Brendan Langley will have to wait until Sunday to see if the lessons he learned from a rocky NFL defensive debut can enhance his performance. But he insists he’s already been hammering home the motto any cornerback must subscribe to in order to survive in the league: have a short memory.
Langley, a rookie out of Lamar University, was unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight in Oakland on Sunday after veteran cornerback was ejected for his role in a fight with Raiders wide receiver . It was a challenging afternoon for the third-round draft pick, who was schooled by Raiders wide receiver for a touchdown in the second quarter and couldn’t stay with wide receiver on a third-down play late in the fourth quarter that sealed a 21-14 win for Oakland.
“I just learned that you have to play your technique and just trust it,” said Langley, whose action this season before Sunday had come almost exclusively on special teams. “That’s all it was. There weren’t any mental errors or mental breakdowns. I knew all the plays. It was just technique. You’re out there lined up against one of the best receivers in the league and you know you’re in man (coverage), you’re either going to make diamonds or bust pipes. I busted pipes last week, but we’ll see what a full week of preparation, a full week of film, a full week of dialing in — we’ll see what that really has in store.”
It was hard to detect any ding to Langley’s confidence this week. He’ll be called upon Sunday against the with Talib serving a one-game suspension. The 6-foot, 199-pound Langley has focused on the positives from his outing Sunday — such as a potential touchdown-saving tackle on in the second quarter he made after shedding a block from Patterson — to encourage himself as he prepares to be put in another big spot alongside fellow cornerbacks and .
The encouragement has come from elsewhere, too. Broncos coach this week shared with Langley the cover-your-eyes details of his own first shot as a defensive back in the NFL. It was 1995 and Joseph, a rookie cornerback for the Jets, was matched up with Oakland’s Tim Brown, one of the league’s top wide receivers. As Brown and the Raiders neared the goal line, they went right at Joseph, just as the 2017 Raiders did to Langley on Sunday, when the rookie got spun around as Cooper floated to the corner of the end zone.
“It was almost the same play,” Joseph said, comparing Langley’s welcome-to-the-NFL moment to his own. “I was a right corner and Tim Brown was on the 5-yard line, and I looked like (Langley). So I told him, I said, ‘You’re a better player than I was. So you have a chance. I had no chance.’ Again, playing corner in the league is tough. Itap like playing tackle or playing quarterback. They have to go through those things to get better.”
Langley is still somewhat new to playing cornerback relative to other rookies at the position. He began his college career as a cornerback at the University of Georgia before moving to wide receiver. He remained at receiver when he transferred to Lamar before ultimately returning to cornerback. He had six interceptions and 13 passes defensed as a senior to put himself on the NFL’s radar. Now, he’s learning on the fly and will be in for another big test against Miami receivers , and .
“There’s more confidence — more everything — knowing you’re going to play,” Langley said. “We’ll see what a full week can do. It’s just going to take some time. I just have to work my technique, perfect my craft, and I’ll be all right.”
