Happy Thursday morning, all. I hope this newsletter finds you well.
Let's get right to it.
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Good morning to everyone but especially to...
DERRICK HENRY AND THE TENNESSEE TITANS
Derrick Henry isn't making promises, but he is making progress. The Titans' superstar running back took a major step forward in his recovery from a broken foot, going through a padded practice Tuesday in which he took contact.
On Wednesday, when asked if he expects to play against the Bengals, Henry responded, "We'll see how this week goes, and we'll see where I'm at on Saturday," but he had a big smile across his face.
The Titans are expected to make an official decision on Friday. There's no running back who means more to his team than Henry does to the Titans, so should he return, it would be a major boon for the AFC's top seed. This season, the Titans averaged 5.7 yards per play with Henry on the field compared to 4.8 with him off the field. Even Ryan Tannehill's passer rating was more than 15 points higher when Henry played.
I'll do some more digging for you: the Titans' three-headed monster of Henry, A.J. Brown and Julio Jones have played just 120 snaps together this season, and none since Week 7. On those 120 snaps, though, the Titans averaged 7 yards per play. For reference as to how good that is, the 49ers led the NFL this season at 6.1 yards per play.
That means Tennessee could be more dangerous than we may think, as NFL guru Jeff Kerr writes in his ranking of the remaining eight teams.
Kerr: "Tennessee has eight wins against teams with a winning record and has used 91 different players this season -- both are NFL records. ... If Henry doesn't get off to a slow start in his return, the Titans are going to be a dangerous team to beat at home this postseason."Honorable mentions:
And not such a good morning for...
USATSITHE DALLAS COWBOYS
Generally speaking, it's not a great thing to have one of your franchise's most iconic players bash the team. That means it's not a great time to be the Dallas Cowboys.
Hall-of-Fame quarterback Troy Aikman had plenty to say during a radio interview Wednesday -- specifically regarding the lack of involvement from CeeDee Lamb during the Cowboys' playoff loss.
Aikman: "(Michael Irvin) would've had 10 catches at halftime if they played us the way they played CeeDee Lamb in that game. ... The game is not that difficult. If I've got a great player at wide receiver and a corner is playing him in single coverage, throw him the ball. He's going to win most of the time."Aikman's correct in that Lamb probably should have been more involved -- he finished with one catch (on five targets) for 21 yards and one rush for 5 yards -- but the idea that Lamb "won" most of the time isn't quite right. Of the four targets he didn't catch, two were the result of tight coverage, one was a bad throw from Dak Prescott that landed several feet short and one was a flat-out drop by Lamb.
Anyway, we're less than one week removed from the Cowboys' season ending, and I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty more frustrated Cowboys opinions throughout the offseason. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
