A breakout season for Panthers cornerback Josh Norman continued in Dallas on Thursday when he scored a decisive win in his matchup with Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant.
Bryant had two catches all day and one for six yards when Norman was covering him, which led Norman to say after the game that the Cowboys “need to get Dez’s 70 mil back” after signing the wideout to an extension this summer. Norman and Bryant spent plenty of time jawing at each other during the game, including during Kurt Coleman’s early interception return for a touchdown, and Norman was flagged for an extended celebration of knocking a ball away from Bryant in the end zone in the second half.
After the game Norman explained that his saltiness toward Bryant was fueled by what the Dallas wideout said about him to his teammates in the secondary.
“They came back, told me, I put my thinking cap on and I went to work,” Norman said, via the Dallas Morning News. “I went to a dark place. I went to the bat cave. I went Dark Knight on him. The thing is, the crazy thing about all that is, he started from the first play and after that, it was nothing. There’s no pact between lions and men between the white lines. None. And if my intensity is all out four quarters and the other opponent is not, that’s not my fault.”
Norman has been just about impossible for opposing offenses to beat all season. Thursday’s results suggest that firing verbal shots in his direction isn’t the way to do it.