Josh Norman shook off a slow start to shut down Terrelle Pryor in the second half

The Cleveland Browns couldn’t find their first victory of the 2016 season, but the team did keep it close with Washington, even taking a 20-17 lead into the fourth quarter. One of the biggest differences during the final stretch of the game — aside from a sudden case of fumble-itis — was shutdown defense by cornerback Josh Norman, who struggled to stop Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor in the first half.

By halftime, Pryor had four receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown. On all four receptions, he was covered by Norman, Washington’s $75 million defensive back.

The statline also didn’t include a short reception by Pryor that was nullified by a Washington offside penalty and a pass interference penalty on Norman that afforded Cleveland 11 free yards.

Essentially, Pryor appeared to back up his talk earlier in the week when he said Norman’s trash-talking ways would have no affect on his play.

”I’m 6-5, 230,” Pryor told Cleveland.com. “I’m not worried about no corner talking about me. Period.”

But the big first half for Pryor was followed by a second half with just one reception for 4 yards. Norman is the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL and in the latter half of his game against the Browns, he looked the part.

Norman even undercut a pass to Pryor, basically running the route for the receiver, to snag his first interception with the team he joined in the offseason.

It was followed by a celebration that earned Norman a 15-yard penalty for “shooting a bow and arrow” (No really, Jeff Triplette actually said that on his microphone). But it didn’t matter much because the message was clear: Norman had his swagger back.

Norman didn’t have much to say about Pryor in the week leading up to the game, but he didn’t have to. Even the team’s official Twitter account jumped at the chance to troll Pryor a bit.

The Browns are far from ready to compete at a high level, but for now they can be happy about the quick development of Pryor as a top threat. However, Norman reminded everybody on Sunday why he was worth $15 million per year in the first place.

On a day when his former team, the Carolina Panthers, gave up 300 receiving yards to Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones, Norman locked down the No. 1 receiver for another team.

Four games into his career in Washington, Norman has received plenty of criticism, mostly due to his gigantic contract. He didn’t follow Antonio Brown in Week 1 and had a tough battle with Odell Beckham Jr. in Week 3. But on Sunday, Norman looked like exactly what Washington paid for.