When the New York Giants take on the Washington Redskins on Sunday, spectators and referees alike will surely focus on rivals Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman. According to the Giants wide receiver, he is expecting to see the same mental warfare from Norman and his new squad.
Beckham and Norman's rivalry, which has become one of the most talked about in the history of the NFL, started at Week 15 of last season. Before the game between the Giants and Norman's former team the Carolina Panthers kicked off, there was a scuffle between the members of the two teams.
This escalated into Norman and Marcus Ball wielding a baseball bat in front of Beckham and his teammates. The confrontation transferred onto the game and resulted to Beckham getting three personal fouls and Norman getting flagged with two.
According to Beckham, he is expecting to see the same intensity when the Giants face off against the Redskins this weekend. He believes Washington will capitalize on Norman's feud with him in order to try to get under his skin and throw off his game.
"Part of their game plan," Beckham told reporters. "I would do the same. That's just what you do. It's mental warfare. It's the art of war. You know what I mean? There are different ways to attack it."
As for Norman, he recently admitted that he's excited to face Beckham on the field again. He also noted that he intends to incessantly cover his rival throughout the match.
In preparation for a potential outburst, coach Ben McAdoo of the Giants said that league officials are ready to jump into action no matter what happens.
"I believe the officials will have their thumb on everything right from jump street, and we have to be ready for that."
Beckham's teammate, wide receiver Victor Cruz, also said that he's ready to stand in between the Giants and Redskins players in case of an altercation.
"That is definitely the plan, to understand what is going on from a leadership perspective and going to the game understanding what is happening and being able to diffuse - not just Odell and holding him back - but being able to, it things go awry, being able to talk to both parties and being like, ‘Hey, guys, this is bigger than us."
