Derrick Henry and His Stiff Arm Are Stronger In December — Can the Jaguars Stop Him?

Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry is notorious for his stiff arm and ability to get stronger as the season progresses. Can the Jacksonville Jaguars negate his impact on Sunday?

Derrick Henry is such a problem that simply his name implies an entire game plan. Back in Week 2, the Jags were able to hold King Henry to 84 yards on 25 rushes (3.36 average) and no touchdowns. The success came from an all-out attack on the All-Pro running back.

But as the season wears on, trying to bring down Henry takes its toll on opposing defenses.

“It’s definitely a want to, especially later on in the season when everyone’s body starts hurting. I mean if you haven’t noticed, his numbers go crazy like halfway through the season,” points out defensive end Dawuane Smoot.

And he’s right. In the first eight games of the season, Henry was averaging 4.6 yards per play. Now on the back half of the year, he’s picking up an average of 5.3 yards per touch. During the 2019 season, Henry gained only 44 yards and one touchdown on 17 rushes versus the Jaguars in what was a Week 3 Jacksonville win. When the two teams faced off again in late November, Henry helped lead the Titans to a win with 159 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.

“He gets stronger as the season goes,” agrees Defensive Coordinator Todd Wash.

“And I think, at times, when you play a lot, and maybe if you don’t, I think defensively, you get a little tired also. But we’ve got to do a better job of tackling late in the year. That’s what it was when you look at the last couple of years when we’ve played him.”

The Jaguars and the Titans and everyone watching the game knows Henry will get the ball. The Titans predicate their entire offense around him opening up the field. So the key to a win, as safety Jarrod Wilson explains, always starts and ends with stopping Henry.

“We know this guy. We know this guy’s going to get the football a lot and he’s coming downhill. We definitely have to execute, stay in our gaps, being just discipline in the run game. That’s a big thing for us is to definitely knock out this run. We know he’s getting the ball, so it’s really just man on man, trying to match up and do our job on Sunday.”

“It was definitely gang tackling and it was a lot of send the edges. We already know these tackles. They like to really just lunge out and kind of just dive on you a little bit. We just have to make sure we’re using our hands and be able to set edges,” adds Smoot.

Stopping Henry though means preparing for his lethal stiff arm, something the Jacksonville defense has specifically focused on in practice this week.

Reveled Defensive Coordinator Todd Wash, “For [Henry], we do a lot of work, each week when we play Tennessee, on his stiff arm. We’ve seen it, once again, many, many times. He’s got a [heck] of a stiff arm and we work drills specifically, obviously this week, when we go against Derrick every time we play him.”

And it’s a lesson many a Henry opponent carries with them.

“I believe like two years ago. Almost got a TFL [tackle for loss] and he hit me with one of those stiff arms, so I’ve learned from that,” admitted Smoot.

“It’s mainly just [Defensive Line Coach Jason] Rebs [Rebrovich] with a big old yellow arm sticking up in the helmet every single time we get a chance. We’re working on just knocking it down and kind of just running through. I mean you have to run through contact anyways whenever you’re tackling Derrick Henry, so that’s what we’re going to be working on all this week. His stiff arm is vicious, so we have to be able to stop that.”

It’s clearly a company line, as Wash echoed Smoot’s game plan.

“He’s a big physical downhill runner and he’s tough to tackle; that’s been proven for the last three or four years, with anybody that plays him. So, we’ve got to do a good job of getting population to the football, try to have good angles to keep him from bouncing outside, when he can get on these smaller bodies. So, it’s just going to be important for us to be able to set edges, try to keep him in between the tackles. And then when we get the opportunity, we’ve got to be able to defeat his stiff arm and tackle him.”

Henry gets stronger as the season goes on and the Jaguars' record currently places them among the weakest in the league -- though Sunday provides an opportunity for both narratives to change.