Did Derrick Henry kill the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise?
By Will Lomas
One more try
Armed with Nick Foles and a massive new contract, the Jaguars were ready to rebound from a very disappointing season.
2019 was going to be the season where the defense rebounded and went back to being elite with the addition of yet another 1st round draft pick spent front-seven player. On top of that, analysts had convinced themselves that with a passing game that would hopefully be better (it wasn’t), Leonard Fournette would finally make them look right for their pre-draft analysis.
This was going to be the year where everything clicked for that team.
Through the first half of the season in 2019, it really seemed like they might have had a chance and they even beat the Tennessee Titans for the first time in years. With a 4-5 record that included a one-point loss to Houston and one-score losses to New Orleans and Carolina, and people were confident in the Jags.
Except, those games were really more of an aberration that came from playing with a young quarterback in Gardner Minshew that no one really had any film on. Once the NFL started catching up, a change had to be made during the bye week once Nick Foles was healthy.
With a game under his belt, Nick Foles made his first trip to Nashville to play the Titans, and that is where Derrick Henry was waiting patiently.
See, the first matchup of the season caught the Titans in a bad spot. Starting guard and should-be free agent Jamil Douglas was getting worked by Calais Campbell like he owed him a favor and without Taylor Lewan, the Titans just didn’t have it in them to overcome the Thursday night road game in Week 3.
However, now Derrick Henry and the Titans offensive line was healthy and available while Ryan Tannehill was finding his stride as one of the most efficient QBs in the NFL.
Henry scored two touchdowns in that game and ran for 160 yards on less than 20 carries. That is when the Jaguars fell apart.