Arguably the most talked about football game this past weekend in the National Football league was the duel between the undefeated Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants, but nobody seems to care about the result of the game so much as what happened during it.
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Two of the league’s best in Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. and Panthers cornerback Josh Norman faced off on Sunday but what started as a simple 1-on-1 battle between two All-Pros turned into an all-out brawl; it seemed that on every play the two heavyweights were engaging in an altercation.
However, things really got ugly during one play where Beckham, after getting swatted at, retaliated by attempting to spear Norman in the head area, which provoked Norman to swing at him. Flags were thrown on both players, but yet remarkably, no one was ejected.
The Panthers won the football game by beating New York physically and mentally. They knew just like everyone else that Beckham is New York’s best offensive weapon, and it was not going to be enough to simply beat him physically; they had to mentally take him off his game and that is exactly what they did for three out of four quarters.; Beckham dropped a wide-open touchdown pass on the very first series of the game, and until the fourth quarter, he was held relatively in check. He was so obsessed with getting the better of Norman and the Panthers that he was completely taken off his game and was a mess mentally.
The Giants were not the only losers Sunday afternoon; the NFL really took a serious blow because of the way their officials handled the situation.
At this point we are all very much aware of the influx of rules put in place in an attempt to eliminate head injuries and to protect the players, but the rules have created more controversy because in the eyes of defensive players, all these new rules seem designed to protect the offensive players alone.
It is hard to argue against the opinion that if Josh Norman had been the one trying to spear Beckham, he would have been ejected from the game. With that in mind, why was Beckham not thrown out?
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Not only was Beckham not ejected, but flags were thrown on both players, which therefore led to offsetting penalties, and he was allowed to stay in the game where he later caught a game-tying touchdown pass on fourth down to complete a 28-0 Giants run in the fourth quarter.
He should never have gotten that chance.
The NFL somewhat made up for that blunder when they suspended Beckham for New York’s biggest game of the year next week against the Vikings, but this might be a case of too little too late and is just the latest in what has been an unbelievably shaky job of officiating in 2015.
