Last week I wrote about how Odell Beckham was being scapegoated by the New York Giants; This week it has gotten worse. Things are starting to snowball as everyone keeps piling on about how he is a distraction to the team. And to a degree they are right. There are certain players that come around every once in a while with as much emotion as they have talent. Some of the most notable players being Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson and even Dez Bryant. The problem with these players is not that they are a distraction, but that if the team is losing their antics start to get annoying. When the team does well these players are passionate superstars. When the team does badly, they are a distraction to the rest of the team.
These players are the easy targets, they get put under the microscope for every little thing and get picked apart by the media. Take this week for example. On Sunday Beckham got hit late out of bounds and got up angry and bumped shoulders with the defender. Then suddenly a flag comes in. It must be for the late hit out of bounds on the Vikings right; wrong, they flagged Beckham for taunting. If it were any other player in the league it would have been a non-issue. And the game would have just gone on like normal. Players yell at each other and shove each other much worse than that every single play.
Here’s where things get interesting, though. The two referee’s that were right next to Beckham during the play did not throw the flag. The flag came from a referee that was 30 yards away from the play. How is it that he can clearly see what’s going on better than the guys right next to the player? Furthermore, how did the refs next to the play not overrule that flag? To make matters worse the next pass that Beckham caught he was hit out of bounds late again and still no flag. And on top of that, the league reviewed these plays and fined Beckham 24 thousand dollars. I don’t know if he is a distraction to the team but he certainly is distracting the Ref’s and the League officials from watching the games because they are missing everything.
Even if Odell is going a little crazy right now, there is an easy way to fix it. Get that guy the ball and let him play. Giants head coach Ben McAdoo was brilliant in his first two years here as offensive coordinator. But now that he is head coach the good play calling has stopped. You have one of the best receiving corps in the game and you can’t figure out how to get them the ball? You need to design some plays to get the ball into the hands of Beckham and Sheppard. All you need to do is throw some short slants to them and let them work. Beckham is one of the best receivers in the league in yards after the catch. So why are you putting him on so many deep routes where he is going to be easily doubled. Hell, you could even move him to the slot a few times to get him going.
There is absolutely no excuse for the Giants passing game to be this stagnant. And when things don’t work you can’t blame Beckham for giving it his all and getting nothing in return.
