TAMPA — To Josh Norman, there’s a noticeable difference between the Redskins playing on the road versus playing at home. And it has a lot to do with the team’s fans at FedEx Field.
After Washington’s 16-3 win Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Redskins cornerback shared his frustrations over the atmosphere he’s felt at home games this season. The comments were in response to a question about winning on the road after last week’s home loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The Redskins are 3-1 on the road this season following their victory at Raymond James Stadium. They’re 3-2 at FedEx Field.
“I feel like we play better on the road, I’m not going to lie,” Norman said. “Gosh, man. It just seems like the true fans, they really be with us on the road. We feed off of that. We go into the homestands, it just seems like an open bubble. Like the other team’s turf or something. You hear more of them than you do us.”
The Redskins haven’t had a sellout this season, which snapped the team’s self-proclaimed 50-year streak. According to ESPN, they entered the week ranked 28th in attendance — averaging just 61,201 in paid attendance.
Washington has made changes to its game-day atmosphere and its marketing strategy as a way to lure fans to its stadium. But fans of the opposing team still regularly fill seats at FedEx Field.
Norman, who had an interception against the Buccaneers, said the tenor of Washington’s crowd is different from other stadiums.
“If something bad happens, they sulk,” Norman said. “They sit back in their seat and they boo. I don’t know. It started to be this year that we started to see that. It’s kind of crazy because the first couple of years I’ve been here, you’d see sellouts and see people all happy and excited all for the Redskins.
“But now, you go around to the NFC East — you see the Phillys, the Giants and even Dallas — they sold out. People in the seats, they’re cheering for their team regardless of good or bad or indifferent. They’re still showing up each and every week and going hard.”
Norman isn’t the only Redskin to make remarks about the team’s crowd. A day after the team’s home-opener, Chris Thompson said he was surprised to see empty seats and disagreed with the fans’ decision to boo.
Norman said he’s “tired” of the fans’ reaction.
“We come back to our home and it seems like guys, they don’t really care,” Norman said. “They just boo everything and aren’t really behind us. We don’t really feel that [support]. I’m tired of it, really. [Expletive], we play all our games on the road if you ask me.
At the end of the day, the people who want to root for you … they’ll be there. The other ones man, it is what it is. We can’t really speak on them. They’re going to talk about what they want to talk about anyway. They’re all keyboard warriors anyway.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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