By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Life without Derrick Henry begins.

The one player the team couldn’t afford to lose.

What do the Titans do now?

With Henry, the play-action game was the focal point of the passing attack.

Courtesy Tennessee Titans

The play-action allowed average receiving tight ends like Geoff Swaim, Anthony Firkser and MyCole Pruitt to become productive receiving options.

It created single coverage on the outside to receivers like A.J. Brown that would normally have extra attention on critical downs and distance.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In the numbers game where the Titans’ offense nearly always sees a single high safety with eight men in the box as a result of Derrick Henry’s presence, defenses could only devote so much to the coverage of A.J. Brown.

Remove Henry from the equation and that’s very likely to change.

The Rams and other upcoming opponents probably look at Tennessee, say who don’t we want to get beat by, point at Brown and plan for ways to stop him first.

Donald Page/ Tennessee Titans

And so there are more double teams to come.

At Sofi Stadium the Rams could merely put Jalen Ramsey, on of the NFL’s premium cornerbacks on him.

Julio Jones appears in line to return from two games out with a hamstring issue, and he should be the next-most dangerous player, with the committee in the backfield running against a standard, not stacked, front.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans are a resilient team that has proven capable of overcoming a lot.

But sustaining a winning formula without Derrick Henry is a lot different than plugging holes in the secondary when they are without Kristian Fulton and Caleb Farley or mixing and matching the offensive line as players fall out with injuries.

Henry is responsible for 50 percent of the Titans’ offensive yards and 55 percent of their offensive touches.

Minus him, the Titans have a major personnel adjustment to make.

But they also have a major psychological adjustment to make.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In their MetroCenter headquarters, Titans coaches are game-planning Tuesday for Week Nine against the Rams.

It’s just the second time Mike Vrabel and his staff are doing so without having Derrick Henry as part of the plan. The team held Henry out of a Week 16 game against New Orleans in 2019 with a hamstring injury.

This time it’s not a one-off but the beginning of a long stretch without the NFL’s best back, who was scheduled for surgery on his right foot Tuesday morning.

Pool photo/ Donald Page, Tennessee Titans

“We will have to block better, we will have to throw better, we will have to call better games and not just one person,” Vrabel said. “We need everybody. We are going to need everybody in all three phases.”

A look at some of the big considerations as life without Henry begins…

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Penalties were the name of the game in Indianapolis. Awful officiating dictated the pace and play of the game and that should never happen in the NFL.

Ultimately the Titans won in overtime, 34-31.

Carson Wentz played a solid game until around 1:33 left in the fourth quarter when he threw that awful interception to Elijah Molden to give the Titans a lead.

© Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Backed up on the goal line, the Colts wanted to run a screen pass, but Nyheim Hines quit on the screen play designed to go to Moe Alie-Cox, turning toward the back judge and his back to the quarterback looking for a pass interference call while his QB was looking to pass it to him to get rid of the ball.

Both are at fault. Hines must finish the play before complaining to the officials. Wentz must get rid of the ball without panicking.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  – Derrick Henry scoffed at the weekly workload questions and Mike Vrabel has generally talked about using his best players as warranted.

While I thought things were getting to be a little much this season with the running back’s carries, I was OK with their lines of thinking.

Derrick Henry/ pool photo, Donald Page, Tennessee Titans

Worry about now, now, and later, later.

But like most, I envisioned Henry’s inevitable injury or breakdown as part of later.

Instead, it’s here now.

He’ll have surgery to repair a right foot injury on Tuesday, Mike Vrabel said. Vrabel declined to get into any timetable but reports and medical people are suggesting a best-case scenario is eight weeks. [Unlocked]

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Titans won their fourth consecutive game Sunday with a 34-31 overtime thriller at Lucas Oil Stadium.

After I finished my column, which you should have read by now, and before I left the building, I did a broadcast with members.

You should have been there, but if you were not, it's awaiting you below.

INDIANAPOLIS – When Mike Vrabel talks with contempt about front-runners, he’s aiming at people who can only handle being in prime position, who don’t handle adversity well, who can’t or won’t battle.

His team fought hard for him, again, Sunday producing an improbable 34-31 overtime win over Indianapolis that produced an even more improbable AFC South lead.

Vrabel now leads a team full of frontrunners of another, more likable sort.

© Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Eight games into the 2021 season, the 6-2 Titans are three games ahead of the Colts. With the tiebreaker that comes with a season sweep of the series, it’s effectively a four-game lead.

“That was playoff football,” Colts’ corner Kenny Moore said. “That’s the type of environment that we all strive to play for, play into. We knew what was at stake. We knew the AFC South – that was the game and we lost.”