- [Narrator] The first time Odell Beckham Jr.
and Josh Norman met,
they gave us plenty of reasons to remember it.
And from there, the media would never
let us or them forget it.
Beckham and Norman faced off for the first time
late in the 2015 season.
The Panthers were undefeated,
the six-win Giants were still very much
in the NFC East conversation,
and yet the receiver-corner duo took top billing.
Beckham was putting together a very good second season
which was really just the continuation
of an incredible rookie year.
Meanwhile, Norman had established himself
as one of the league's top shutdown corners
and one of the top trash-talkers.
It quickly looked like everyone was right
about the must-see matchup.
On just the fourth snap of the game,
Odell blew past Norman.
With the ball in the air, less than 90 seconds off the clock
he was steps away from proving that no one
in the league could cover him.
And he dropped it.
Norman barked at the receiver,
Beckham responded as he headed to the line,
and they moved on to the next play,
where Odell engaged Norman,
then ended up on the ground.
And with that, things went zero to beefy in a split second.
Beckham caught Norman with his eyes on the backfield
on the Giants' next possession,
sending both to the turf.
They'd find each other again
and again
and again.
The refs finally decided to do something
and flagged Beckham for this helmet-to-helmet hit.
Norman stopped shadowing Odell
for the rest of the first half
so it seemed like the fireworks were over.
Whether this made Beckham bored,
or his frustrations with being catchless
though the first half were growing,
he found a new friend in Cortland Finnegan
who also isn't a stranger to beef,
his just had a much shorter shelf life
thanks to the hands of Andre Johnson.
Beckham got his first two catches late in the third.
He converted a fourth down on the second one,
then picked up a personal foul.
After this, even Aikman and Buck
had cooled to the showdown.
- [Aikman] Probably speaking for most of the country,
just tired of watching it.
Just not really seen this from Odell Beckham.
- [Narrator] So, naturally, on the very next play,
we got this.
- [Buck] What is going on?
Have you seen a guy this thrown off his game before?
- [Aikman] They oughta throw him out of the game, Joe,
and they just might.
- [Buck] I mean, he's outta control.
- Both players got personal fouls
and no one was going to chalk this up
as just another game.
At this point, it felt like this kind of just popped off.
But knowing who each guy was coming into today,
it helps paint a bigger picture.
This was all before any Miami yacht trips
or fighting and then making up with kicking nets
or anything the media would consider a tantrum.
Odell Beckham was only 25 games into his career
and already a poster boy for the NFL.
He became a household name in just his seventh game
when he made one of the greatest catches
in NFL history against the Cowboys.
A catch so good that it earned him a spot in Canton
and earned Nike an estimated 2.1 million dollars
just because he was wearing their gloves.
He was the youngest player to be on the cover of Madden,
and while none of that was guaranteed,
being drafted in the first round
out of a major program to a team in New York
raised the expectations just a little bit
and to someone looking in from the outside,
it could've felt like the success
was laid out for him on a platter
thanks to playing in a major market
in a team not that far removed
from winning a Super Bowl.
As for Josh Norman, nothing had come easy.
He had to fight to stay on the Panthers roster.
He had to fight to get a starting job.
He even fought Cam Newton in training camp.
So once he found the spotlight in 2015,
he wasn't going to give it up.
He'd proved to be one of the league's best shutdown corners
keeping top receivers in check on a routine basis
and playing so well that he nicknamed himself Batman.
Norman knew the work he put in to go from fifth-round pick
to a piece that offenses were planning around.
But it would make sense that he still felt
some need to keep proving himself
against the first-round talents opposite him.
His play hadn't gone unnoticed by Beckham,
who even sounded eager to face him,
despite not necessarily agreeing with the new moniker.
But then there was proper beef-ception.
Norman reimagined Batman by bringing
an actual baseball bat onto the field before the game.
Charles Tillman said it came from a story
told by one of their coaches about
needing to protect what was theirs.
But another member of the Panthers took it a step further.
He approached Beckham, who reportedly offered a handshake
that the unidentified batsman declined,
then allegedly told Beckham,
"I'll be the reason this will be your last game."
Which, first off, not a cool move.
And second, justified Beckham
not being thrilled to face the Carolina defense,
no matter who lined up across from him.
I'm not saying that excuses him
for spearing Norman in the head multiple times
but it helps clear up how we got to this point.
Norman would respond two plays later
and pick up his second personal foul.
Beckham scored the tying touchdown
on a trailing Norman,
then treated him like Tyronn Lue
and Carolina won with a last-second field goal.
Lost in the shuffle was an incredible Giants comeback
but afterwards, no one but the teams
cared about the score.
Speaking to the media, Norman let everyone know
that today, they saw the real Odell.
- And I hope I pulled back a mask,
I hope I pulled back the face on what this dude really is.
- [Narrator] As for Beckham,
he did his best to just dodge the topic.
- [Reporter] Did things between you and Norman go too far?
- Um, it's unfortunate we lost.
- What he couldn't dodge was
a one-game suspension from the league.
Norman received a fine but kept on playing
and made it to the Super Bowl,
where the Broncos defense bailed out Peyton Manning.
That March, the Panthers gave Norman the franchise tag
and in April, they rescinded it.
So conveniently, he joined New York's
division rival in Washington.
And the media appreciated that very much.
Not to say there wasn't some level of animosity between them
but everyone else was far thirstier
to keep this going than the actual players themselves.
Beckham was asked about the Norman signing during a presser.
First Take rolled into Washington's training camp
so Max Kellerman could further hound Norman.
- Can you play man defense in this day and age
with these rules and these receivers in your division?
- Wow, well, like I said,
you kinda have to go back and watch the film
because that's what I've done
when we played them last year.
- [Narrator] On Boomer & Carton,
Odell was asked about their rivalry
but he brought up the fact that
they were trying to move past it.
- We were trying to meet up, have face-to-face.
We just were in different places at the wrong time,
just because this has gotten,
it's gone from here way over that way,
and it doesn't really need to.
It's not, like, there's way bigger problems
going on in this world.
- Even when one of them actually spoke about the other,
context was often cast aside.
Beckham gave an interview to GQ and ended a quote saying,
"The reason Norman's relevant is because of me."
Norman was asked about this and he replied,
"He's relevant because of a catch,
but we're not gonna go there.
I'm not into the war of words."
An attempt at back-and-forth ensued,
but Norman quickly tried to move on
from the he said, he said.
He did an interview with ESPN The Magazine
and cleanly laid out his feelings.
"Odell's skilled and talented.
I won't take that away from him.
But he's never been through any adversity in his life."
All of that stemmed from Beckham's full quote to GQ
which had a preface of
"If I wasn't playing him twice a year,
maybe people wouldn't bring it up so 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."
Yes, the end reads as egotistical,
but his actual larger point had been left out.
While they let their first matchup get out of hand,
neither of them had wanted this to become a thing.
Norman joined the team offering
five million per year more than Carolina
and the reason they paid him so much
was they needed a corner who could help cover
someone of Beckham's talent twice a year.
Really, there were two beefs at play:
the first was simply from things
escalating once on the field
between two of the best players at their positions
who viewed the other as a challenge.
The other was a beef that everyone else
wanted to see play out and lead to more fireworks
which was fully recognized by both players.
But at this point, the narrative would continue
no matter what they said.
By the time their first rematch rolled around,
both players were simply looking past all of that
and towards the competition.
They met after the game and shook hands
while all future battles would be put under a microscope
that they did their best to dodge.
- [Reporter] This Odell guy, you know him.
(laughing)
- You guys made this more than it really is.
- [Narrator] Norman got flagged for a couple personal fouls
against Beckham in the 2016 season finale
including one that some claimed was punch
while he was trying to knock the ball out,
but Odell didn't care to address it afterwards.
- If Josh Norman was looking to get into something today,
you weren't having any of it.
What was your approach?
- Oh, I don't got nothing to do with that.
We're in the playoffs,
damn, he'd a messed!
We're in the playoffs.
- [Narrator] Beckham missed both games
against Washington in 2017 which helped
cool things in the media.
Norman even lobbied for Beckham
to stay with the Giants amid trade rumors,
recognizing that the headache caused by the media
was worth it to keep going against one of the best.
It may have ended before many wanted to admit,
but Odell Beckham and Josh Norman's beef
was exciting, if not complex,
for the short time that it was real.
Now, I promise I'll be gone in a sec
but thanks for watching.
I wanted to flag this TO versus McNabb beef,
it's a bit more lighthearted and definitely juicy.
Or scroll through the playlist
for one that looks good to you.
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