When the Titans played the Colts earlier this season on the road, running back Derrick Henry finished with just 43 yards rushing in the 23-16 loss.
He doesn’t love thinking about it.
“Forty-three yards makes you want to cringe,” Henry said Thursday, via Jim Wyatt of the team’s website. “I have to be better. I have to play better. And that is going to be my main focus this whole week, just playing better and being efficient in the run game.”
Now in his eighth season, Henry has rushed for 739 yards with six touchdowns this year. He’s averaging just 67.2 yards per game. That’s a far cry from his production last year, when he finished averaging 96.1 yards per game.
It’s even farther off from his numbers in 2021, when that number was at 117.1.
Henry and the Titans’ run game was solid last week against the Panthers, as he took 18 carries for 76 yards with two touchdowns. It was Henry’s first multi-touchdown game of the season.
But he hasn’t rushed for 100 yards since the Oct. 29 victory over Atlanta. He’s only put up 100 twice this season, the other instance being the Oct. 1 win over Cincinnati.
Henry noted he wasn’t satisfied with his output from Week 12.
“Let’s just say I could have had a lot more [yards],” Henry said. “I feel I could have had a lot more. I’m not too happy about it. Just watching it, learning from it, it’s tough when there were opportunities I didn’t take advantage of. Just grow from it, and try when the next game comes to take advantage of the opportunities.”
The Colts enter Week 13 No. 26 in rushing yards allowed at 1,422 but are No. 17 in giving up 4.2 yards per carry. We’ll see if Henry has more opportunities on Sunday and if he can take advantage of them to help give Tennessee a second consecutive victory.
