NFL: Jaguars desolate again – Historic Henry overruns Jacksonville

The Tennessee Titans have won the Thursday Night Game against the Jacksonville Jaguars for the opening of Week 14 and remain in the race for the AFC Wild Cards. Derrick Henry showed probably the best performance of his NFL career and ran Jacksonville into the ground with four touchdowns and more than 200 rushing yards.

The play of the day was delivered by the former Heisman winner in the middle of the second quarter. After a failed Fourth-and-Goal attempt of the Jaguars-Offense over Leonard Fournette (14 CAR, 26 YDS) Henry (17 CAR, 238 YDS, 4 TD) got the ball at his own 1-yard line, cut to the left and then cleared AJ Bouye, Leon Jacobs and finally Myles Jack by Stiff arm on the way to the End Zone.

99 yards. Of course the longest run in the history of the NFL. Only Tony Dorsett had managed the same feat on January 3, 1983 for the Dallas Cowboys against the Minnesota Vikings. By the end of the night, Henry had 238 yards and four touchdowns on his account. All on the ground – franchise record! On average, the 24-year-old collected 14 yards per carry.

“That was very impressive,” Head Coach Mike Vrabel paid tribute to his running back after the game. “At some point, there were just no more opponents he could give a Stiff arm to.”

For the Jaguars, after the record run that Calais Campbell had been able to stop at the Line of Scrimmage by a hair’s breadth, the game was as good as over. Once again, the guests from Florida also managed almost nothing offensively with Cody Kessler (25/43, 240 YDS, 1 TD) under Center. The 25-year-old played solidly and avoided bad turnovers, but also came to just 5.6 yards per pass. Combined with a totally inefficient running game (three yards per carry) this resulted in five punts and three turnovers on downs.

Even an inexcusable mistake by Adoree’ Jackson, who first dropped the ball at the end of the first quarter while trying to return the punt and then ran back into his own end zone, could not cloud the picture on Tennessee’s side. The first Jacksonvilles offensive score was delayed until the end of the third quarter, when Kessler Dede Westbrook (7 REC, 88 YDS, 1 TD) found the final zone. At the score of 30:9 the game was already decided at this point.

Marcus Mariota (18/24, 162 YDS, 1 INT), who played solidly over long distances, but also made a nasty interception directly into the arms of Jaguars-Safety Ronnie Harrison, and the Titans-Offense could rely on Henry’s incredible rushing performance – that was enough. To illustrate Henry’s dominance: When the Running Back did a new first down with one of his last runs for 11 yards, he lowered his yards per carry cut in the evening!

The Titans, who continue to fight for the play-offs, will now face the New York Giants and Washington Redskins from NFC East in the next two weeks, before they could make it to the direct post-season final in Week 17 against the Indianapolis Colts in their home game. Jacksonville receives Washington with quarterback Mark Sanchez next week.