KC Chiefs: AFC Championship Game won’t be decided by Derrick Henry

By John McCarty | Jan 15, 2020

Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17) (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Don’t be a lemming, Chiefs fans. The AFC Championship game won’t be determined by Derrick Henry; It’s about the KC Chiefs stopping Ryan Tannehill and exposing the Titans defense.

There is a narrative taking foot that is both mindless and dumb. Derrick Henry can run for all the yards he wants on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, but it will not matter. That has played out this postseason for those that are paying attention.

Chiefs fans, be smarter; It’s not Derrick Henry, it’s Ryan Tannehill who the Chiefs must stop. Yes, this is the philosophy the Patriots employed during their Wild Card game, and guess what? It worked!

During the Wild Card game, the Titans running back rushed for 182 yards en route to the 20-13 upset victory. Here’s a misleading stat though: The Titans, through all those rushing yards, mustered 14 points. That’s it. The last touchdown was scored via a pick six by Logan Ryan in the final seconds.

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Newsflash: The Titans will not defeat the Chiefs if they muster 14 points on offense.

The Texans, with a far more explosive offense than Tennessee, scored a touchdown on special teams and basically did it twice (Hill’s punt drop) within the first half of the game. The Chiefs still boat raced the Texans back to Houston.

Another point here is that the Titans defense (and they are a good defense) has forced five turnovers through their first two playoff games. Those turnovers have either established short fields for scores (Baltimore game) or led directly to points (New England game). The Titans scored 14 first half points, all the result of turnovers.

The Ravens then opted to completely get away from what they do on offense, which led to Lamar Jackson throwing a mind blowing 59 times. Turnovers and panic are a stinky cologne and that showed up this past Saturday. So what does this all mean?

The Chiefs biggest concern isn’t Derrick Henry, folks, it’s Ryan Tannehill. If the Chiefs are able to keep the ball and thus the action in front of them, they can and likely will defeat the Titans. The one thing they can’t do is allow the Titans to play action and defeat them over the top. Like I mentioned above, it’s the Patriots approach.

Too many people are trying to set a number on if Derrick Henry rushes for XYZ number, the Chiefs will win or if it’s ABC number, then the Chiefs lose. That doesn’t matter. At all.

Next. Winners and Losers from Divisional Round vs Texans. dark

If the Kansas City Chiefs are able to avoid turnovers on Sunday and force the Titans to drive the length of the field, they are going to win the game. They won’t stop the Tennessee run game all the time, but it will be stopped enough for an explosive Chiefs offense to get a lead.

And away we go to the Super Bowl hopefully.

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