LOS ANGELES -- Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman seems relaxed as he talks with partner Sharna Burgess about Monday night's triple-elimination round of "Dancing With the Stars: Athletes."

But inside, his heart is racing.

It's similar to the feeling Norman had at the end of the 2015 season with the Carolina Panthers when preparing to face the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.

"It is the Super Bowl," Norman said of the DWTS semifinals. "It's just a different type of pressure because your heart will be racing, man, with anxiety. You get out there and put it all out there on the dance floor in front of millions of people watching. Then you've got a couple of hundred people in the audience that is extremely looking at every moment.

"You want to make sure every line that you learned in practice with your partner, you do not want to screw it up, no matter what."

Norman and the Panthers lost Super Bowl 50, 24-10. He doesn't want to lose this once-in-a-lifetime chance at the Mirror Ball trophy awarded to the DWTS champion.

"That's why when you get in that moment you do not want to screw it up," he said. "You want to make sure everything is right."

Norman and Sharna tied for the top of the leaderboard in the April 30 premier with a score of 24 out of 30 dancing to the cha cha. They struggled a bit last week with a score of 30 out of 40 dancing the paso doble, but still remain among the favorites to take home the title that will be determined on May 21.

They will have two opportunities to impress the celebrity judges and voting home audience in Monday's show (8 p.m. ET, ABC).

In Round 1 they will perform a dance inspired by the MVP in each athlete's life. Norman and Burgess will do a contemporary dance to "Stand By Me" by Bootstraps, fitting since Norman grew up line dancing in Greenwood, South Carolina.

In the second round, they will dance the salsa to "WTF (Where They From)" by Missy Elliott featuring Pharrell Williams.

Figure skater Adam Rippon enters Monday's show as the favorite along with Olympic teammate Mirai Nagasu. Norman and Olympic luger Chris Mazdzer are neck-and-neck for the third spot in the finals.

Former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding and Olympic softball star Jennie Finch Daigle round out the field.

Norman and Burgess promise to bounce back from their performance in the paso doble just as Norman bounced back from being benched early in his NFL career with the Panthers to become a 2015 Pro Bowl selection.

Asked to describe in one word what to expect on Monday, Norman shouted, "Electrifying."

Responded Burgess: "Electrifying? I'll say epic."

Said Norman, "Epically electrifying."

ESPN.com will feature more on Norman's offseason adventure, answering everything from whether he and Burgess have a love connection to what it's like going shirtless on "Live with Kelly and Ryan," later this week.

But for now the focus is on making it to the finals.

"Because, everything in my life I've been trying to win something," Norman said. "So I put hard work towards it and let that go and carry on to that phase of that championship, whatever it looks like."