Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel George Walker IV / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

Titans HC Mike Vrabel: 'We’re going to need to run the football' vs. Bengals

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 1/17/22

The Tennessee Titans earned the top seed in the AFC and, thus, watched from home as the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Las Vegas Raiders in Saturday's wild-card showdown. Tennessee head coach Mike Vrabel now knows the Bengals are coming to town for this Saturday's playoff matchup, and he left little question about what his offense must do to advance to the conference championship.

"We’re going to need to run the football," Vrabel explained during Monday's media availability, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "We’re going to need to do that to be who we are and be at our best and not be one-dimensional."

The assumption is that Titans All-Pro running back and former Most Valuable Player candidate Derrick Henry will return to the lineup for the first time coming off the foot injury he suffered on Halloween:

Mike Vrabel says the #Titans will continue to get Derrick Henry out there to get used to running and seeing the plays. But regardless of who is in there at RB they plan to run the ball because that's who they are.
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) January 17, 2022

The Titans get Derrick Henry back for Saturday’s game against the red hot Bengals, see ya’ in Nashville for what should be a very entertaining matchup.

Can’t wait to see the wild Bengals and Titans fans

Hope this week goes quickly!
— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) January 17, 2022

Henry was leading the NFL with 937 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground when he went down for the remainder of the regular season, and Vrabel said the two-time rushing champion will first have to successfully complete practice sessions without encountering any setbacks before he's cleared for Saturday's game.

Vrabel says this is a big week of practice for Henry to get acclimated. https://t.co/nmZKXp53RP
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) January 17, 2022

Per ESPN stats, D'Onta Foreman finished the regular season with 566 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and he's the next man up on the depth chart against Cincinnati if Henry isn't ready to be RB1 by the weekend.

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