NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- In many football towns, the backup quarterback is the most popular player. For the Tennessee Titans, it's the backup running back. For two seasons, the calls for Derrick Henry to start over DeMarco Murray gradually grew louder.

Henry finally got his lead back opportunity on Sunday in a win-and-you're-in game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Titans won, but Henry's day was a disappointing dud -- outside of a 66-yard receiving touchdown on a perfectly blocked screen, that is.

"I didn't feel like a workhorse back. Kinda felt soft," said Henry, who had 28 carries for 51 yards and an abysmal average of 1.8 yards per carry. "I'm not really happy about that game at all. It hasn't left my mind since the clock hit zero."

"Soft" is a curse word on the football field. It's certainly not a word typically used to describe a 6-foot-3, 245-pound athlete who has the ability to hit like a linebacker and run like a receiver, sometimes on the same play. But you know what? Henry is right. He did run a little soft against Jacksonville.

Luckily for Henry, he'll get another shot on Saturday at the Kansas City Chiefs on an even bigger stage. Murray's knee injury likely means Henry will be the Titans' lead back for the second consecutive week.

Taking a look back at the Titans' rushing offense against the Jaguars, two issues were apparent:

First, the Titans' interior offensive linemen allowed too many unblocked defenders to penetrate the line, and they struggled to make holes. This isn't new; Titans running backs have a 3.1-yard average (Murray 3.0, Henry 3.1) when running inside the tackles, second worst in the NFL. The Titans will need to upgrade their interior offensive line in the offseason. There also were plays that were doomed from the start, and the Titans should have had Marcus Mariota audible out of them.

Second, Henry failed to take advantage of the creases the line did provide and too often looked for the home run instead of the sure 3 or 4 yards. He didn't look like much of a power back in a number of failed short-yardage situations on third down.

"I just feel like I didn't run like myself," said Henry, who also went the wrong way on one play leading to a fumbled attempted hand-off and a Jaguars defensive touchdown . "I could say other words, but gotta play better. ... Falling forward, trying to get a positive gain. Not running soft."

Henry is at his best bouncing runs outside, but too often he ran as if he was avoiding contact rather than delivering it. His first three carries were for negative yards, including a rush of minus-12 yards on which Henry ran backward trying to reverse field like it was a college game. The smart play would have been to accept the no-gain and move on to the next down.

"That's something that comes with experience," said Titans offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie, who has to do a better job of avoiding the teeth of defenses with his play calls.

Ultimately, it hasn't hurt Henry for most of the season. He led the Titans in rushing and had a more productive season than Murray, despite fewer opportunities.

It has always been finding a balance for Henry in how often he bounces outside versus rushing downhill. One AFC South rival defender said he would rather face Henry than Murray, because the latter is a more physical downhill runner. That's a bit discouraging to hear for a back of Henry's size.

The Titans are hopeful Henry can quickly learn his lessons. After all, Henry is the future, and a strong playoff performance could be enough to finally convince the coaching staff to hand over the running back keys to Henry as the three-down feature back.

The Chiefs' 25th-ranked rushing defense seems like the perfect unit for Henry to get right against on Saturday. Henry has been the Titans' best big-play weapon, and he's the only NFL player with three touchdowns from scrimmage of 65-plus yards this season.

In the Titans' December 2016 victory over the Chiefs at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, Tennessee had a lot of success in the zone read. The return of Mariota's rushing success makes quarterback runs more likely to be in the game plan this Saturday. Also, Henry averaged 6.4 yards per carry and scored two touchdowns that night in Kansas City late in the 2016 campaign. A repeat could be enough to help lift the Titans to victory.

It was refreshing to hear how Henry's rough first day as the Titans' workhorse is motivating him. That could be a good sign for a Tennessee offense that needs him to explode. It also could be the early glimpse of a world where Mariota and Henry make up the Titans' backfield duo.