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Josh Norman Shuts Down Deion Sanders At Super Bowl Media Day

BOSTON (CBS) -- Whether it's on the field against top-flight wide receivers or off the field with retired Hall of Famers working in the media, Josh Norman is a shutdown cornerback.

The world saw that on display on Monday night, when the Panthers all took questions of all kinds from the many folks who flooded the SAP Center in San Jose for Super Bowl Media Day.

Among the masses was the NFL Network's Deion Sanders, and Norman wanted nothing to do with him.

The beef goes back to December, when Odell Beckham Jr. took a running cheap shot at Norman's head in the middle of a heated game. After that game, Sanders said that if his own son played the game like Beckham, then he would encourage it. That's a comment which Norman did not forget.

Sanders approached Norman at the podium on Monday night, and the exchange was decidedly one-sided.

Sanders: "He smilin', how you doin'?"

Norman: "I'm doin' all right, brother. How you doin', man?"

Sanders: "I'm great. I'm proud of you, man. First Pro Bowl, first All-Pro, first Super Bowl, and you're a free agent. Life is good."

Norman: "Life is great."

Sanders: "I like your answer. Well this is all about you. I've had my turn, I've had my moment. Anything you want to say to me, so we can get this over with?"

Norman: "What you think we got going on?"

Sanders: "No, I got love for you. You remember, I tried to reach out now?"

Norman: "Man, I did, but at the same time I really didn't ... I really didn't agree with what you had going on with Odell and that whole situation."

Sanders: "Well I called him and had him on the phone trying to reach out to you to apologize to you."

Norman: "Right. But at the same time I felt like you had taken his back on some stuff, and you said something like if he was your son, you know what I'm saying, you would have gave him props or something, like 'Go out and do your thing.' You said that. It was like, OK, but this is a man running 10 yards at full speed trying to take me out or something. That's what you're going to pat on the back and be like, 'Good job'?"

Sanders then backpedaled harder than he ever had to backpedal during his 14-year NFL career.

"I love Josh Norman now," Rich Shertenlieb said on Tuesday morning's show. "I really do. That was just fantastic how he stood his ground and didn't let Deion worm his way into being his buddy."

Listen to the full exchange, as well as Toucher & Rich's discussion, below:

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