Titans' coaches teaching small and helping players carry things to bigger situations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Logan Ryan and the Titans defensive backs have been watching a lot of video.

Of their feet.

In slow motion.

“This is the most tape I’ve seen in slo-mo,” he said. "What might look like a good play to the fans could have been better. What might look like a bad play to the fans could have been a good play It’s a game of inches and we’re really trying to find that inch.

“Corner is a lot about knowing when to go and knowing when to be patient, it a fine line. If you open up everything too fast, to stay on top of everything, you give up everything underneath. If you don’t open up you get beat deep. You can learn to play patient when things are in slo-mo. You might have felt like you were, but you can see things like not staying square, your hips, just angles. You can always be better on your angles and make your job easier.”

The Titans staff is doing more to break things down to the elemental level than any staff here I can remember. In the individual position periods of practice and in periods with stations players rotate through where they get one small message and focus, the Titans are concentrating in practice in the sort of little things coaches talk about everywhere.

We’ve seen players try to block a punt with precisely five steps off the edge. We’ve seen them try to catch a pass just as they get hammered by a pad. We’ve seen them stand next to a receiver and try to break up a pass while looking only at the target’s hands and face.