Top-seeded Titans activate Derrick Henry, eager to start playoff run

AP photo by Zach Belinger / Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry warms up before a game against the host Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 31. The Titans won in overtime that day, but Henry broke his right foot and hasn't played since then. However, Tennessee moved Henry from injured reserve to the active roster Friday, clearing him to start Saturday's playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Nashville.
AP photo by Zach Belinger / Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry warms up before a game against the host Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 31. The Titans won in overtime that day, but Henry broke his right foot and hasn't played since then. However, Tennessee moved Henry from injured reserve to the active roster Friday, clearing him to start Saturday's playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Nashville.

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Titans, despite using a record-setting number of players during the regular season, not only survived to make the NFL playoffs for the third year in a row but win a second straight AFC South Division title and earn the conference's No. 1 seed.

Now, after enjoying the first-round bye that came with that top seed, they're as rested and healthy as they've been all season - and they have back Derrick Henry, the NFL's top rusher in 2019 and 2020, back from injury as they prepare to host the Cincinnati Bengals in a divisional round game Saturday.

For the Titans, it's time to take the next step.

"Everything that we dream about since we were kids is right there in front of us," said Kevin Byard, Tennessee's All-Pro safety.

Nissan Stadium, where the Titans went 7-2 during a 12-5 regular season, is sold out for their 4:30 p.m. Eastern game against fourth-seeded Cincinnati, which beat the Las Vegas Raiders 26-19 in the wild-card round last weekend. CBS will televise the game.

A year ago, home-field advantage didn't keep Tennessee from losing to the Baltimore Ravens, and the Titans haven't won a playoff game in Nashville since Jan. 11, 2003.

However, they have won three straight games and four of their past five this season. One more victory, and they'll reach the AFC championship game for the second time in three seasons - and this time they would host the winner of Sunday's meeting between the second-seeded Kansas City Chiefs and No. 3 Buffalo Bills

In his fourth season as Tennessee's coach, Mike Vrabel has continued to place an emphasis on believing that there is a lot of football remaining after December. His team is all in on that idea, too.

"These guys were prepared to play long into 2022," Vrabel said.

This is the revival of an old AFC Central rivalry between Cincinnati and the former Houston Oilers, who moved to Tennessee after the 1996 season and took on the Titans nickname before the 1999 season. The Bengals won the only playoff game between these teams, 27-14 on Jan. 6, 1991, and that was their most recent postseason victory until second-year quarterback Joe Burrow led them past the Raiders last Saturday to snap that 31-year drought.

Now these young Bengals must end another postseason skid for the franchise - which launched as an AFL team in 1968 - to reach the AFC title game for the first time since January 1989 and third time overall. The Bengals are 0-7 in the playoffs away from home; the Houston Texans, whose first season was 1999, are the only other other NFL team that has yet to win a playoff game on the road.

"We're here to win," Bengals running back Joe Mixon said. "We don't care about some theory, I guess, that everybody's pretty much worried about. We know what we've got in front of us. We know what we have to do in order to get where we want to be. We've got the path laid out for us."

photo AP photo by Mark Zaleski / Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry (22) runs 76 yards for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 18 in Nashville.

However, that path now includes the NFL's offensive player of the year for the 2020 season.

On Friday, the Titans moved Henry from injured reserve to the active roster, setting up the prolific running back to start in his first game since Oct. 31. The tough-to-tackle Henry broke his right foot in an overtime road win against the Indianapolis Colts, had surgery two days later and has spent months working his way back, returning to practice in the final week of the regular season at the start of this month but remaining sidelined for the trip to Houston.

His nine-game absence was the most notable for the Titans, whose 91 players used during the regular season were the most in any NFL year without a strike, but now the 28-year-old star who has averaged 117.1 rushing yards per game in his postseason career is back. The unknown is how many carries someone who hasn't played a game in 12 weeks can handle.

Vrabel said Thursday that Henry had been progressing well as his workload increased through the week, which included putting pads on Tuesday to give the 6-foot-3, 247-pounder a chance to thud into and run through defenders.

"We know what Derrick can do when he's in there ...," Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan said Thursday, the final day players talked before kickoff. "Adding Derrick to the mix, if that happens, is exciting. However ... just because 22's in the game doesn't mean we're going to automatically win."

Henry, who wears No. 22, will be returning on Jan. 22, 2022.

It will be the first time in a while the Titans will have not only their top rusher but their top two wide receivers on the field for a game. Henry, A.J. Brown and Julio Jones - the seven-time Pro Bowl selection who was added in an offseason trade with the Atlanta Falcons - were together for all of 120 snaps over five games during the regular season.

Brown led the team with 869 receiving yards and five touchdown catches. Jones had his worst statistical season while dealing with a nagging hamstring issue that landed him on injured reserve at one point, though he did average 14 yards per catch, the highest among Tennessee receivers with at least 10 catches.

"I'm in a great space now, confident, everything," Jones said. "I'm ready to go."

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