It’s an absolute, unconscionable tragedy that the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars don’t play on Thursday night anymore. I’ll say what everyone else is too afraid to admit: Every Titans-Jaguars game should be on Thursday night. All of them.
Put ‘em on NFL Network. Put ‘em on Amazon Prime Video. Put ‘em on Mubi or Crave or The Roku Channel. Just put these games on Thursday night.
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Not because I think these games are bad, mind you. I’m trying to accentuate the greatness of this uniquely fantastic rivalry. Titans-Jaguars is event television. And Derrick Henry is the master of ceremonies.
You know what, though? Let’s not talk about Derrick Henry. Can I give you my rankings of the three most fun players to watch during Henry’s 99-yard TD run, tied with Tony Dorsett for the longest rush from scrimmage in NFL history?
3. MyCole Pruitt: Block of a lifetime. He’s driving Telvin Smith at roughly the same speed Henry’s running when he’s not pushing anyone. Then he throws Smith about six yards, pauses, and sprints forward to almost catch up to Henry in the end zone. So cool.
2. Corey Davis: Dude starts off totally on the other side of the field. Does a little stanky leg shimmy. Stands around for a little while. Tries to catch up to the play. Pops back into the frame about 50 yards downfield. Wants to block someone. Henry stiff-arms him before Davis can get there. Tries to block someone else. Almost gets in the way. Henry stiff-arms him, too. First player to get to Henry to celebrate.
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1. Leon Jacobs: Poor Leon Jacobs. He did everything right. He pursued the play. Scraped across the formation. Took a good angle. And his reward is getting stiff-armed and slung to the ground. Watch closely and you can see him trying to stagger back to his feet. But it’s no use.
And now back to Henry’s 99-yard TD run on Dec. 6, 2018, which is No. 3 on The Tennessean’s list of Tennessee Titans’ best moments.
Derrick Henry’s legend was born on a Thursday night. Up to this point in his career he was . . . pretty bad? We’re talking 39.7 yards per game across 43 games. Only 13 career starts, and zero 100-yard games in any of them. Might as well have dubbed him “College King Henry.”
It took the strange, eerie, lovely platform of a Thursday night in December to unlock Henry’s Hall of Fame talent. It took burying Jacobs and A.J. Bouye with the most famous stiff-arm this side of the Heisman Trophy. It took the weird, unmatchable backdrop of the Titans-Jaguars rivalry.
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I’m not saying Henry doesn’t pull off this feat if it’s a Sunday or a Monday or a Saturday. I’m just saying he did pull it off on a Thursday.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans: Remembering Derrick Henry’s 99-yard touchdown run