Because Josh Norman fancies himself as the league's premier shutdown corner, he was eager to weigh in on Julio Jones' monster 300-yard game against his former team on Sunday.
"I'm just gonna sip my tea on that one," Norman said, via CSN Mid-Atlantic, quoting the famous Kermit meme.
Norman, who somehow forgot Jones' nine-catch, 178-yard performance the last time the two faced off in a 2015 Panthers loss, will get plenty of flak for the shade he's tossing at the 1-3 Panthers and in some ways he deserves it. After his new team had him play away from Steelers wideout Antonio Brown in Week 1 and Dez Bryant in Week 2, his first real one-on-one matchup against a top-level wideout took place in Week 3 against Odell Beckham. In a win over the Giants, Norman tracked the star receiver for the majority of his seven-catch, 121-yard performance.
But really, Norman's willingness to weigh in is directly tied to our willingness to goad him into saying something. Norman is a tremendously fun player to watch, mostly because of his immense confidence on and off the field. That translates to sound bites that fit neatly into little boxes: Team A gives away Player B and now can't beat Team C.
Hopefully we all realize that it's more complicated than that. There's a good chance Jones would have still put up beastly numbers against the Carolina Panthers even if Norman was still playing there. Norman can have some time to consider it over a cup of tea.
