Los Angeles (AFP) – New York Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman go head-to-head once more on Sunday as a new instalment of their spiteful NFL rivalry takes center-stage on week three.
The two men fought a brutal pitched battle last season when the Giants hosted Norman’s former team the Carolina Panthers in a game scarred by a litany of x-rated collisions.
Beckham was whistled for three personal fouls, including one for a wild assault on his rival when he took a 10-yard run-up and launched himself in a sickening flying head-butt on Norman’s helmet.
Norman — who could be heard telling coaches he planned to “punch (Beckham) in the face” — received two personal fouls and was later fined $26,000.
Both Norman and Beckham have sought to play down the extent of their rivalry ahead of Sunday’s game at the Metlife Stadium.
“God tells us to forgive all, so I’m working on that,” Norman said this week.
“But I have moved past it. That was last year and I think that things that happened in the past stay in the past, whether they’re here or not.
“I’m sure he didn’t want it to happen, just like everybody else didn’t, but it did. Our feelings about it really don’t matter, to be honest with you.”
– Toxic encounter –
Beckham also attempted to draw a line under last season’s toxic encounter.
“It’s been a lot that’s happened since then,” Beckham said. “That was a lot that happened at the time period of my life.
“You take the good and the bad and you learn from it.”
Yet whether the spirit of rapprochement survives this weekend’s high-stakes encounter between the two NFC East divisional rivals remains to be seen.
After two opening defeats, including a shattering loss to the Dallas Cowboys last weekend, Washington can ill afford to fall to 0-3 against a New York side who are 2-0.
New York head coach Ben McAdoo is confident Beckham and Norman will stay on their best behavior. “We have to trust them out there and give them a chance to compete the right way,” said McAdoo.
Elsewhere Sunday, the unbeaten records of both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles will be on the line in a meeting of two in-form quarterbacks from different ends of the generational spectrum.
The Steelers’ two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger has started the 13th season of his career in superb form, marshalling his team to impressive wins over Washington and the Cincinnati Bengals.
But his counterpart at the Eagles — rookie quarterback Carson Wentz — has belied his inexperience with two assured performances in victories over Cleveland and Chicago.
“He’s commanding the huddle, and the dialogue on the sideline with players and coaches and him is something that a nine- and 10-year vet would do,” said Eagles head coach Doug Pederson.
“It just shows his maturity and the ability that he has to play quarterback.”
– More protests expected –
Week three of America’s most watched sport gets under way against a backdrop of racially-charged violence following two more deaths of African-American men this week at the hands of law enforcement.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has stirred a national debate with his refusal to stand for the national anthem in a silent protest about injustices suffered by minorities.
Those protests have spread across the NFL and the wider US sporting landscape, and more are likely on Sunday.
All eyes will be on Charlotte where the Carolina Panthers face the Minnesota Vikings despite days of violent unrest in the city after one of this week’s shootings.
“I’m an African-American. I am not happy how the justice has been kind of dealt with over the years,” Panthers star quarterback Cam Newton said this week.
“I have a son and a daughter that I’m responsible for. So how would I be if one day they come home and there’s no more daddy?”
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