Much has been said about Washington’s failure to place cornerback Josh Norman against Steelers receiver Antonio Brown in Week One, most of it from the losing team’s perspective.
On Wednesday, Brown said plenty about what he expected when facing Washington’s $15 million cover corner.
“I was a little surprised,” Brown said on PFT Live regarding the decision not to put Norman across from Brown, wherever he went. “I kind of figured they weren’t, you know, studying his history from Carolina he’s never been a guy who traveled with guys. I think he may have done it maybe once or twice maybe with Julio Jones, but I knew it wasn’t the case with competing against him. I didn’t think for one bit they was going to want him to follow me or guard me around all day.”
Did Brown want to be covered by Norman?
“Absolutely man; that’s what the NFL is for,” Brown said. “To measure guys of who are the best based upon how you perform against the best corners, and that’s the match up you want to see. I think that’s what people want to see and that’s how you discover good on good. It lets the best guys go against each other and compete. It’s just sad to see. It’s not like that in the NFL anymore. The coaches try to do a good job of going away from the good players and keeping the game fine.”
It ended up better than fine for Brown against Washington. Brown’s performance dipped in Week Two, because the Bengals committed extra resources to stopping him. Brown said he was frustrated at times by that approach, but that he realizes that drawing added attention makes it easier for the rest of the offense to operate.
The four-catch, 39-yard performance ultimately didn’t impact PFT Planet’s assessment of Brown. With nearly 14,000 votes cast, 63 percent deemed Brown to be the best receiver in the league, with five other choices far behind him.