O-Lineman: 'Matter of Time' Until a Big Day for Run Game

This week's opponent, the Houston Texans, are last in the NFL at stopping the run and have allowed Derrick Henry to rush for more than 200 yards three times.

George Walker IV/USA Today Sports

NASHVILLE – Aaron Brewer might not even know who Bum Phillips was.

After all, the Tennessee Titans left guard was born in 1997, two decades after the former Houston Oilers coach famously said of the franchise’s pursuit of a Super Bowl berth, ““Last year we knocked on the door. This year we beat on it. Next year we’re gonna kick the son of a bitch in.”

Maybe the fact the Brewer met with the media on Tuesday, two days after the Titans’ Homecoming weekend that included some former Oilers who played under Phillips, had something to do with it, though. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

Either way, the parallel was impossible to ignore when Brewer addressed the current state of Tennessee’s run game.

“We’re knocking at the door right now,” he said. “You can see that. It’s not like the best game offensively-wise, but we’re still there. Like, we’re gradually getting there. We’re knocking at the door.

“In a matter of time, we’re going to knock the door down, [and] Derrick [Henry] is going to have that 200-yard game.”

Of course, another possibility is that it could be that the Houston Texans – the team that replaced the Oilers after they relocated to Tennessee – are next up on the schedule that had Brewer thinking and talking that way.

After all, Henry has five career 200-yard rushing games to his credit. Three of them have been against the Texans.

Henry set a career-high with 250 rushing yards (a franchise record) on 34 carries in the final game of the 2020 season, which was the last time he hit that milestone. Earlier in 2020, he ran for 212 yards on 22 carries, and in the final game of 2019, he got to 211 yards on 32 attempts.

Seven weeks into the 2022 season (the Titans have played six games), Henry is fourth in the NFL with 536 rushing yards and second with 134 carries. The two-time NFL rushing champion amassed a season-high 128 rushing yards Sunday against Indianapolis. It was the third straight week he topped 100.

As a team, the Titans have surpassed 100 rushing yards in four straight but are 20th with an average 108.7 per contest and tied for 26th with an average of 3.7 yards per carry.

Houston’s run defense, however, is last in the league with an average of 164.7 yards per game and is one of four teams that allows an average of more than five yards per carry.

Knock. Knock.