Odell Beckham Jr, the New York Giants’ extraordinary wide receiver, Madden NFL 16 video-game cover model and “prima donna” to at least one of his vanquished opponents, found himself surrounded yet again Wednesday afternoon.
This time, Beckham had been targeted by neither quarterback Eli Manning nor a defensive back looking to pulverize him, but by two dozen reporters. Beckham, it had been earlier reported, had been fined $8,600 for punching Buffalo safety Duke Williams on Sunday.
“It’s tough to walk the line,” Beckham said just before adding that he planned to appeal the fine, in part, because he gets punched in the face every single game.
Beckham has played a grand total of 16 NFL games, and he compiled more receptions (115) and receiving yards (1,612) than any other player in NFL history after 16 games. His 14 receiving touchdowns are the most in the NFL since he made his debut in Week 5 of 2014.
Beckham, just 22, is also vocal and demonstrative, and defensive backs who get toasted don’t like being reminded about that. He irritates them. Bills cornerback Stephon Gilmore called him a “prima donna” and linebacker Preston Brown called Beckham a “golden boy” after the Giants beat Buffalo on Sunday, 24-10, to run their record to 2-2.
“Just bickering back and forth between teams, blah, blah, blah,” Beckham said.
The Giants are in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East with Dallas, without Tony Romo for a while, and Washington, which outlasted the terrible Eagles on Sunday. The Giants have a good chance to win their next five games, starting Sunday against San Francisco.
And both Giants’ losses came in the last two minutes, so they had a good chance to win those games, too. Beckham is a primary reason – though, it turns out, not the only reason.
Manning said Wednesday has noticed that safeties tend to lean towards Beckham’s side of the field, just because Beckham has already earned a reputation for making big plays.
“We still got some opportunities to give him the ball,” Manning said. “If they’re going to double[-team] him, other guys are going to win. And we have great confidence in those guys to do that.”
And this is kind of what is happening. Beckham, like any truly great receiver, is siphoning off attention to other Giants’ receivers. Dwayne Harris, Rueben Randle and running back Rashad Jennings caught touchdown passes from Manning against Buffalo.
Through four games, Beckham is only 11th in the NFL with 41 ‘targets’, or passes thrown his way. That is 10.25 targets a game. As a rookie, Beckham was targeted 132 times in 12 games – 11 times a game – including an astonishing 21 times in a loss to Philadelphia.
“He gets a lot of attention, but with that attention, he still makes a lot of plays,” said Giants tight end Larry Donnell, who is second on the team with 15 receptions. “But it benefits me. It’s cool to get receptions. He takes a lot of pressure off a lot of people.”
Beckham says he likes that. He said he reminded Tom Coughlin, the Giants’ 69-year-old coach, before practice Wednesday about how much he loves football. He loves being on the Giants. He wants to do his best, and if that means he becomes a decoy sometimes, fine.
Asked Wednesday if he felt he was getting more attention on the field from opponents than he did last year, Beckham smiled and said, “Yeah. Yeah. Definitely would have to say so. That’s good for us. I love that. If I can draw two guys on one play, if I can draw seven guys on a fake reverse and we have a big play, I did my job. You know what I mean?”
He then said, “We came here to play football. You can’t do much about calls or whatever any one else has to say. All you can do is what [comes] between snap and whistle.”
Beckham said he would block 70 times a game or catch 60 passes if asked to do either - though Coughlin would be crazy to put him out there just to pancake defenders. Beckham ran over to throw a block on a 51-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Jennings, but he nearly collided with Jennings, so he decided it would be better if he just got out of Jennings’ way.
Making spectacular one-handed catches (he caught another Sunday, but he was out of bounds) is only part of his job description. The “prima donna” and “golden boy” taunts don’t bother Beckham. He actually said Wednesday he sleeps like a baby at night.
Manning said of Beckham: “He wants to go out there and do well. He plays hard. He practices hard. He wants to be great, and he’s emotional about it. He takes it very seriously.”
Coughlin, in his 20th year as an NFL head coach, reminded Beckham on Wednesday that it would become part of his job, as much as he’d be tempted, to turn away when taunted by opponents. He was not penalized Sunday, but he could be. He could be ejected. That would leave other Giants to catch Manning’s passes, but it would not help the team at all.
“Obviously I was disappointed because I think he’s beyond and above a lot of that stuff, and I think he’ll put it behind him,” Coughlin said. “And he’s an emotional guy. Hey, let’s face it, I told him, ‘I want you to continue to block the way you’re blocking.’ He flies around out there.”
Coughlin noticed on film that Beckham was ready to flatten a Buffalo safety on Jennings’ touchdown, but he stepped away because Jennings might have been flattened, too. “He’s very competitive, very energetic,” Coughlin said of Beckham.
As a result, Beckham also is willing to divert traffic, and he will continue to do so. Seventeen NFL players have more catches than he does after four games. He has no complaints.
“I love football – there’s nothing more to it than that,” Beckham said. “I just love this game. I’m very confident in my ability. I know what I’ve been given, I know my responsibilities that I have.”
