NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Titans are clicking at a pretty high level on offense, and a lot of the credit goes to Derrick Henry.
Just don't make the mistake of thinking the only thing the offense does well is run the ball.
The Titans have been looking for top wide receivers for years, and now they have two in A.J. Brown and Corey Davis. They keep making key catches while also blocking for the NFL's leading rusher, a combination that has the Titans (8-3) ranked as the NFL's sixth-best scoring offense with an average of 29.5 points per game this season.
The Cleveland Browns (8-3) have to counter Henry (1,257 rushing yards on 256 carries this season), Tennessee's receiving duo and the rest of this potent offense Sunday in Nashville.
"That's what makes this a big challenge, because this is a very, very good offense, and it's not a one-man show," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. "They have the ability to throw it to (those) guys They have a really good trigger man (in quarterback Ryan Tannehill). I don't think you can key in on one guy, because they can hurt you in multiple ways."
Davis, the No. 5 pick overall in 2017, has a team-high 42 catches. Brown, a second-round selection out of Ole Miss in 2019, leads Tennessee with 638 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches. Brown's average of 18 yards per catch leads the team, though he is followed closely behind by Davis at 14.7 yards per catch.
Tannehill said it's huge having such production from Brown and Davis.
"Both of those guys are extremely talented and have been huge for us all year, so being able to have two weapons like that is huge," Tannehill said. "They can't key in on one guy, try to take away one guy. They have to honor both sides of the field. So I'm lucky, and I call it a blessing to be able to share the field with those guys."
Brown has received plenty of attention after leading NFL rookies last season with 1,051 receiving yards, the third-best rookie season in team history. Nobody in franchise history has had more than Brown's 16 touchdown catches through the first 25 games of his career.
The 6-foot-1, 226-pound Brown also is a perfectionist. After uncharacteristic drops in a Nov. 12 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Brown couldn't wait for the rematch. He scored twice in a 45-26 rout of the Colts this past Sunday in Indianapolis, where he led the Titans with four catches for 98 yards. The Titans took control of the AFC South standings with the win, moving closer to their first division title since 2008.
"Oh, I replayed it," Brown said of his drops. "It was in my mind for like two weeks, to be honest. It was definitely a rough week. I was just trying to just shade back. But I have learned it's week to week, some highs and lows. You've got to appreciate the lows because it gives you more motivation."
The 6-foot-3, 209-pound Davis was the first receiver selected in the 2017 draft after earning All-America status as a senior at Western Michigan. As much as the Titans have liked the physical receiver's run-blocking - Davis can be seen downfield doing just that on many of Henry's touchdown runs - they didn't pick up his fifth-year option for 2021.
Davis has also proven clutch, with 67 of his 85 catches since the start of the 2019 season going for first downs, a 78.8% conversion rate that puts him fourth in the NFL in that span.
He has had three 100-yard receiving games this season despite going on the COVID-19 reserve list on Oct. 7 and dealing with the Nov. 11 death of his older brother, Titus, who had a rare kidney cancer. Davis said it's huge that both he and Brown are playing well this season.
"But we have a lot of talent, a lot of talented players on both sides of the ball," Davis said. "And now one week it might be yours to go off, and it might be the other guy's. So we've got to do our part to stay in it mentally and physically."
More good news in that regard: Wide receiver Adam Humphries, who has missed the past four games while going through the league's concussion protocol, practiced fully Wednesday, along with tight end MyCole Pruitt, who is dealing with a knee injury.