The new Norm’

With all the backstories, injuries and developments in a given week in the NFL, it is tough to know what to look for Sunday. Here are five things to watch:

Though Josh Norman hasn’t exactly set the world on fire with the Redskins, the Panthers certainly seem to have gotten the short end of their messy divorce with the Pro Bowl cornerback last spring.

The two sides will reunite Monday night in Washington for the first time since Carolina abruptly rescinded the franchise tag on Norman in May, making him a free agent and setting the stage for him to end up with the Redskins.

Not only are the Panthers 5-8 and likely to miss the playoffs one season after a 15-1 mark and a Super Bowl trip, but their pass defense has collapsed in embarrassing fashion without Norman. Forced to use a pair of rookies, Daryl

Worley and James Bradberry, to fill the considerable hole left by Norman, Carolina enters the Redskins game ranked 30th in pass defense and 26th in passing TDs allowed while falling to 23rd in total defense. The Panthers were 11th, seventh and sixth in those respective categories last season. The Redskins have jumped into the top 10 in fewest TD passes allowed after ranking No. 21 last season. A notorious trash-talker, Norman was relatively restrained this week— other than saying he felt like he was “stabbed in the back” by the Panthers’ rescinding his franchise tag.

“I’m going to come out fighting,” Norman told reporters. “But there’s no animosity.”