Norman still not taking bait on trash talking with Beckham

RICHMOND, Va. — There’s no question that the two matchups with the New York Giants this year will have a little extra juice to them. Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. and Redskins cornerback Josh Norman have a little history between them. When the two played last year in Week 15, back when Norman was a member of the Panthers, things got heated quickly and escalated throughout the game, eventually leading to a one-game suspension for Beckham after a blow to Norman’s head.

So when Norman signed with the Redskins, the anticipation of the twice-a-year battle grew. Beckham was quick to let Norman know how he felt.

Norman has never taken the bait on the trash talking, laughing it off. He was asked about it again on Friday.

“I don’t know what to say about that,” he said. “I don’t know, I guess if a guy talks about you that much, you must be doing something right.”

Beckham even told GQ that Norman was in Washington because of him.

“It goes back to what I was saying,” Beckham told the magazine. “If I wasn’t playing him twice a year, maybe people wouldn’t bring it up as much. But now it’ll be a lot more media attention for him, attention that I don’t really look for, attention that I don’t need. The reason he’s become so relevant is because of me.”

Do the comments motivate Norman in anyway?

“Means nothing to me,” Norman said. “Obviously, ’cause the same fact, he’s talking about me but I’m not talking about him. So, it’s like, ‘Well, dang.’ If he once was the hunter and now you’re the hunted, so it’s kind of like, why am I talking about you? For what? So, I have nothing to say because now we are the hunted and not the hunter.”

For your planning purposes, the Redskins and Giants first match up in New York on September 25 and again in Washington on January 1.

George Wallace

George Wallace is the WTOP sports director. He began at WTOP on Christmas Day of 2000.

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