(Reuters) – Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry had two words for those wondering how his team have pulled off two underdog victories in the National Football League playoffs.
“Just watch,” Henry said, moments after the Titans thrashed the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens 28-12 in an AFC Divisional game in Maryland on Saturday.
If Tennessee’s victory over Tom Brady’s New England Patriots last weekend was a minor upset, the manner in which they dispatched the Ravens ranked as a massive surprise.
Roughly a 10-point underdog, the Titans never trailed en route to their first AFC Championship game since 2002, with only one more victory (over either Kansas City or Houston) needed to get to their first Super Bowl in two decades.
Henry was brilliant for the second week in a row.
He deflected praise by talking about a great team effort, but make no mistake the mobile man mountain was unstoppable as he became the first player to run for at least 175 yards in two NFL playoff games in the same season.
He ran for 195 yards and even threw a deft three-yard touchdown jump pass that he dinked over the heads of the Baltimore defense, which one commentator described as a play from the 1800s.
“We don’t do much talking,” said Henry, 26, in his fourth season in the league.
“We’re just going to work and believe in each other. That’s our mentality.
“We’re just locked in. We believe in each other, we communicate and it’s working.”
Former player Damien Woody said what most impressed about Henry was his mobility for a man who tips the scales at some 248 pounds (112 kilograms).
“He moves so well for a guy that size,” Woody said on ESPN.
“That’s what makes him special. He comes downhill in a hurry and guys have to make business decisions when they tackle him.”
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; editing by Richard Pullin)
