The Odell Beckham Jr. vs. Josh Norman battle during Sunday’s game has blown up into a top story grabbing headlines across all sports media outlets.

I agree with the NFL’s decision to suspend Odell Beckham Jr. for one game because of the vicious helmet to helmet hit he laid by launching himself at the end of a play on Josh Norman. It was a scary sight to behold and has dimmed the bright light surrounding Odell Beckham Jr. in his ascent into becoming one of the best wide receivers and biggest stars in the NFL.

Throughout the game, both players were incredibly physical with each other, often leading to pushing/shoving, punches being thrown and wrestling take downs.

A majority of the articles written as well as media personalities are talking about how the referees are to blame for not taking control of the situation and ejecting Beckham for the hit. A lot of talk has also gone into Beckham’s selfish and unsportsmanlike behaviour that negatively impacted his team and his personal reputation.

The part that I find interesting about this story is lack of discussion as to why all of this happened in the first place.

There was some trash talk exchanged between the two during the week before the game, which was to be expected as it was a match up of elite wide receiver and cornerback. Nothing really out of the ordinary here.

Odell Beckham Jr. has had moments this year where he has shown a lack of control over his emotions that resulted in a few physical altercations. But based on his public record and reputation prior to this game, he had been considered a relative model citizen. No major incidents of note and no disparaging remarks made about his character.

So why did Odell Beckham Jr. just explode all of a sudden in such a violent and malicious manner?

There are reports that have come out that may provide some reasoning. The Panthers players were carrying around baseball bats in what they claim is a team ritual as a symbol for their defence and secondary to make plays that “hit it out of the park” and in honour of their injured teammate Bene Benwikere. Beckham Jr. claims that he felt threatened by these actions and that it got him even more riled up prior to kick-off.

Now there are three sides to every story, person A’s version, person B’s version and the truth. Only Norman and Beckham Jr. will ever know exactly what was said between them, but I can only imagine some of the things that were said should not be repeated in any setting. Those reporting on the intense trash talk exchanged have said that Norman allegedly made threats to “take out” Beckham and directed anti-gay slurs at him, which may be the reason why the match-up was so hostile from the beginning.

Now regardless of what was said, Beckham Jr.’s actions were unacceptable and should never be condoned.

A number of those in the media have said that Beckham Jr. should have had his emotions under control because trash talk is simply a part of football and professional sports.

Now, that’s definitely much easier said than done. Yes, trash talk is a part of sports for better or for worst. Anyone who has played sports in a remotely competitive setting has probably had to deal with it. There is this underlying message sent in professional sports that trash talk is a good thing because fans love it and it increases the amount of hype and attention in the build up to a game. Being a good trash talker is often viewed as a badge of honour as athletes are praised for being able to get under their opponent’s skin.

For example, Michael Jordan is universally regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. Out of the many attributes that made him a such a great player, one that is brought up more often than you would think is his ability to be a ruthless trash talker, which is slightly odd if you think about it in the big picture.

So what happens when the trash talk crosses the line?

There are some people that believe all trash talk during professional sports is fair game and you just have to deal with it. In other words, there is no line that can be ever be crossed in their minds.

While this might be true for a very select few, I personally find it very hard to believe. Even for professional athletes who deal with trash talk on a regular basis, I am confident that there are certain topics that would just infuriate them to no end if it was brought up by their opponent.

For instance, Alex Burrows of the Vancouver Canucks was in the news recently for the insensitive remarks he made to former NHL player Patrick O’Sullivan. The actual incident occurred almost 10 years ago, but the fact that Burrows had brought up O’Sullivan’s past of being verbally and physically abused by his father warranted Burrows to publicly apologize for his remarks after O’Sullivan released an article in The Player’s Tribune discussing his experiences.

It’s possible that Josh Norman may have crossed a line in the midst of all of his trash talk towards Odell Beckham Jr. that caused him to react so violently and be the aggressor in almost every exchange.

I’m sure that there’s a good chance Odell Beckham Jr. may have said some things that crossed the line for Josh Norman.

It’s easy to pile on the blame and point the finger at Odell Beckham Jr. for being too thin-skinned and overly sensitive to the trash talk because it caused him to be thrown off his game and to act in such an unbecoming manner.

Again, I am in no way trying to defend Odell Beckham Jr’s actions because I believe they were wrong.

But before you join the bandwagon and immediately start to criticize Odell Beckham Jr for everything that happened, just ask yourself one question.

Is there a line that no one could ever cross when they are talking trash to you?