“The guy lined up 25, 26 times on this side, and not one time was he targeted or caught a ball,” Norman said of Thomas on 102.5 The Fan. “ . . . Film speaks for itself. I watched it three times back-to-back and over and over again, on the plane and on the bus."

When Thomas took credit on Twitter for Norman’s benching during the Saints' first possession of the second half, Norman replied by pointing out Thomas’s lack of targets from quarterback Drew Brees. “25-times Lined it up toe-toe (blocking decoy) out-come of that 0-0-0!!" Norman wrote. “Drew didn’t even look yo damn way . . . Waste of a tweet!”

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While Norman said engaging with Thomas was therapeutic in the moment, he regretted the decision after waking up Tuesday morning.

“It was just like, do I even send this, like, do I even give this life?” Norman said. “And then I went to that Kanye West sunken place and I said, ‘You know what, we’re going to do it, just make our self feel a little bit better about this whole situation.’ So we did, and I looked at it, whatever. I woke up [Tuesday] morning and took a shower and I just felt great, and looking at our record right now in the NFC East, we’re No. 1 in our division. We’ve got so much life left, 12 weeks, to let this one thing get to us? No, man. We’re so much bigger, our life is so much bigger than that, to give someone life. . . . That’s kind of how that went down. It was a waste of my time.”

Norman bristled when asked whether he thinks Thomas, who averaged 98 catches, 1,191 yards and seven touchdowns in his first two seasons, has “earned the right to carry himself among the likes of Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, the best receivers in football.”

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“Like I said, I [wish] I wouldn’t [have given] him life, but we did, and now he’s the topic of a conversation and he never should have been,” Norman said. “I would never give someone any kind of anything. You have to catch a ball. You just have to. It’s not even a question. How could you even say he’s in the likes of them? Seriously, man, you’re talking about guys who just put up 100 yards and touchdowns in their sleep.”

The Panthers defeated the Redskins in December 2016 in Norman’s only previous meeting against his former team. Norman said he has “washed off what happened” Monday and is looking forward to the rematch.

“Whoever comes to the left, that’s just where we’ll be,” Norman said when asked which Panthers wide receiver he’s most excited to line up against. “I’ll be hanging out over there, and we’ll see what happens. We’re going to have a good time, we really are, seeing those guys again and going up against them and playing them. It’s going to be an exciting time."

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Later, Norman reiterated that he’s feeling good about Washington’s position a quarter of the way into the season, despite Monday’s blowout loss.

“We’re sitting pretty,” Norman said. “We’re 2-2, first in our division, the NFC East. You just got to keep chopping that wood, hacking away at this thing.”