Carolina Panthers defensive back Josh Norman took offense to comments Jon Gruden made on Monday Night Football regarding the unstoppable force that was Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones.
Gruden had remarked at how he hadn’t “seen anybody cover Julio Jones in the last couple of years” while watching the receiver carve up the Philadelphia Eagles secondary to the tune of nine catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
A quick peek at Jones’ game logs from a year ago indicates that, indeed, someone has been able to cover the electric playmaker — something Norman was happy to point out on Thursday after practice.
“Yeah, I’ve been seeing that,” Norman said of Gruden’s comment, via ESPN.com. “That goes to show you how much he watches film, or how much he pays attention to what goes on to the people he’s watching in the NFL.
“That’s all I’ve got to say about that.”
It’s understandable that Norman would be upset. During Jones’ two encounters with the defensive back of the Panthers, he tallied just 10 catches for 107 yards with no touchdowns.
Clearly, Gruden hasn’t been paying attention to the fine work he, and a few others, have done against the Falcons star. If he had, then there’s no way he would have made such a ridiculous blanket statement, right?
Oh, wait. Yes he would.
This is Gruden we’re talking about, here — the guy who doesn’t know how to not hand out effusive praise about whomever is the flavor of the day. The former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the king of ridiculous blanket statements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmmipAmEBHw
Watch, when the Indianapolis Colts head to Carolina to take on the Panthers, Gruden will likely say nobody in the league is better at taking on big receivers than Norman. Unless, of course, Andrew Luck and his speedy receiving corps are making minced meat out of the Panthers’ secondary. Then Gruden will endlessly discuss the greatness of Luck and how we’ve never seen a quarterback to compare to the bearded one.
It’s a never-ending cycle of flavor-of-the-moment excitement when Gruden is involved.