Aaron Whitecotton's coaching point isn't complicated. Every drill, every rush and every meeting begins with the first movement off the ball as the Titans build Robert Saleh's attack front.

By PAUL KUHARSKY

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Snap your fingers.

That's still slower than Aaron Whitecotton wants his defensive line reacting to the football.

It’s not a speed-of-sound action; it’s speed-of-light reaction. They are locked in on the ball, with all kinds of twitchy movement around it. With hard-count fakes intended to throw them off. With tennis balls sometimes flying by. With the football sometimes replaced by a small white ball pulled by a ribbon. Linemen are supposed to be locked on the ball, its first movement triggering theirs.

Whitecotton is obsessed with it, and the message is getting through to his corps.

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Paul Kuharsky has covered the Tennessee Titans since 1996, first for The Tennessean, then ESPN.com and now independently at PaulKuharsky.com. He served on the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee for 11 years and is the longest-tenured Titans beat reporter in the franchise's history.

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