DeMarco Murray ruled out vs. Chiefs
After missing the regular season finale, Tennessee Titans running back DeMarco Murray will not suit up on Saturday.
The Tennessee Titans took care of their own business in Week 17, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 15-10 to earn a Wild Card spot. They did it without running back DeMarco Murray, who suffered a knee injury in Week 16, and according to ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe Murray has been ruled out for Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Murray had 184 carries for 659 yards and a team-high six rushing touchdowns in 15 regular season games, along with 39 receptions for 266 yards. But Derrick Henry needed 28 unchecked carries as the No. 1 back to come close to Murray’s team lead for the season in that category, with 176 carries, despite averaging over a half-a-yard per carry more (4.2 to 3.6). An inexplicable balance of snaps and workload that favored Murray all season was long overdue for a correction, and Week 17 was the chance for Henry to get all the work he could handle.
Henry lamented his Week 17 performance as “kinda soft”, as negative yardage on his first few carries helped lead to him netting just 51 yards against the Jaguars on those aforementioned 28 carries. But he’ll get another chance to be the workhorse against Kansas City, and the league’s 25th-ranked run defense from the regular season (118.1 yards per game), on Saturday.
Quarterback Marcus Mariota’s running game came back against Jacksonville, with a season-high 60 rushing yards on a season-high 10 attempts. The threat of more designed quarterback runs from Mariota, whether it actually comes to fruition or not, should boost the overall productivity of Tennessee’s running game against the Chiefs.
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For the Titans to go into Arrowhead Stadium Saturday afternoon and have any real chance to win, an effective ground game will be vital. Henry has to rebound from his lackluster end to the regular season, and Murray’s absence opens the door for just that kind of breakout playoff performance. But win or lose, Henry can clearly make the case for the charade to end and that he should be Tennessee’s lead back next season.