Fisher: ‘No call’ on Sapp’s hit on Young right move

‘It was not a foul in my opinion,’ Fisher said Monday. ‘At the time, when you look at it, I was on the spot. It happened so fast. I would have bet my life that it was a personal foul, a late hit out of bounds.’

Fisher said he talked to the officials later in the game and asked them what they saw. Both said the same thing that the hit was not late.

‘So I apologized for a few things I said at the time,’ Fisher said. ‘I talked to the league office this morning, and they asked me for my opinion of it. I don’t think it was a foul, nor do they.’

Young said Sapp kept trash talking through the game but came up to him after the game to commend him for keeping his composure and not being drawn into a war of words with the defensive tackle.

‘There are some guys that are going to talk trash, and they mean it. And some guys try to get you off your game and try to take you off your focus of what you need to being doing,’ Young said. ‘Just shaken up, that is all there was.’

The frustrating part might be that officials tend to err on the side of protecting quarterbacks.

‘Most of that takes place in the pocket,’ Fisher said. ‘If it is called, it’s still OK. Everybody understands that it’s OK. But it was a very, very good job of officiating on that play.’

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GRIFFIN’S PROMOTION: It took rookie Michael Griffin until the Titans’ seventh game to finally start, and he did it at safety, not at cornerback where coach Jeff Fisher had insisted the Titans wanted to keep him.

Griffin, who played safety in college at Texas, will be staying in the starting lineup. And yes, it will be at safety.

‘Griff is a special athlete, and that doesn’t mean he won’t go back to corner,’ Fisher said. ‘As of right now, we’re going to go ahead and start him again this week.’

Griffin had four tackles in his first start and pleased the coaches. Fisher said the rookie graded out well with some things that only the coaches noticed.

Why start Griffin now? Fisher said the decision was based on the cornerback spot where Cortland Finnegan and Nick Harper are playing so well with depth thanks to Reynaldo Hill, Kelly Herndon and Eric King.

‘We just felt like we owe it to the defense to get the best players on the field. Griff had been working against the offense on the practice field for the last month or so, so we just felt like it was time to give him a shot,’ Fisher said.

The move coincided with Calvin Lowry being involved in defending a long pass completion in each of the previous two games.

‘It had nothing to do with the way Calvin was playing. I’m very pleased with the way Calvin was playing. We were 4-2 with Calvin as our free safety, and he made a lot of plays for us,’ Fisher said.

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CHRIS HENRY’S PRODUCTION: Chris Henry is starting to earn some praise from coach Jeff Fisher for providing a nice change-up to LenDale White, and more playing time is likely if Chris Brown’s ankle continues bothering him.

Brown missed a second straight game in Sunday’s 13-9 win over Oakland with his ankle. Henry had four carries for 48 yards against the Raiders, including a 24-yard touchdown run ‘ his second in as many games.

‘He has got a pretty good sense,’ Fisher said. ‘His pass protection is good. He didn’t play a lot of plays (Sunday), but he was effective when he got the opportunity. He runs hard. He’s hitting the hole with speed, and he has intensity.’