Tennessee running back DeMarco Murray will miss his second straight game with the Titans ruling him out against the Kansas City Chiefs in their AFC wild-card game Saturday.
Coach Mike Mularkey had refused to rule the veteran running back out until Thursday.
Murray hurt his right knee late in a loss Dec. 24 to the Los Angeles Rams and has not practiced since. Murray finished the season with a career-worst 659 yards rushing, but he ran for six touchdowns. He also caught 39 passes for 266 yards with another TD. Derrick Henry will start in Murray's place and will presumably handle the majority of the carries.
Henry was more effective on a per-carry basis than Murray this year, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. The two had a much more even split of the workload this season, with Murray carrying 184 times to Henry's 176 after he out-carried Henry 293 to 110 a year ago. In his lone game as the sole ball-carrier, Henry ran 28 times for just 51 yards against the Jaguars, and he criticized himself for being "soft."
"I didn't feel like a workhorse back. I kind of felt soft," Henry said. "I am not really happy about that game at all. It hasn't left my mind since the clock hit 0:00. I have been working hard this week and trying to get better than I was last week and looking forward to the game on Saturday. I just feel like I didn't run like myself (vs Jacksonville). I wasn't really happy. I could say other words, but I have to play better."
The 6’3, 247-pound running back was a workhorse during his Heisman Trophy-winning time at Alabama and shouldn’t have a problem handling the load against the Chiefs.
Losing Murray puts a lot of pressure on Henry, but the Titans should be just fine.
