Cornerbacks and safeties will stop the Super Bowl’s air war by ‘letting go’

MINNEAPOLIS -– You are a cornerback striding down the sideline with one of these Super Bowl 52 pesky wide receivers. He is a step ahead. But then you start to match him. Are you suddenly faster? No. It likely means the ball is coming. He is adjusting. You adjust. Get your head around. Locate. Officials like it when you get that head around and are tracking the ball -– that makes incidental contact secondary. Most of all, remember this …

Don’t panic.

That is the mantra for every defensive back in this Super Bowl. Don’t panic. They will be under assault. Both teams present pass-catching firepower not only at receiver but also at tight end and from the backfield. I expect a Super Bowl record total number of passes in this game from Tom Brady and Nick Foles.

I expect this game to be won by air.

It is the Super Bowl’s cornerbacks and safeties who particularly must navigate this inferno.

If you prove to be a weak link, you will be repeatedly singed.

“If you see a guy struggling with the double move, the stop and go, with the ball going over his head for big plays, well, they see it, too,” Eagles secondary coach Cory Undlin said. “You’re going against some great athletes at receiver, some freaks of nature, and you are very exposed. But if you are playing in the Super Bowl, that means that at some time in the season you had to pick yourself up as a defensive back. You got beat and you got up. There is no substitute for experience at the position and not all of the experience is a happy experience. You can’t be fragile and play in an NFL secondary. You’ve got to know how to deal.”

Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore calls it “letting go” and not allowing negativity to build.

“It’s having short-term memory, but it’s also being ready with technique and preparation for the next play, then the next play,” Gilmore said. “You’ve got to be mentally strong. You’ve got to have fight.”

This season we have seen games where cornerbacks gave up a big play and then pressed and gave up another and sank into a downward spiral they could not escape. They panicked. It’s an ugly, unmistakable sight.

This Super Bowl is primed for it.

“You have really good plays, you have bad plays and the bad plays had better not be so much better than the good plays,” Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler said. “The cornerback position is the toughest to play in football. It takes a strong amount of confidence. You have to be ready for anything physically and mentally. You’ve got to be a dog.”

Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills said his answer is technique.

“I think going into this game, you can’t be caught up in it’s the Patriots or Tom Brady or even that it’s the Super Bowl,” Mills said. “I think you have to take the approach you have taken all season and that is no fear. Play technique. Play your game.”

The Super Bowl, however, has a way of making players crack.

And these defensive backs are prime candidates because footballs will fly all evening. Strong, relentless pass rushers would alleviate some of the burden. But defensive backs in Super Bowl 52 can help themselves most by remembering this -– don’t panic. Breathe.

“You gotta get some things out of your head,” Patriots safety Duron Harmon said. “You’ve got to be ready to move on to the next play. I know as a safety, I’m the last line of defense and I have that extra burden of making tackles in the open field if a guy is running free. I focus on that. I think as a defensive back you just have to focus on being a man about your business. No matter what comes your way, this is the time for that.”