ATLANTA -- Somewhere, former Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman must be smiling.
Maybe even laughing.
Norman relished his games against Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones. He did a good job for the most part of keeping the league's premier receiver under control.
But the Panthers rescinded the franchise tag on Norman in April even though he wanted to stay. They allowed him to sign with the Washington Redskins and chose to replace the 2015 Pro Bowler with a rookie because they didn't believe Norman was worth up to $15 million a year in a long-term deal.
On Sunday, they paid for it. Oh, did they pay.
Jones torched the Panthers for 300 yards and a touchdown on 12 catches Sunday in the Falcons' 48-33 win at the Georgia Dome. He accounted for 52.5 percent of Atlanta's 571 yards of offense, the second-most allowed in Carolina history.
Jones' receiving yards were the most given up by Carolina in a regular-season game. You have to go back to the 208 yards Washington's Rod Gardner had in 2001 to find anybody close.
This isn't to suggest the Panthers would have won had Norman been on the field. They lost 20-13 to Atlanta here last year when Jones had 178 yards on nine catches, albeit 70 came against safety Kurt Coleman and linebacker Luke Kuechly.
But you can almost bet Jones wouldn't have gotten 300 yards had Norman been here. Take half of that away from Matt Ryan's 503 yards passing, the most by an opponent in Carolina history, and the Panthers had a fighting chance.
"Josh has been doing his thing on Julio since they've been starting that matchup," said Carolina cornerback Bene' Benwikere, who was no match for Jones. "It's on us [now]. Josh is not here. We cannot dwell on Josh.
"Of course, from a media standpoint, that's what's going to be asked. It's a 'what if?' "
It had to be asked.
"That's your guys' job to talk about it," Kuechly said. "We've got a lot of confidence in what our guys can do in [rookies] James [Bradberry] and Daryl [Worley]. Those guys work extremely hard.
"So I like our guys and I'll take those guys every day."
Jones took those guys to the house. Over and over.
Bradberry started off on Jones but left early in the first quarter because of a big toe injury. Worley came on and immediately gave up receptions of 18 and 43 yards to Jones.
"They put the young corner on me man-to-man," Jones said. "If they would have put two men on me or cheated a safety over, Matt would've made great reads and hit the other guys that were open. They singled me out today, and Matt made some great decisions."
This was the first time Carolina's young corners faced a veteran quarterback like Ryan.
They weren't ready.
Benwikere, Carolina's most experienced corner, admitted he got tired and needed to work on his conditioning. So he wasn't ready.
Norman was always ready for Jones. In 2014, he held him to a combined 10 catches for 107 yards and no touchdowns in two games when Jones averaged 99.5 receiving yards a game.
Last year, Jones had a combined nine catches for 113 yards when covered by Norman.
Jones had seven catches for 170 yards in the first half of this one.
Fortunately for the Panthers, they won't face as many combinations as lethal as Ryan and Jones again until they play the Falcons on Dec. 24 in Charlotte. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' combo of quarterback Jameis Winston and receiver Mike Evans, who are next up on Monday Night Football (Oct. 10), aren't nearly as experienced or dangerous.
To be fair, the Panthers had more issues than Jones. They couldn't get on track offensively until the fourth quarter against a defense ranked 30th in the NFL.
But on a long list of things to do, outside of getting quarterback Cam Newton out of the concussion protocol, getting the secondary fixed has to be a priority. That runs hand-in-hand with improving the pass-rush.
Coach Ron Rivera isn't panicking, though. He reminded he has been in this position before, and he has.
In 2013, the Panthers were 1-3 after a 22-6 loss at Arizona. They looked like a mess that day too but rebounded with eight straight wins.
"We have to understand, we have to find our character to head in the right direction," Rivera said. "We have the experience and we will have to work through it and go forward."
Somewhere, you have to imagine Norman is watching.