Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman believe they are being picked on. Not by each other, but by the NFL.
Before Sunday's game between the Giants and Redskins, referee John Hussey and field judge Rick Patterson delivered explicit instructions on how they expected New York's star receiver and Washington's All-Pro cornerback to behave.
Beckham didn't appreciate the special treatment, nor did he think it was necessary. Ditto for Norman.
"They implemented a new rule this year. It's basically the Odell Beckham Jr. rule," Beckham said. "I had three personal fouls last year, so they said if you come out and get one personal foul and another one for the same thing [you are ejected]. Today, they came up before the game and said, if you do anything, we're throwing you out of the game. That was before the game.
"There was no, you get a warning. There was not any of that. You just have to be on your best behavior. Unfortunately, that's what it's come to. It's not really football anymore as much as it is all the other things that play into it."
Norman was just as annoyed by the pregame treatment.
"They pulled me off to the side and said, "We are not going to make a mockery of the game," Norman said. "I don't know if that was from the top, or [Hussey] saying that directly to me.
"Wow. What am I doing? I'm just playing a sport that God has blessed us with and being as physical as I can be within the rules and the confines of what they ask us to do."
