Titans rookie Malik Willis made his first NFL start at quarterback on Sunday, but the Titans didn’t ask him to do much throwing.
Willis threw 10 passes against the Texans and just one of them came in the second half of Tennessee’s 17-10 win. He spent most of the day handing the ball to Derrick Henry and then watching his teammate continue to write his name in the record books. Henry posted his sixth 200-yard rushing game, which ties Adrian Peterson and O.J. Simpson for the most in league history, and he scored two touchdowns to become Tennessee’s all-time leader.
After the game, Willis was asked about that game plan and said that it was a simple case of sticking with what was working.
“If they can’t stop the run, why would we not run it?” Willis said, via John Glennon of SI.com. “We’re not out here to throw for 300 every game or try to run for 300 every game. We’re out here trying to find ways to win. That’s all.”
Future weeks will require the Titans to be a bit more balanced and they’d like to have Ryan Tannehill back under center for those matchups, but they did what it took to win on Sunday and they’ll head into next weekend’s date with the Chiefs with a five-game winning streak as a result.
