The Kansas City Chiefs will host the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship. It is safe to say there's one priority and that will be trying to contain running back Derrick Henry.
Chiefs Have to Slow Down Derrick Henry
Henry's rare combination of size and speed has been on display throughout the 2019 NFL season. He finished the year leading the league in carries (303), rushing yards (1,540) and rushing touchdowns (16). He has only managed to kick things up a notch in the postseason. He's become the first player in NFL history to post 180-plus rushing yards in consecutive playoff games.
Thanks to Henry's efforts, the run game has fueled the Titans to upset wins over the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens . They will undoubtedly look to follow the same blueprint versus the Chiefs in order to secure a trip to the Super Bowl.
If Kansas City its going to keep their championship hopes alive, they will need to find a way to contain Henry's efficiency out of the backfield. Of course, this will be much easier said than done considering how he has been able to gash teams as of late.
Chiefs Have to Dare Ryan Tannehil to Throw
Fortunately, there are a number of ways the Chiefs can look to contain Tennessee's run game. The most obvious one being stacking the box and daring quarterback Ryan Tannehill to make plays through the air.
Kansas City could opt to shore up nine players in the box to put an emphasis on crowding the run. However, this will leave them vulnerable on the outside with the cornerbacks having to play man-to-man coverage. This could be quite problematic with the emergence of wide receiver AJ Brown as a bonafide playmaker and deep threat.
Tannehill has clearly taken a backseat as the central force of this offense. The veteran QB has largely filled the role of game manager as of late. There is no question that his improved play helped spark their resurgence. But it is still going to be the Henry show for as long as the Titans can get away with it.
Chiefs Offense Needs to Come Out Swinging
Perhaps there is one effective way to stop Henry without the risk of getting torched by Brown on the outside. That's for the Chiefs' offense to simply come out and light up the scoreboard. The biggest perk of the Titans run game is it allows them to put up points. It also allows them to dominate the time of possession and keeping the opposing offense from finding their rhythm.
This scheme has worked out quite well for them thus far. But Kansas City may perhaps be one of the few teams equipped to deal with this since their offense is more than capable of turning it on at any moment. They proved that during their epic comeback during the win over the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round.
If quarterback Patrick Mahomes is able to establish a healthy lead early on, this could force the Titans to go into catch-up mode and potentially abandon the run in an effort to save time.
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