Titans postgame presser: Derrick Henry “Saints were the better team”

DeuceMcAllisterFan said
If you look at his opening game carries in the last 5 years, there was only 1 year where he got monster number of carries right out of the gates and he got injured the following year.

They weren't going to run him into the ground right out of the gates especially since he's getting older. He's been averaging 17 carries in opening games since 2018 outside of the 2020 season where he got 31 against Denver. That tells you that it's an outlier for him to carry the load that early on in the season.

They'll be selective with when they want him to carry the load and I can see why they really didn't want to give him a heavy load against a team outside of their conference.

Actually, 2018 was the outlier when he only carried 10 times against the Dolphins. Since then he has averaged 22 carries. 2020 he had 31, 2021 he only had 17 but were far behind early and abandoned the run, 2022 he had 21. He is the real deal. He also is in the last year of his contract and they were reportedly trying to deal him in the offseason. Not sure they care if they overuse him. Great for us though as they put the ball in Tannehill's hands and he proved he cannot carry the team against a good defense.