After exiting the game with a wrist injury in the first quarter, cornerback Josh Norman returned to action and played a helping role during the Ravens' final drive.
On the last play of the first quarter in Sunday's 16-10 victory, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco fired a pass over the middle to wide receiver Breshad Perriman, who snatched it just out of the reach of Redskins cornerback Josh Norman.
Perriman fell right on top of Norman's right arm, however, and the Redskins' top corner lay writhing in pain for the next couple of minutes as trainers quickly hustled onto the field.
"It was excruciating. I was kicking, I couldn't move it," Norman said of his hand. "It was like a freaking shot going through your body. It's all just right there in one hand. I thought there was a little crack in there, but it didn't happen to be, so thank God for that."
The injury was later diagnosed as a wrist aggravation sprain, but Norman, who initially thought he might not be able to return, "sucked it up," and would eventually come back for the second half to play a big role in the team's win.
"I was like, 'Look man, you're not hurting, you're not going to die. You can walk. You'll be fine," Norman said. "You can use one hand and be the one-hand bandit and do your job.'"
The Redskins needed him to be during the Ravens' final drive of the game. With Baltimore trailing by six points, Flacco led the offense down the field to the Redskins' 23-yard line. With 33 seconds left, Flacco heaved a pass to the corner of the end zone towards Perriman, who hauled in the catch and appeared to get both feet in bounds.
It was ruled a touchdown by the side referee, but Norman immediately knew Perriman had one foot out of bounds. After review, the call was reversed.
"[Breshad Perriman] pressed it like he was going on the fade," Norman said. "We were hand-fighting down the field and [I was] pressing him to the sideline, which was our 12th man, and [I was trying] to get him out. That was one heck of a ball. I got a little underneath of him, but he went up and caught the ball. I nudged him a little bit. We got the call of him being out of bounds. That's one of the plays where I have to take my hat off to the technique."
"I saw it on the replay the second time around," head coach Jay Gruden said. "Josh [Norman] said he was out, so I believed Josh. He would never lie to me."
The defense would eventually hold the Ravens three more times from getting into the end zone to seal the victory.
"It's our will against theirs," Norman said. "We didn't want to go down. These guys are fighters. We're able to focus and lock in. I don't want to jinx us or put us on a pedestal, but we're coming along and fighting. That's all you can ask for. That's what we did today."
