Peterson then got a late touchdown run to wrap up the Titans' win, a debut made for a feel-good story. He continued the latter part of his Hall of Fame career Sunday night, taking a carry on the Titans' first offensive play and getting tackled by Aaron Donald. In many ways, Adrian Peterson's had two careers: The first was as one of the greatest running backs of all time, and the second as a journeyman ball carrier who's been able to give plenty of teams a surprising lift when needed. And that defense could (and might need to) be the driving force for the Titans going forward if it can maintain this level of play. Brown have been the centerpieces of the Titans' AFC ascendance over the last couple seasons, but on Sunday night it was a stellar defensive effort that was the catalyst for victory. This was an evening all about how the offense would go without its biggest and baddest go-getter, Henry. It's helped Tennessee rack up an incredible string of wins in consecutive games against the Bills, Chiefs, Colts and Rams. In two of the last three weeks, the Titans defense has held the Chiefs and Rams to season-lows in points. Two interceptions within 26 seconds that led to 14 points. On the Rams' ensuing offensive play, Byard hauled in a 24-yard pick-six. A play later, the Titans took the lead for good on a Geoff Swaim touchdown catch. The damage was delivered early as Simmons wrapped up Stafford in the end zone and forced a horrible interception to David Long. Simmons' three first-half sacks fueled the team's five-sack performance that saw Tennessee pressure Matthew Stafford on 28.3% of dropbacks, per Next Gen Stats (no other team this season reached 25% against the Rams). The Titans held the Rams to a season-low 16 points and without a touchdown until garbage time.

Keyed by a bunch of bad men named Jeffery Simmons, Harold Landry, Denico Autry and Kevin Byard, Tennessee's D set an ominous tone for the Rams offense in the early going and was the largest reason the Titans came away with a truly impressive and important win on Sunday night. But with quandaries abounding about how the Tennessee offense would fill the 6-foot-3, 247-pound hole left by Henry's broken foot, it was the Titans defense that did the stepping up in emphatic fashion.

Though the debut of Von Miller on the Rams defense must wait at least another week, the Titans' first game this season without Derrick Henry was inevitable.

Touchdown and tunes 2021 lineup