The Panthers continued to remain undefeated after shutting down the Washington Redskins the previous week. Against another NFC East opponent, the Panthers faced the Cowboys this week in Dallas. This game featured a key match-up between the Panthers’ cornerback Josh Norman and Cowboys’ wide receiver Dez Bryant. Josh Norman is having a career year. Josh Norman is rated as ProFootballFocus’ #2 cornerback overall this season so far, and #1 overall in coverage. In this breakdown, we will take a look at Josh Norman’s play versus Dez Bryant.

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Josh Norman (#24) vs Cowboys: 6 targets, 2 catches allowed for 16 yards

Target	Quarter	Receiver	Route	Result
1	1	Bryant	Go	Incomplete
2	1	Beasley	Hitch	Complete - 10 yards
3	2	Bryant	In-and-Up	Incomplete
4	3	Bryant	Slant	Complete - 6 yards
5	4	Bryant	Sluggo	Incomplete
6	4	Bryant	Fade	Incomplete

 

First, let’s look at the plays where Norman was targeted by Romo and Cassel.

Play 1
Situation: 2nd and 6 at DAL 24
Description: (14:22 - 1st) T.Romo pass incomplete deep left to D.Bryant (J.Norman). Pass incomplete off play action on a “fly” pattern

• Bryant at the top of your screen runs a go-route releasing towards the sideline.
• The Panthers are in Cover 1 Man and Norman is lined up on the line of scrimmage across from him.
• After the snap, Norman extends his outside arm to press Bryant while taking his kick-step towards the inside guarding against a quick in-breaking route.
• Bryant swipes away his arm and then dashes up the sideline. Many cornerbacks would have a hard time recovering from this as Norman completely turns his hips inside and has to spin inside, but he recovers well.
• As the pass comes towards Bryant, Norman does an excellent job of spotting the ball and swiping away Bryant’s arms to causes the pass deflection.

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Note: Instead of going out of order and doing all of Bryant’s targets first, I’ll cover Norman’s single target while he’s covering Cole Beasley in order to follow the chart at the beginning of the article.

Play 2
Description: Situation: 2nd and 9 at CAR 18
(3:16 - 1st) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short left to C.Beasley to CAR 8 for 10 yards (J.Norman)

• Anytime in this game, when a wide receiver lined up to the outside of Bryant, Norman shifted to cover the outside wide receiver, while the slot cornerback covered Bryant.
• Panthers are in Cover 2 with Norman covering the sideline underneath zone at the top of your screen.
• Beasley runs an in-breaking hitch route in front of Norman’s zone.
• Romo releases the ball towards the sideline, which makes Beasley turn towards the sideline and comeback to it.
• Beasley snags the ball and attempts to cut upfield, but Norman grabs him by the ankle to trip him still giving him the first down.
• Norman takes too long to recognize that the throw is coming. He is obviously guarding against a potential double move like a hitch-and-go, but Norman does not see the ball coming to Beasley in time to make a play on it while giving him a full yard cushion at the top of Beasley’s stem. Perfectly run route by Beasley.

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Play 3
Description: Situation: 3rd and 14 at DAL 23
(9:33 - 2nd) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete deep right to D.Bryant. Pass incomplete on a “GO” pattern

• Panthers run a Cover 4 shell versus the Cowboys’ 11-personnel grouping out of shotgun.
• Bryant lines up on the far right side (top of your screen) and runs an in-and-up route attacking the gap between the two right zones.
• The deep right safety bites on Bryant’s first cut leaving a hole open over the middle of the field.
• Norman thinks he has the deep part of the route covered so he slows down.
• This play could have easily gone for a long touchdown if Romo throws this ball 1-2 yards shorter. Missed opportunity for the Cowboys. This was Romo’s second game back from injury, so it’s understandable he’s out of sync with his wide receiver on a deep pass.

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Play 4
Situation: 1st and 10 at CAR 35
Description: (10:01 - 3rd) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to D.Bryant to CAR 29 for 6 yards (J.Norman) [T.Davis]. pass complete on a “slant” pattern

• Panthers are in Cover 1 Man and Norman is playing man-to-man coverage on Bryant at the bottom of your screen.
• Bryant runs a slant underneath Norman’s soft coverage giving him space to work underneath.
• Romo, about to be hit, throws a soft ball not fully able to step into the pass. This causes the pass to be short and inaccurate due to the pressure, but Bryant hauls it in while rolling forward on the ground.
• Not much for Norman to do here, besides potentially playing more press-man at the line of scrimmage, even if this potentially exposes a deeper pass.
• This was Bryant’s only catch while being covered by Norman and itw as for just 6 yards.

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Play 5
Situation: 1st and 10 at CAR 27
Description: (6:46 - 4th) (Shotgun) M.Cassel pass incomplete deep left to D.Bryant. Pass incomplete left corner of the end zone 2 yards deep

• Bryant at the bottom of your screen runs a sluggo-route attempting to trick Norman. Sluggo-routes work on cornerbackcs that expect the ball to come quickly out of the hands of the quarterback. A cornerback might look toward the backfield and get caught flat-footed therefore exposing the deep portion of the route. Norman does not fall for it.
• Cassel places the pass too far inside, so Bryant has to jump over Norman in an attempt to catch the ball.
• Norman turns just in time to hit Bryant’s hands causing the incompletion in the endzone.

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Play 6
Situation: 1st and Goal at CAR 5
Description: (4:32 - 4th) (No Huddle, Shotgun) M.Cassel pass incomplete short right to D.Bryant. PENALTY on CAR-J.Norman, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, 3 yards, enforced at CAR 5

• A fade route in the endzone by Cassel is Bryant’s final pass while being covered by Norman.
• Norman is playing off-man coverage on Bryant, which should have been a sign to Cassel not to throw Bryant the ball, but this (among many others) is the reason why Cassel is not a starter in the NFL.
• Cassel places the ball too high for Bryant who jumps for it and can’t bring it in.
• Norman celebrated in the back of the endzone after the pass which caused the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

On the next page, we will take a look at a few passes where Norman was not targeted, his lone blemish, and Bryant’s 20 yard reception.