It could have been a nice swan song – the Titans turning back the clock for a Christmas Eve win with Ryan Tannehill at the controls and Derrick Henry doing the heavy lifting.
Almost like 2019, 2020 or 2021. But not 2023 and likely not moving forward.
For as much as Tannehill and Henry have been the backbone of the Titans offense for five years, it simply wasn’t quite enough to produce a win on Christmas Eve against Seattle.
And it further signaled that it is time for the Titans to move in a different direction.
It has been known for quite some time that Tannehill’s days in Tennessee are numbered and the 12-year veteran will be hoping for another opportunity somewhere else next year at age 36. That became evident from the moment rookie Will Levis made his starting debut against Atlanta, replacing a then-injured Tannehill, in late October.
With Henry, the picture isn’t quite as focused, especially after he bounced back Sunday with a respectable 88-yard effort, including both a rushing and a passing touchdown.
The previous week, of course, Henry had a career low 9 yards rushing against Houston and after that game admitted that the thought of the end of his time as a Titan had crossed his mind.
There is still a school of thought that the Titans could re-sign Henry, giving him a chance to become the franchise’s all-time leading rusher. But the more likely scenario has the Titans and Henry going their separate ways after the season.
On Sunday, the two shared what looked like a cool moment after Henry scored in the fourth quarter to give the Titans a lead that the defense couldn’t hold. But then again, all was not as it seemed, Tannehill says.
“I was just talking about, I thought he may have had a knee down right as he dove into the end zone. So, it wasn’t a nostalgic moment at all,” Tannehill revealed. “I said, ‘Hey just be ready we may be on the one-inch line. I wasn’t sure if your knee was down.’ As I turned back, it looked like he kind of dived and it was close as the knee hit. But once, obviously they reviewed it, and it was good.”
Oh well, so much for a tender moment.
But with two games left this season for the Titans and two games likely left for them together, Tannehill did have a bit of sentiment in him about Henry.
“We’ve had a lot of cool moments together, but that wasn’t a nostalgic moment so to say,” Tannehill says. “But I obviously enjoy every time I get to share the field with Derrick (Henry). We have a lot of fun together. Made a lot of plays and won a lot of games. He’s a fun player to watch, he’s a fun player to call a teammate, and he makes a lot of plays for us.”
But as the Titans move forward, it appears they know the future is not in a grind-it-out offense that simply can’t produce chunk plays anymore. In the NFL, explosive plays are charted as those gaining 20 yards or more. On Sunday, the Titans had one, and it was not by design, coming on a 23-yard Tannehill scramble.
The Titans’ longest pass play from scrimmage was just 17 yards, and Henry’s longest run totaled 12 yards.
By contrast, Levis, who missed Sunday’s game with a sprained left ankle, had five explosive plays in his most recent game against the Texans, with completions of 37, 33, 23, 22 and 20 yards.
“Clearly, there is something there,” was a sentence Vrabel uttered the day after Levis’ debut in naming him the starting quarterback going forward.
It was in that moment that Vrabel and the Titans realized that where the professional game is going, Levis has the best chance to take them there – more so than Tannehill and more so than Henry.
And while the days appear numbered in Tennessee for these two stalwarts who have been the heart and soul of the offense under Mike Vrabel, it should be duly noted that in this season of giving, Tannehill and Henry have given their all for the Titans.
Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com