Against Derrick Henry, the Eagles proved they can be ‘one of the most physical teams’ in the NFL

Brandon Graham’s laughter bellowed through the Eagles locker room after an emphatic win Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles defense had just stifled Tennessee Titans star running back Derrick Henry in a 35-10 win at Lincoln Financial Field, and Graham was ready to playfully chide a group of reporters as they approached him postgame.

“You said King Henry about to run on them boys!” Graham said. “All ya’ll live bets? They [bleeped], ain’t they?”

Graham and the rest of the Eagles defense spent most of last week focused on the attributes often used to describe the Titans under coach Mike Vrabel: physical, tough, grimy, etc. The group is anchored by Henry, one of the most imposing runners in the league, and has pulled off its share of upsets by grinding down opponents in low-scoring affairs.

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As Eagles players watched film of Henry punishing defenders and heard about how tough the Titans were, they emphasized the chance to rise to the occasion, a chance to assert their identity as a hard-nosed group themselves.

“Somebody always looks physical until somebody more physical comes around,” Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick told The Inquirer. “That’s basically what happened today. We knew they were a physical team. One of our points of emphasis was to dominate them, to go put on film and show the rest of the league that we are one of the most physical, if not the most physical team in the NFL.”

The Eagles defense did just that against the Titans, holding Henry to 30 yards on 11 carries and logging six sacks on quarterback Ryan Tannehill. For reference, Henry has averaged 95.3 yards per game through the first 12 weeks of the season, which ranks second in the league.

The Titans managed 87 total rushing yards, the lowest number the Eagles have given up since Week 4 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team’s run defense, in particular, has struggled for most of the season, especially when rookie nose tackle Jordan Davis was sidelined, but the group has seemed to turn the corner.

The additions of veteran defensive tackles Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh have helped, as has the return of Davis for the Titans game, but even the secondary made a handful of key tackles against “King Henry.”

Cornerback James Bradberry wrestled Henry to the ground near the line of scrimmage on the Titans’ opening series and safety Marcus Epps upended Henry with a hard hit on the next drive.

“It’s attitude,” Graham said. “I felt like everybody’s attitude was to stop Derrick. That’s all we kept hearing, ‘This is what they’re going to do, they’re going to run the ball, they’re going to screen us, and they’re going to ... play-action for deep shots.’ That’s exactly what we got and I feel like it started from the jump.

“People were meeting him at the line, making tackles,” Graham added. “I saw Marcus Epps come through and chop that leg down, I just felt like people had an attitude to get him on the ground.”

Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon continued to lean heavily on five-man fronts on early downs against Tennessee before switching to even fronts more advantageous for pass-rushing when the Titans got behind the sticks.

Even with Davis back in the lineup, Joseph got his third consecutive start since signing with the Eagles last month. Joseph and Davis rotated at nose tackle and even shared the field on a couple snaps with Davis playing at the 4i-technique.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said the rotation of defensive tackles, comprised of Davis, Joseph, Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Milton Williams, and Suh, was key in the defense’s success against Henry.

“Derrick Henry is a phenomenal player,” Sirianni said. “We knew we couldn’t let him get to that second level free, so the defensive line was going to have to work. We have a good array of defensive linemen to keep throwing guys in there and they are fresh. ... It was a good overall defensive game, and it has to be against a well-coached team and a great run team like the Tennessee Titans.”

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With the run game struggling so much, the Titans offense grew one-dimensional and the Eagles pass rush capitalized. Five of the group’s six sacks came on third downs, with the other one coming on a second-and-8. Josh Sweat led the way with two sacks while Cox, Reddick, Hargrave, and Graham each added one of their own.

“We stopped the run, which made them one-dimensional,” Reddick said. “That’s one of our goals each and every week. We made them one-dimensional and we let our dogs pin our ears back and get after the QB today.”

Whether it was the hits on Tannehill, who got shaken up in the second half after a violent collision between Sweat and Reddick, or the numbers for Henry, Reddick believes the performance will have a lasting impact as the stakes increase throughout the season.

“It’s very important,” Reddick said. “It lets teams know what opponent they have coming in or what opponent they have that day. It might put some fear and some intimidation in them. We just have to keep it up.”