Sunday Night Football against the Patriots was trial by fire for veteran CB Richard Sherman in his first game with the Bucs. The 10-year pro found out he was starting on Saturday, about 24 hours before kickoff in Week 4. Sherman responded by playing 58 of 59 defensive snaps, critical reps given injuries to the Bucs top three cornerbacks. Despite being new to the system, the challenges Sherman faced were made significantly easier by the Bucs’ safeties on Sunday night.

“Shout-out to the safeties ‘Twon’ (Antoine Winfield Jr.) and ‘J-White’ (Jordan Whitehead) and Mike [Edwards],” Sherman said. “They made sure they signaled throughout the game and communicated. The linebackers – Devin [White] and Lavonte [David] – they did a great job of communicating. It was comfortable out there. It wasn’t like [I was] panicked. I felt like I could look around, meet eyes with someone and they’d be like, ‘Hey, we’re in this,’ and we’d deal with it.”

Winfield and Whitehead both made several critical plays on Sunday. Winfield’s interception and forced fumble thwarted two potential Patriots scoring drives, the latter of which occurred in Bucs territory. Whitehead was highly impactful in the run game, making several stops around the line of scrimmage. With the Bucs down three cornerbacks, the safety duo picked a great time to step up.

“The safeties here are incredible,” Sherman said. “The safety play by ‘J-White,’ Antoine, and Mike – they play high level football. J-White – some of the plays he made last week were really All-Pro plays. He went into the backfield blowing up run plays, taking on three blockers and still making the play, etc. I think they’ll be fine.”

With Winfield in concussion protocol, Edwards is set to start on Sunday against Miami. The third-year safety has two interceptions to lead the team, despite playing just 55 percent of the Bucs defensive snaps. He’s been a key playmaker for the Bucs over the past two seasons. Meanwhile, Whitehead should play 100 percent of the defensive snaps for the first time this season. Last year, Whitehead was on the field for 86 percent of the Bucs’ defensive reps.

Tampa Bay hosts the Dolphins for a 1 pm kickoff on Sunday.