Josh Norman and Dez Bryant had themselves a very animated matchup during the Cowboys' 31-26 victory over the Redskins on Thanksgiving Day, with Bryant notably saying that Washington should "[G]et their money back" for Norman, echoing/straight up copying a line that Norman used last season when talking about the Cowboys and Bryant:
Bryant further promised to post to his Twitter followers throughout the week about how Norman got "exposed," though--to be fair--Bryant only had three catches for 32 yards during the 15 plays where he was actually covered by Norman:
Bryant rationalized his comments by saying that Norman's trash-talk goes beyond football:
Furthermore the two men had a confrontation immediately after the game, which Norman says was sparked by Bryant threatening him by saying "What’s up? Where I’m from, we unload the clip.":
Bryant denied this claim:
Damn.
Now that we're all caught up, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport spoke to Norman to get the 28-year-old cornerback's take now that he's had a few days to reflect, and he seems confused over why such a big deal was made out of all of this. "It just baffles me that we're going back and forth," Norman said. "I don't know if there really is anything to say. What am I going to go back and forth for? It's not a battle. It's not a competition when the other person don't show up. What am I competing against? I compete against myself every week."
Norman continued, "I have obstacles every week. This is just one of the matchups, just one of the obstacles. This is what he gets up for, not me. He's just another one of the guys that I face. One of the tall tasks they got me stacked up against."
Norman added that his matchup against Bryant pales in comparison to his matchup with New York's Odell Beckham Jr., saying his feud with the Cowboys' wideout is "not like with the guy from up in N.Y." As you almost certainly know, Norman's pairing with OBJ has given us one of the more entertaining NFL one-on-ones in recent memory.
Finally, Norman said that it isn't like Bryant carries the Cowboys, who at 10-1 have the best record in the league. He stated that what Bryant does is just extra antics, ultimately summing it up by saying "I hope we see them again [in the playoffs]."
Cool. So do the rest of us.
