Monday night’s game in Washington was billed as a matchup of a star receiver, Antonio Brown, with a star cornerback, Josh Norman. But it didn’t end up being that.
Instead, Brown had eight catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns but made most of his big plays with Washington’s other starting cornerback, Bashaud Breeland, covering him. That led to questions after the game about why Norman didn’t shadow Brown, but Washington coach Jay Gruden defended Breeland and the game plan afterward.
“He’s a good corner and he got beat by a great player today, and some great passes that I don’t know what corner could defend,” Gruden said.
Gruden did acknowledge that the team might look at the possibility of having Norman shadow the opposing team’s No. 1 receiver going forward, but he defended his defensive assistants’ game plan last night.
For his part, Norman called the game “a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping” but said he believes in his coaches.
“That’s why the guys brought me here. Faith in me to do my job and not question one thing in the game plan,” Norman said.
Norman won’t question the game plan, but others will. After a 38-16 loss, Washington has to make some changes.