As are most non-New York Giants fans, I am sick and tired of hearing about how great Odell Beckham Junior is. Fans have anointed Beckham as the greatest receiver of all time, even though Beckham’s played in 26 career games. The Giants have won 10 of those 26 games and have not made the playoffs. That will continue as the Giants were eliminated from playoff contention after Washington’s victory over Philadelphia Saturday night.
Frankly, Odell Beckham is a punk.
His actions on the field in the Giants' loss to the Carolina Panthers were indefensible. Beckham is a great talent, one of the most talented receivers in the NFL, but that talent has gone to his head and it doesn’t even seem like he’s on the field to play football anymore. Beckham seemed to only be interested in hurting Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, not winning the game. Beckham deliberately went out of his way to go after Norman’s head (which was the dirtiest play I have ever seen on a football field), he should have been thrown out of the game. He wasn’t—but that’s a discussion for another day.
Beckham has personally put up the best first 26 games of a career that have ever been seen. But his career-low in targets is four; he hasn’t had less than six targets in a game since week seven of 2014. Odds are if a receiver has that many targets each week, he’s going to make his share of receptions.
Beckham only seems to care about Beckham. Football fans I’ve spoken to tried comparing Beckham to Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant after Beckham’s actions last weekend. Bryant has never deliberately gone after another player’s head. When watching Bryant play his frustrations seem to come from the teams effort and the way the team is playing, he cares about winning football games. There was no emotion shown from Beckham until he felt personally threatened.
Beckham will forever be remembered for “the catch that broke the Internet” on November 23, 2014. Does anyone remember the Giants actually lost that game? This season in week 11 against Washington, Beckham made another incredible touchdown catch. The Giants lost that game too.
In the Giants week 12 loss to their stadium-mate the New York Jets, Beckham nearly cost his team the game. Beckham put up great numbers that game too: six catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. He also had one great in-kick. In overtime, after the Jets had scored a go-ahead field goal, the Giants had a chance to come back and tie or win the game.
On a third-and-two play, quarterback Eli Manning went to Beckham and Beckham couldn’t make the catch. He then kicked the ball and got penalized for a delay of game. This cost the Giants five yards, luckily they converted on fourth down so Beckham’s antics didn’t cost his team the game entirely.
Yes, Beckham is only 23 years old, in his second year in the league and has a lot of room to grow and mature. The fame of setting multiple receiving records and being on the cover of Madden can’t get to his head. He needs to start growing up now.
Luckily for the Giants they’re already eliminated from the playoffs, otherwise they would be playing for their playoff lives against the Vikings on Sunday night football without Beckham, their best offensive player, after he got suspended one game for his actions against Carolina.
Known diva, wide receiver Randy Moss won 21 of his first 26 career games and made it all the way to the NFC championship game as a rookie. Another diva, Terrell Owens, also won 21 of his first 26 games and made the playoffs. Granted, Owens was playing with hall-of-fame quarterback Steve Young, but Owens still won games, and who’s to say Manning won’t be in the hall of fame in the future.
Beckham’s a great talent. He will continue to make jaw-dropping catches. Hopefully, those receptions outnumber the personal foul penalties. Beckham one day in the very near future might be deemed the best wide receiver in football, but he’s a long way from being the greatest of all time. Perhaps most importantly, Beckham has to help his team win more games.
