Josh Norman on Super Bowl loss: 'It's just hard playing two teams'
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Josh Norman, one of the players who best epitomized his team’s edge and bravado all season, was the final Carolina Panthers player to slowly make his way into the interview room late Sunday night.
Norman struck a somber, humbled tone after the Panthers’ 24-10 loss to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium. With his head bowed at times, Norman uncharacteristically struggled to find words to describe his emotion that had poured out while he sat on the sideline less than an hour earlier as celebratory confetti fell.
CBS cameras had captured Norman, with his head in his hands, crying.
“I’m having a hard time sitting here,” Norman said after most of the reporters had already trickled out of the interview room. “I’m going to be straight up honest. I didn’t even want to talk to you guys.”
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The passion Norman exuded all season, emotion that some felt bordered on excessive, was on full display as he cried on the field and also made the classy gesture in congratulating Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning after the game.
As an Indianapolis Colts fan growing up, Norman always looked at Manning with great respect and eagerly anticipated playing him in what Norman called the biggest Super Bowl of all.
After the Broncos won Manning’s second Super Bowl title, Norman said he told the quarterback on the field, “You’re one of the G.O.A.T.s,” meaning the greatest of all time.
“He will go down as one of the best," Norman said of Manning. "Just happy to be in the same game. We were trying to spoil it so bad. Much respect for him. He got the biggest one of all.”
The outspoken Norman had made a habit this season of calling out elite receivers and shutting many of them down. The all-pro was a key component on a defense that prided itself on what their defensive backs termed “Thieves Ave.,” the ability to create takeaways.
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Norman on Sunday night repeatedly referred to the difficulty of playing “two teams,” an apparent reference to the Panthers defense playing well enough to win but Denver’s defense being able to rattle and smother Carolina’s offense throughout.
“The defense played spectacular,” Norman said. “The offense played good enough. … It’s just hard playing two teams. It really is, gosh.”
Norman spoke slowly, occasionally lowering or shaking his head. He became one of the faces of this NFL season. He was polarizing at times with a mouth that roared.
The defeat on the sport’s largest stage left him in tears on the field and, for the moment, humbled.
“This is going to be with me for awhile,” Norman said after most of the reporters had already trickled out of the interview room. “It hurts … Gut-wrenching and hard to swallow. I know I’ll be back in this game.”
Follow Eric Prisbell on Twitter @EricPrisbell.
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