backed up by Isaiah Wilson
WR: Adam Humphries
Backed up by Kalif Raymond
WR: A.J. Brown
Backed up by Cameron Batson
QB: Ryan Tannehill
Backed up by: Logan Woodside
RB: Derrick Henry
Backed up by Jeremy McNichols, D'Onta Foreman, Khari Blasingame & Senorise Perry
DE: Jack Crawford
Backed up by Larrell Murchison
NT: DaQuan Jones
Backed up by Matt Dickerson
DT: Jeffery Simmons
Backed up by Teair Tart
OLB Derick Roberson
ILB: Rashaan Evans
Backed up by Daren Bates
ILB: Will Compton
Backed up by Nick Dzubnar
OLB: Harold Landry III
CB: Adoree' Jackson
Backed up by Desmond King & Chris Jackson
SS: Kenny Vaccaro
Backed up by Joshua Kalu
FS: Kevin Byard
Backed up by Amani Hooker
CB: Malcolm Butler
Backed up by Breon Borders & Chris Milton
K/KO: Stephen Gostkowski
Backed up by Brett Kern
P/H: Brett Kern
Backed up by Stephen Gostkowski/Logan Woodside
KR/PR: Kalif Raymond
Backed up by Desmond King, Adam Humphries & Cameron Batson
LS: Matthew Orzech
Backed up by Ben Jones & Anthony Firkser
"I've seen enough of him, of Derrick Henry, to know what he brings," Lions interim head coach Darrell Bevell said Monday. "He's big, he's fast, he's strong, he's going to take a full team effort, you know the whole team, to tackle the guy. We'll start working on that (Tuesday), but it's going to be another good task for us."
Henry currently leads the NFL in rushing with 1,532 yards and 14 touchdowns. That's 497 more yards than Jacksonville's James Robinson, who's currently second in rushing yards. Henry's averaging a whopping 5.2 yards per attempt, and he has 14 rushing touchdowns. No other running back has more than nine touchdowns this season. He and Minnesota's Dalvin Cook are tied with the most 10-plus-yard rushes on the year (37).
The Lions head into Sunday's matchup ranked 29th in the NFL against the run, allowing on average 132.8 rushing yards per game. The 21 rushing touchdowns the Lions have allowed this year are tied with Las Vegas for the most in the league.
Tackling and swarming to the football are key for any defense going up against the 6-foot-3, 247-pound Henry, who can not only run over would-be tacklers with his size, strength and devastating stiff arm, but he can also run away from them with his 4.5 speed.
Detroit's been credited this season with missing 101 tackles as a team, fifth most in the NFL through 14 weeks. They'll have to be much better in that department Sunday if they hope to contain Henry.
Last week it was Aaron Rodgers and the terrific Green Bay aerial attack. It doesn't get any easier for Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin and his guys this week going against Henry and a stout Tennessee rushing attack.
