Tyrique Stevenson only too eager to leave Hail Mary talk behind

In fact, Johnson didn't even see a need to talk about the blown Hail Mary with Stevenson, actual No. 29 or maybe even the Minecraft version.

"He's grown from it, and what's in the past is in the past and we're moving forward."Ben Johnson on CB Tyrique Stevenson

"No, I think he learned his lesson from that," Johnson said. "His peers have certainly talked to him about it. It wasn't really any reason for me or the staff to piggyback on that because he's learned from it.

"He's grown from it, and what's in the past is in the past and we're moving forward."

Stevenson actually started nine games after that one. Discussion among players recognized the impact of the play on their season but no one is dragging Stevenson through the mud still.

“There's really no conversation needed to be had," Stevenson said. "I owned it. It was a mistake. I just happen to play a sport where my mistake is nationally televised and I feel like in talking to me and going through the meetings, they can see that I already owned it up to it.

"I owned up to the guys from last year. Nothing but effort and myself, and they see that I'm putting it in. So there's really no conversation need to be had.”

In fact, Johnson actually said they love some things about Stevenson. When was the last time anyone said this about him?

"What we love about him is he's got some length and he's not afraid, which, I think, those are two things that you really need to play corner, particularly the style of corner that we're looking for--guys that will come up, they'll challenge, they'll get hands on," Johnson said. "Press man-to-man, is something that we're going to do a healthy amount of, and we feel like he fits that mold really well.

"Once again, he's learning the scheme. There are some different things that DA (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) and (DBs/defensive passing game coordinator) Al Harris and the rest of the crew are asking of him. He's been very receptive so far. He's a young, hungry player, just like a lot of these guys."

Harris' impact is greatly valued, as a defensive backs coach who has coached players like Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.

"It is perfect honestly," Stevenson said. "I know he's going to be on me every day, all day and I appreciate it because if I allow him to teach me and everything, he could take me to where I want to go.”

That and the new man-to-man coverage emphasis could be big. Scouts liked Stevenson's ability at this when he came out of Miami.

“I love it. I love it," he said. "In most defenses, for the corner it’s man-on-man. So it's “Mano-e-Mano.

"I'm going to show you, I've been working and I'm better than you.’ And that can take a lot of the guessing out of the game for the corners.”

As long as there's no guesswork involved about how to handle a Hail Mary situation, they could be fine.