Odell Beckham Jr. Spills Feelings About Giants

On a segment of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, Josina Anderson interviewed Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to discuss his current frustrations with the Giants.

It’s not exactly breaking news that Beckham has been frustrated.

 

 

The Giants have struggled coming out of the gate. Their defense looks better from last season but they continue to show similar struggles on offense. Eli Manning isn’t getting much help from his o-line but he hasn’t pushed the ball downfield as much as he needs to. That could be attributed to the play calling or Eli feeling he doesn’t have the time to get the ball downfield. Regardless of who’s fault it is, its a problem that needs to be solved before their season goes down the drain.

Odell’s comments in the interview are drawing some controversy as they should be. Calling out your coaches and quarterback will earn you some backlash.

“I don’t feel like I’m being given the opportunity to be the very best that I can, to bring that every single day – and that’s really all I want to do, to bring that every single day. I don’t wanna be held back anymore. Since I’ve been here I’ve put up numbers, records have been broken, and al those good things, not to say mean nothing to me, but I know they could have been double, or triple whatever they are now. That’s the part that bothers me.”

One thing is for sure, Beckham is not an unconfident man. He may have a point here. The Giants offense has been mediocre at best every year Beckham has been with the Giants but he still has put up good numbers. They only just found somewhat of a run game this season because  Saquon Barkley refuses to be tackled.

Beckham also called out Manning’s lack of mobility and his limited deep passing attempts.

“He’s not going to get out of the pocket, we know Eli’s not running. Can he still throw it, yeah, but it’s been, you know, cool catching a shallow and trying to take it to the house. But I wanna go over the top of somebody.”

Eli has never been a mobile quarterback and will never be one. He was at his best when his o-line was great and gave him plenty of time to find the open guy. Now that his o-line has been below average, Eli has struggled to evade defenders in the pocket. And Eli has struggled to push the ball down the field in recent years. This season, his yards per attempt is 7.4, which is 19th out of 35 qualified quarterbacks and 10.3 yards per completion, which is 32nd according to pro-football-reference. Beckham’s comments aren’t wrong but it’s something that shouldn’t be said in an interview. Calling out a 2-time Super Bowl MVP will probably rub some teammates and people in the organization the wrong way.

Beckham also called out his coaches.

“I feel like I’m being out-schemed, and I also don’t have a chance to like, do something or i gotta take a slant and go 60, and not to say thats not fun, but I want those easy touchdowns too. I watch everybody across the league, all the top receivers get the ball the way they should, and if they don’t they say something about it.”

Again, Beckham is not wrong. It seems like every time I’m watching a Giants game, Odell is catching a drag on 3rd and 12 and comes up short of the first down. Beckham had to know this would tick off the coaches. He has a right to be frustrated but he shouldn’t have spilled this to the media. I’m sure Beckham has had these discussions with his coaches and he has not seen any changes, which probably led him to feel the need to come out with his feelings.

Head Coach Pat Shurmer made a comment about Saquon’s leadership abilities that came across as a shot at Beckham.

“I really think some of your younger players can be your best leaders,” Shurmer said. “He displays humility, he says the right thing… you’ve got a genuine, competitive guy that can do really anything on the football field. Those guys can lead naturally by just being themselves.”

It will be interesting to see how the Giants respond to Beckham’s criticisms Thursday night against the Eagles.

Also the question that probably most people are wondering is, “why is Lil Wayne in this interview?”

 

Featured image via/Brook Ward

Long time sports fan, first time writer. I played a little college football at American International College (You probably have never heard of it). My favorite teams consist of the Jets, Yankees, Rangers, and Knicks. While three of those teams have brought me nothing but stress, I wouldn't want it any other way.

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