It seems Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper has every reason to be confused about Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman blasting him following a game between the two teams last September.
Norman was incensed at Cooper and his Raiders teammate Michael Crabtree for supposedly bragging about how much the duo was going to be able to do against Washington’s defense. However, Cooper was flummoxed as to what exactly Norman was ranting about after the game.
“I don’t know where he gets that from. As long as I’ve been here, I’ve never bragged before or after a game,” Cooper said at the time.
It appears Cooper had every right to be confused. Norman told NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney on his “Glass Case of Emotion” podcast that a teammate conned him into thinking Cooper and Crabtree had made boisterous claims they never made. Norman said it was a Redskins defensive lineman than went to Alabama that told him of the comments Cooper and Crabtree never made. The only player that fits that bill is Jonathan Allen.
“Basically, I found out that he lied to me about the whole thing. So I’m like, ‘He didn’t say all that?’” Norman said, via Mark Inabinett of AL.com.
Norman said Allen replied: “Nah, man. I just really wanted to win, man.”
For Norman it was the equivalent of disparaging water to Bobby Boucher.
“You don’t come up in here and say what you’re going to put up on somebody,” Norman said after the game last year. “Two hundred yards? [Crabtree] didn’t catch two balls. He only caught one, huh? So please, whatever you do, do not run your mouth if you’re a wide receiver and expect to show up on Sundays, because I’m telling you, we are here and we are waiting. Don’t come out here and tell me what you’re going to do. Show me. You’re going to have to run through me to get that.”
Norman apologize to the Raiders fan that brought up the topic on the show.
“I felt bad I couldn’t take it back,” he said. “So I’m apologizing now to you.”