WATCH: Colts safety hilariously challenges team to tackle Derrick Henry
Of all the duties of an NFL player, tasked with tackling Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry may be the most difficult. To illustrate, Henry is an outlier — he can run you over, throw you off him with a stiff arm or run by you using pure speed.
With the Indianapolis Colts taking on Henry and the Titans this weekend, safety Justin Blackmon is challenging his Colts teammates take Henry on.
“All I gotta say is we’re going to tackle him,” said Blackmon. “Yes, we know he’s gonna stiff arm. Yes, we know that — we’re going to tackle him. We have to. We have to. It’s a point of emphasis for us to tackle him.”
The Titans are so tough to prepare for, as Henry is a monster, in addition to star wide receivers A.J. Brown and Julio Jones. Still, Blackmon recognizes that if the Colts can stop Henry, that’s a huge part of the Titans’ offense eliminated.
“Two-two, he’s gonna get the ball. Get him down. That’s what we know, and we gotta execute today. It starts today, practice, it starts today. We gotta do that right now.”
Blackmon on Henry’s Stiff Arm: ‘You really gotta punch that thing down.’
Since becoming the Titans starting running back, Henry has made the stiff arm his weapon of choice. If you get hit by it, you run the risk of becoming a meme — just ask Josh Norman.
Luckily, Blackmon has an idea on how to stop Henry from delivering the vital move.
“With him, he’s strong — you really gotta punch that thing down and do it another time. Then, maybe try to get other guys, look at them like ‘come help me out.’ I’m over here slapping his hand down, somebodies gotta come run,” strategized Blackmon. “So we’ve just gotta make sure that we’re on our p’s and q’s, like I said and take care of it.”
At the least, Blackmon has a plan for tackling Henry. However, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face — or in this case, hit with a monster stiff arm.
‘It’s a mentality of want-to.’
What does it take to tackle Henry? While Blackmon can strategize all he wants, he believes it simply boils down to a mentality.
“I’m excited,” stated Blackmon. “It’s a mentality of a want-to. As soon as you kind of like pause, you’re on a highlight. You’re on ESPN. That’s what you’re on. So you can’t just second guess, you have to go in there and want to tackle. It’s a want-to thing.”
Evidently, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Julian Blackmon flying around the field trying to tackle Derrick Henry. Now, whether he gets the job done is the question.