One X-factor for each team in the NFL playoffs:

AFC:

Titans running back Derrick Henry

Tennessee Titans – Derrick Henry (‘s health)

I know calling a two-time NFL rushing leader an X-factor is kind of cheating, but how can he not be? The Titans somehow finished with the number one seed in the AFC, despite Derrick Henry missing the second half of the season.

Their duo of receivers have also only been together and healthy for a couple of games and the team has had ten different offensive linemen start at least one game.

The side of the ball that has played at a Super Bowl level since their Week One debacle against Arizona is the defense.

Sure, they’ve had a few down-spots, but they’ve literally won them some games single-handedly, finishing as the number-two defense against the run and top-ten in sacks and pressures.

Since Henry was hurt, the team has averaged just 17.6 offensive points over their next seven games before the offense finally started to wake up these last two weeks.

A big part of that unit hitting their groove again is the re-emergence of the running game led by D’Onta Foreman. He has provided a physical presence for them as a sort of Derrick Henry clone, but the King is back and what he can bring in terms of a bull-dozer could be huge.

If he’s back at 100 percent, opposing defenses will have to add a plus one in the box, while A.J. Brown works the middle and takes advantage of the resulting voids, making for a well-balanced squad.

With everybody having to come to Nashville to get to the Super Bowl in the AFC, they’re set up to make a major run.