When Norman extracted his mouthguard Wednesday in order to deliver the words everyone waited for, there was a range of possibilities around what he would say.
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Last year, Norman lined up opposite Beckham on 53 of 73 plays pre-snap. “We will have a plan for Josh and our whole secondary, but the exact plan I don’t think I’ll be talking about on Wednesday”.
The way they tangled on the field isn’t commonplace in the National Football League these days, as Beckham Jr. was flagged three times for personal foul calls while Norman was penalized twice.
A reporter asked Manning if he would offer any advice to Beckham on dealing with any lingering controversy surrounding what transpired with Norman last season. The Giants defense is allowing just 16 points and 308 yards per game with 2 sacks while not creating any turnovers.
“That was previous year and I think that things that happened in the past stay in the past, whether they’re here or not”, Norman said. “Things happen for a reason”.
“It doesn’t really matter, the record”, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said. “That’s definitely the plan, is to understand what’s going on, from a leadership perspective and go into the game understanding what’s happening and being able to defuse it”. But there was enough ugliness that day to go around. The Redskins liked how Breeland played this summer and felt comfortable with him in these early-season matchups, sources told ESPN’s John Keim.
“God tells us to forgive all”, Norman said.
Neither Beckham or Norman were ejected from the game, a 38-35 Panthers win.
The Redskins hope the chips start falling in the right places soon. When you play on Monday Night Football, the viewer numbers are a lot higher, more people are watching, especially the very first MNF game of the year.
Josh Norman and Odell Beckham Jr. insisted their feud is in the past, even as both hinted that they won’t back down from their confrontational style this weekend. You’ve got to approach each situation differently and kind of go from there. So you try to make them one-dimensional: “Stop the run, take away their play-action pass, which they do a lot, and go from there”. “Really focused on going 3-0”, he said, via Giants.com.
Norman wants to make sure the receiving trio is silenced on the field and the Redskins find a way to get their first victory of the year on Sunday.
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He’s a special competitor on top of being a special player, and it’d be stunning if Norman’s not glued to Beckham in Sunday’s NFC East showdown – one the 0-2 Redskins need to avoid falling three games back of the 2-0 Giants in the division after just three weeks. Washington and Norman will get another test this week when Dez Bryant and the Dallas Cowboys visit D.C. If we don’t see Norman checking Bryant exclusively then it could be time to start asking for a refund from the $75 million man.
