The most wonderful time of the year has arrived for Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry.

Since becoming the Titans’ No. 1 running back in 2018, Henry has played in 27 games after Thanksgiving. In those games, the former Alabama All-American has rushed for 3,228 yards and 28 touchdowns on 591 carries.

But there’s something different about Tennessee for this holiday stretch run: They have a losing record. At 3-7, the Titans crossed Thanksgiving with a losing record for the first time during Henry’s tenure as their top ball-carrier.

“It’s not good enough,” Henry said after Tennessee’s 34-14 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. “We’re not playing good enough as a team. Definitely, not playing good enough on offense, all of us individually not good enough to win the last two weeks. It just ain’t good enough, and when you play like that, that’s the result you’re going to get.

“All I can say is try to improve. I know I’m going to do that. I’m going to keep working, doing whatever I can to help us win in any possible way. Might have to evaluate a little more harder, run harder, break tackles. I’m going to try to figure it out the best way I can to be a better player for this team.”

In contrast to Henry’s previous seasons, things started to go wrong for the Titans down the stretch last season. Because Tennessee lost its final seven games of 2022, the Titans have three victories in their past 17 games.

“I don’t know what rock bottom feels like, but – woof – it’s tough,” Henry said. “It’s definitely tough. But we just haven’t been good enough. I ain’t making no excuse. I haven’t. We haven’t been good enough as a team, and that’s what happens in this league. It’s a grown man’s league. It ain’t been good enough.”

The solution seems simple: Tennessee has won three games this season – the three games in which Henry has carried the football more than 17 times. But on Wednesday, Titans coach Mike Vrabel highlighted a problem to the easy fix.

“We have to help him out,” Vrabel said. “One, we’ve got to help him out by being able to run more plays. … There’s a process to being able to get him those carries that marinate and mature and have the ability to bust a few and break some tackles. And we know that there’s going to be, hopefully not too many, some inefficient runs. But we know that over the course of 18 or 20 or 22 carries that, hopefully, we get some of those that pop.”

The Tennessee offense has snapped the football 565 times this season, the fewest in the NFL.

“It’s about the volume of plays,” Vrabel said of Henry’s opportunities, “and if however many of those are third down that you take down out of there and however many are in two-minute that you take out of there, so that number gets to be pretty small. We know to get everybody involved, the efficiency has to be there, the drives have to be there.”

When Henry has gotten the football in the past two games, he hasn’t done much, with 62 yards on 21 carries against Jacksonville and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“That’s just my fault,” Henry said on Wednesday. “Me executing and doing what I need to do to make the play effective, that’s just all on me. Just got to be better. …

“With the touches I get, just be more effective. Be more efficient in those plays when the ball’s in my hands and try to create explosives in any way possible. But I think efficiency has been my main focus this week. Just trying to get the most out of a play that I can when the ball’s in my hands. Not really worried about the touches, but when I get the ball, just being efficient.”

From the start of the 2018 season through the end of the 2022 campaign, Henry averaged 100 rushing yards and ran for 68 touchdowns in 71 regular-season games. This season, he has averaged 66.3 rushing yards in 10 games, leaving him 2 yards short of becoming the 39th player in NFL history with 9,000 rushing yards.

The Titans play the Carolina Panthers at noon CST Sunday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. The Panthers have allowed 129.4 rushing yards per game this season, which ranks 24th in the NFL.

“Find ways to make sure we get 0 (outside linebacker Brian Burns) and 95 (defensive lineman Derrick Brown) blocked,” Tennessee offensive coordinator Tim Kelly said. “Those are two disruptive players, probably as disruptive as we’ve seen. We got to make sure we’re doing a good job taking care of those two upfront, and if we do that, we’re going to have an opportunity to get Derrick rolling.”

At 1-9, the Panthers bring the NFL’s worst record to Nashville, where the Titans are playing for the first time since Oct. 29, which also was the last time Tennessee won. The Titans are 3-1 at home this season.

“Nobody’s comfortable or it’s never fun losing,” Henry said. “But I just think it’s how you respond to it. I’m going to be as positive as I can and keep working. I’m not going to make no excuses for myself.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.