Odell Beckham Jr.’s season is a forgettable one thus far
By James Marrow
“Football is my sanctuary,” Giants’ third-year wide receiver Odell Beckham told ESPN’s Anita Marks on October 4. “It’s where I go to escape. It’s where I’m most happy. I’m not having fun anymore.”
Odell Beckham is struggling to find his stride so far this season.
Beckham is on pace for the fewest receptions and receiving yards of his career. According to ESPN, he had 27 receptions on 51 passes to him through this season’s first five games. In the 2015-16 season, he recorded 96 catches on 158 targets.
He feels he isn’t getting enough chances to make a difference this season even though his current projected targets are close to his number last season. “What I’m communicating, we’re not doing,” Beckham told Marks. “I’m not getting the opportunities to contribute, and that’s frustrating to me.”
The Giants are struggling this season. Monday’s 23-16 loss to the Green Bay Packers dropped the New York team to a 2-3 record and fourth place in the NFC East standings, a game in which the third-year receiver out of Louisiana State scored his first touchdown of the season after a booth review. Beckham’s selfishness might be his biggest obstacle.
The receiver’s antics this year show his inability to control his temper and have been creating a major distraction for the rest of the team.
“It’s just when he gets on the field, there’s only one way he knows how to play. For his own good [he needs to learn to channel his passion],” stated Tom Coughlin on CBS’s “We Need to Talk,” Coughlin is a former New York Giants coach and Beckham’s coach for his first two years.
Beckham’s Giants teammates appear to becoming irritated with Beckham’s attitude. “He is a distraction. If you watch a game the camera is on him the whole time,” Coughlin added.
When Beckham is hitting kicking nets and collecting penalties for not controlling his temper, he is making it hard for players to focus on the next play, the next quarter and the next game because they have to worry about addressing the receiver’s issues in the locker room and the media.
In order for No. 13 to get the opportunities he wants, he may need to let the offense do their job and be patient.
The Giants have recognized the importance of not giving away penalty yards and have stressed this idea stressed to Beckham. This same point has also been publicly addressed. “Until we execute better, hang onto the football and eliminate the penalties from our play, no one is going to be having any fun,” said Ben McAdoo, Giants’ first-year coach during a conference call with reporters.