King Henry apologizes to fantasy managers
Yahoo Sports’ Liz Loza sits down with Tennessee Titans superstar running back Derrick Henry on Radio Row at SB LVI. Does Derrick ride with his King Henry nickname? How was he able to return from a broken foot to play in the postseason against the Bengals? What’s it going to get the Titans over the hump and into the Super Bowl? Can the underdog Bengals continue their improbable run? How did Henry develop his devastating stiff arm? Derrick Henry joins Yahoo Sports thanks to Old Spice.
Video Transcript
LIZ LOZA: Welcome to Radio Row at Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles. I am now joined by Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans. Thanks so much for joining us.
DERRICK HENRY: Thank you for having me.
LIZ LOZA: Of course. All right, King Henry. That's the nickname. How do you feel about it?
DERRICK HENRY: I love it. I've had it as my Twitter handle since I was in high school and it just started resonating with people a couple of years ago, but I've always loved it.
LIZ LOZA: It has been a wild ride for you. We're going to talk about the injury that happened in Week 8, but in general the way you have taken over the NFL. I mean, I play fantasy football, a lot of people play fantasy football, you are
DERRICK HENRY: Very sorry for this year, fantasy football owners.
LIZ LOZA: Oh, you don't have to apologize. All those teams got carried really nicely and you came back. Let's talk about the foot injury in Week 8. I mean, what an incredible recovery, though, to come back into the postseason. Can you talk about that process and what it was like?
DERRICK HENRY: Well, it still wasn't good enough. Obviously, I'm here now. But yeah. It was a long process. It's the first time I had a significant injury during the season where I missed a lot of time. So that was definitely different. It was definitely challenging, because I'm used to just playing football all throughout the fall and leading into the new year and I didn't have the opportunity. But I have my girl, my daughter, to help me out to lift my spirits and had a great surgeon in Alabama and our training staff and people that helped me get back. Very appreciative of them and just happy to be back with the team so I can contribute in the game, which we lost, but I was just happy and thankful and blessed to have the opportunity to play again.
LIZ LOZA: What do you think your squad needs to do to finish, to close out, and end up in the Super Bowl in Arizona next year?
DERRICK HENRY: Play a complete game. On my flight-- we didn't do that throughout the whole game. I feel like defense was hitting on all cylinders. They were giving us opportunities. And on offense, we kept shooting ourself in the foot. And to play a complete game, you hitting on all cylinders and all three phases. And I feel like we didn't do that very well. And on offense, I feel like everybody feels that way. And I feel like I could have played better, I know a lot of guys speaking the same way. But to be able to make it to the Super Bowl and have success in the playoffs, you got to play a complete game and take advantage of the opportunities when they're there.
LIZ LOZA: You personally had a close look at the Bengals, who are now going to compete against the Rams at SoFi on Sunday. What's your takeaway from this team? They are coming in as the underdogs, this is obviously Los Angeles' home stadium, everybody seems to be on the Rams. But the Bengals seem to have something special, right? So what's your take?
DERRICK HENRY: Well, I think they embrace the underdog mentality. And I don't think they even care what the projections are or what people are saying, they're going to play their game. And that's what's gotten them here so far. And I think they probably appreciate being the underdog and that's how it's probably been for them all season. 'Cause you see how they played each and every week and I expect the same thing coming into Sunday.
LIZ LOZA: You have one of the fiercest, nastiest stiff arms in the game. It's over every single highlight reel. How did you develop it and which one was your favorite?
DERRICK HENRY: I feel like I didn't do-- I didn't get a highlight using that much this year as I wanted to, which I mean, I missed like nine games. But I've always been tall and long and had long arms and it just came natural. And then as I got older and got muscle and started doing more curls, I just feel like throwing people made it more miraculously on highlights and things like that. But yeah, it's definitely something that I use a lot.
LIZ LOZA: You're here on behalf of Old Spice. What's going on with your partnership?
DERRICK HENRY: Well, I love to smell good and everybody should love to smell good. And Old Spice has a new GentleMan's Blend. They have a moisturizer that smells very well, it has an amazing scent, they have deodorant, that's a long lasting odor, then they have body wash that smells fresh as well. And I love to smell fresh, I want you to love to smell fresh. So try Old Spice Blend.
LIZ LOZA: All right. Thank you so much for joining us, Derrick.
DERRICK HENRY: Appreciate it. Thank y'all for having me.