Odell Beckham Jr. acknowledges that the reaction to his suggestion last week that the Giants could win their final eight games and sneak into the playoffs was skepticism.
"When I said it, I heard a lot of chuckles and all that stuff," he said Thursday.
He's not backing down, even if the odds of running the table are remote, if not astronomical. The Giants made good on the first game, beating the 49ers, 27-23, after a fourth-quarter comeback Monday night at Levi's Stadium.
The Giants were awash in relief afterward, even if the win left them at 2-7 and with only a prayer of finishing with a winning record and playing into January.
Beckham himself was positively giddy after the game. He kept his uniform on longer than any of his teammates, walking around the locker room with a smile and clearly elated about winning for the first time since Week 3. He caught two touchdown passes and drew a key pass-interference penalty on the game-winning drive. But his jubilation was about the win, not his individual production.
"I feel like it was an average game," Beckham said of his four-catch, 73-yard performance, which included a dropped pass on the Giants' first play from scrimmage. "But at least we got the win."
As the Giants prepare for the Bucs at home on Sunday, when they'll try to win two games in a row for the first time since the 2016 season, Beckham remains convinced that the season can be salvaged.
"I don't know what would make me not believe it," he said of the chance to win the next seven games. "That's just the goal. Same thing I say before the season, the goal is to win the Super Bowl. It's always going to be to win the Super Bowl. If you're just here to have fun or whatever else, I don't think you should be here."
Coach Pat Shurmur never would go as far as to suggest his team is good enough to win out. That would be a clear violation of the be-here-now mantra he has espoused since he got here in January. But Shurmur doesn't hold it against Beckham to think big about the rest of the season.
"I actually don't think it violates it," Shurmur said. "I think he's giving you the long-range approach. But if you ask him, he will tell you he's putting all his energy into playing Tampa. We have to stay in the moment. That's the same, whether you win or lose the game. It's the same trap when you win and somebody says something nice about you as when you lose and you believe what everybody says about you. But you're right. I live here, right where my feet are, and I think that's the important thing for our players to understand."
Beckham indeed is focused on the Bucs, who are 3-6 after last Sunday's 16-3 home loss to the Redskins. But he's got an eye toward the future. And that's OK, even if it might sound a bit wacky given how unlikely a 9-7 finish looks at this point.
"The goal is to win every game," he said. "If we play 16, try to win 16. Win the four in the playoffs, win the Super Bowl. You never want to lose. My mentality is going to be to win these last seven games, no matter who believes it or what's said or anything like that. That's going to be my goal."
If people outside the Giants' locker room are scoffing at Beckham's bold talk, his teammates aren't. Despite having a reputation as a diva, Beckham is widely respected among his peers.
"It's only crazy until you do it," he said. "It's just the way it is. One down, we got seven left."
