You are.I saw those moments a little differently. Watching the video posted up-thread before reading other takes on it, I thought that Norman planted his feet, wound up, and walloped OBJ as hard as he could while OBJ went by. (Post #2, 1:04 and 1:16 in the video.) Seeing it that way, I thought OBJ's response seemed to be a heat-of-passion response to a violent moment. Of course that wouldn't justify what OBJ did, but it might make it a little more understandable.
But I haven't seen that interpretation in any of the commentary out there, so maybe I'm reading too much into what Norman did?
Norman slapped Beckham as he went by, but given his momentum, there's no physical effect. Norman's real crime was that he had embarrassed Beckham all day (to that point) and then sidestepped Beckham like a matador when he went for the big hit.
Beckham decided to "get even" by turning around, running full speed and launching himself at Norman's head after the play was over.
He clearly did catch him flush and I'd guess that Norman played the rest of the game with a concussion.Would you feel the same way if OBJ had caught Norman flush, concussed him and put his playoff status in doubt?
The fact that OBJ 'missed' and didn't wind up seriously hurting Norman is immaterial. I get the point that it was a slowly-escalating build-up between those two guys, but the league needs to draw the line at launching yourself helmet-first at somebody's head (or, say, knees) outside the structure of the play with clear intent to hurt— there's enough of an epidemic of serious injuries as it is.
Or do we think it is coincidence that Beckham went from being essentially shut out before that hit to having a great quarter+ and almost leading the Giants back to victory?
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