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Odell Beckham Jr. was up to his antics in the teams latest loss

THE New York Giants season has been ugly, with the bizarre antics of the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history leading the way.

Mark Cannizzaro
3 min read
October 13, 2018 - 9:13AM
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been a headache of late.
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been a headache of late.

ODELL Beckham Jr. was supposed to be better than this.

He promised he was going to be better than this.

More maturity, he vowed. Less drama, he insisted.

And yet there he was Friday, before a national TV audience and a full house at MetLife Stadium, curiously walking off the playing field toward the Giants locker room as his team trailed the Eagles, 24-6, with two seconds remaining on the clock before halftime and the Giants with possession of the ball for one more play.

As far as “bad looks’’ go, this was pretty close to textbook — particularly on the heels of that controversial ESPN interview that resembled a “Saturday Night Live” skit with Lil Wayne sitting alongside him nodding as his “yes” man.

Over the years, I’ve made it a hard and fast rule never to question any athlete’s injury, but the postgame explanations about the curious Beckham Exit Stage Left after the Giants had put the finishing touches on their 34-13 loss to the Eagles sounded a trifle flimsy.

“He had an … an IV … just dehydrated again (and) he went back to the locker room,’’ Giants coach Pat Shurmur said.

If you were a conspiracy theorist, you were almost waiting for that, “Yeah, that’s the ticket’’ line from the “SNL” skit starring Jon Lovitz portraying a pathological liar.

“Some guys’ bodies dehydrate quicker than others, so we’ve got to keep looking for ways to make sure he stays hydrated,’’ Shurmur said.

“I was cramping … so I was trying to go get an IV,’’ Beckham said after the game.

“Because the halftime break is really like five, 10 minutes (it’s actually 12 minutes), so if I can use a couple extra seconds to go in there and get an IV and be able to come back out … that’s really all it was.’’

Except that it felt like it was more than that. More than we were being told after the game.

The Giants, after all, are so sick and tired of the extra-curricular drama that has engulfed this lost 1-5 season of theirs, the last thing they wanted was more Beckham drama. Was Shurmur protecting Beckham? We may never know.

Shurmur, mild-mannered as NFL head coaches go, was as agitated after the game as he’s been all season.

Then there was another Beckham rant in the second half when he headbutted a cooling fan on the Giants sideline, eventually having to be cooled down by his rookie teammate Saquon Barkley.

The moment was reminiscent of Beckham’s tussle with that kicking net (which he lost in a TKO, with the net banging him in the head). These are things Beckham has talked about curbing, channelling his emotions in a more productive way.

“I didn’t see that, so … he can’t do that … he shouldn’t do that,’’ Shurmur said.

“I was just trying to get myself going,’’ Beckham said, explaining his latest sideline histrionics.

“I felt like some of those plays after I was getting myself going was my best stuff. I was just trying to get myself fired up, and I did that and it helped me.’’

Beckham, who finished the game with six catches for a harmless 44 yards on 10 targets (music to the Eagles’ ears), was hardly the only culprit in the Giants’ dismal loss. There was plenty of blame to go around on this night.

But if this was Beckham’s way of “galvanising’’ his team, it’s one of the most unorthodox displays of leadership in the history of leaders.

He departed the field just after Eagles kicker Jake Elliott had missed a 54-yard field goal, which gave the Giants the ball at the Philadelphia 44-yard line with two seconds remaining before halftime.

Trailing by 18 points with their season slipping away, the Giants were not going to kneel on the ball and run the clock out. Some sort of Hail Mary pass play was in order.

Maybe a receiver comes down with the ball or maybe the Giants draw a pass interference penalty down near the goal line and they can steal three or seven points before halftime.

The problem was: The one player with the highest vertical leap and best chance to make an acrobatic catch that the Giants needed on the field most was not available for Manning to throw to.

Could Beckham, who did not show any signs of labouring as he walked to the locker room, have stayed on the field for that final play? It sure looked like it.

At the time, he had just two catches for 12 yards on four targets. Was he angry and frustrated that he didn’t have more chances in that first half? We’re left to draw our own conclusions on that — just like we are about that curious premature halftime exit.

This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Odell Beckham Jr. was up to his antics in the teams latest loss

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