DETROIT -- While the Tennessee Titans crave cohesion at certain positions, they’re approaching safety with a different mindset.
In last week's season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the Titans mixed it up in the center of their secondary, with all four guys at the position seeing significant playing time.
Starting free safety Rashad Johnson played 48 of 63 defensive snaps, with starting strong safety Da'Norris Searcy clocking in for 42 snaps. Daimion Stafford played in both two-safety and three-safety looks with 40 snaps, while third-round rookie Kevin Byard got 21 snaps.
Byard said he expected to play but was surprised to be on the field in the first quarter.
Does the shuffling hurt the rhythm or flow of the secondary?
“We don’t really know how the rotation is going to go -- the DB coaches kind of just do it on how they see us out there,” Johnson said. “When they see guys get a little fatigued, we can rotate guys in. That’s the beauty of it. We’ve got four guys who can play down in the box or in the middle of the field.
"I don’t think it throws you out of too much rhythm, because we’re all smart guys who can think on the go.”
It seems natural already because the team does it in practice, said Johnson, who noted he's never been part of such a rotation.
“We intend to do that, and I think it was a good thing,” Titans assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau said. “I thought all four of them got in and contributed and played very well in the game. Particularly in the fourth quarter in a game where there was a lot of running, a lot of pounding, our guys didn’t wear down at all.
“At the end of the game the safeties made several really, really impactful plays.”
