Needing 223 yards in Week 17 to rush into NFL history, Derrick Henry rumbled into greatness.
Henry ran roughshod over the Houston Texans on Sunday to become the eighth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.
Henry rushed past 2,000 with a six-yard run in the fourth quarter of Tennessee's 41-38 win that clinched an AFC South division title. His 250 yards on the day gave him 2,027 for the season, the fifth-most in NFL history.
The Tennessee Titans star and NFL rushing king became the first 2,000-yard rusher since Adrian Peterson did it in 2012 with the Minnesota Vikings. Henry also joined Chris Johnson, who tallied 2,006 rushing yards in 2009, and the two have made the Titans the first and only NFL franchise to house two 2,000-yard rushers in their history.
Henry had the fifth 200-yard outing of his five-year career en route to the Alabama product becoming the third former Heisman Trophy winner to run for 2,000.
With the season's conclusion near, Henry has also wrapped up a repeat as the NFL rushing champion. Not since Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson with the Chargers in 2006-07 had a running back recorded back-to-back rushing titles. Henry had already realistically sewn up the rushing title, though, as he entered Sunday with 1,777 yards, which was 220 yards more than his closest competition, Minnesota Vikings standout Dalvin Cook. Cook missed Week 17 due to a family tragedy.
It was the third-straight game in which Houston allowed Henry to top 200 yards against it. In the Super Bowl era, no team had allowed one player to run for 200 yards versus them on three occasions, per NFL Research, before the Texans relinquished Henry's history-making performance.Â
King Henry has conquered another milestone and long will live the king in NFL lore.
