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If any Panthers were willing to share some colorful opinions on Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, it would be Josh Norman. But coach Ron Rivera got to his chatty cornerback before the media could.

“Coach told me not to talk about that,” Norman said Wednesday. “I’m not going to talk about that cause coach told me not to talk about it, so if I talk about it, coach is going to be mad.”

Manziel has been a hot topic across the NFL this entire calendar year, and his failed first start has not calmed much down. After he threw two interceptions in the Browns’ embarrassing shutout loss last week against the Bengals, the hype has turned into a flood of criticism. But Rivera does not want his players to say a whole lot about the controversial Manziel.

“The point I stressed is let’s talk about what they do as opposed to who does it,” Rivera said. “So let’s be smart about it and let’s be smart about our communication to [the media] about what we’re going to try and do as far as our offense and defense is concerned. We’re going to talk about how we’re going to play against what they’re going to do.”

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