Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman will square off on Sunday for the first time since their tempers got the best of them last season, and the NFL is looking to make sure the incident doesn’t repeat itself.
NFL vice president of officiating Dean Bladino said on NFL Network this week that the crew working the New York Giants-Washington Redskins game has been instructed to keep a close eye on Beckham and Norman.
“Before every game, our crew gets a scouting report, and that includes video clips, different things they can expect from the two teams — formations, tendencies,” Blandino said, as transcribed by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “And any time there’s a history between the two teams, players, that’s part of that report. Typically, divisional matchups, rivalry games, we want to make sure we maintain control. And when there’s a history between two players, obviously we can’t ignore that. And the crew will be aware of it. And just like any other game, we want to take that first opportunity to set the tone and be a presence early. Let the emotion die down, so we can just get down to playing football.”
Blandino said something similar last week, noting that officials were told to have “heightened awareness” of extracurricular activity between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.
Unlike the first two games of the season, Norman is expected to shadow the opposing team’s best receiver on Sunday. That would be Beckham. If you remember, Beckham let Norman get under his skin last December and the result was a bunch of cheap shots. If the two players get into it again like that, you can expect flags to fly early and often.
