Four teams remain in the hunt for the Vince Lombardi trophy in what was an enthralling weekend in the NFL playoffs.
On Saturday, the San Francisco 49ers smothered the Minnesota Vikings 27-10 and the Tennessee Titans stunned the top-ranked Baltimore Ravens 28-12.
Then, on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs rallied from a 24-0 deficit and beat the Houston Texans 51-31, while the Green Bay Packers hung on to top the Seattle Seahawks 28-23.
With apologies to the wild Chiefs-Texans game, the most compelling story of the weekend was the performance by Tennessee’s Derrick Henry.
Is there anyone hotter in the National Football League? The answer is no, and it’s not even a discussion.
Henry led the NFL with 1,540 rushing yards this season and was tied for first with 16 touchdowns and has been unstoppable of late — and his teammates are feeding off that.
The six-foot-three-inch, 247-pound running back has punished opponents this postseason, rushing for 195 yards against the Ravens a week after he put up 182 yards on the New England Patriots — the fifth- and sixth-ranked run defences this season.
Henry became the first player in NFL history to record at least 175 rushing yards in the same playoff year and now owns the record for most rushing yards (561) through his first four postseason games.
Kansas City (26th against the run) had better get out to an early lead against the Titans in next Sunday’s AFC Championship game and force Titans QB Ryan Tannehill — who has thrown a combined 29 passes in both playoff victories — to beat them.
Otherwise, the Chiefs will see a heavy dose of the human bulldozer known as Derrick Henry – and, who knows, we may see Tennessee in the Super Bowl.
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