Coughlin preaches patience with injured rookie Beckham

Giants coach Tom Coughlin has expressed varying degrees of frustration over the continued absence of first-round rookie receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who tweaked his hamstring in off-season practices and then aggravated it on the very first day of training camp.

But Coughlin is now preaching patience, and suggested that Beckham's injury, which has prevented him from taking a single snap in a preseason game, may be out as long as three more weeks.

When asked about Beckham's injury after Monday's practice, Coughlin snapped at the questioner and said, "Let's just let the kid get better, ok? Everybody settle down. Let the kid get better. I went up to him yesterday and I said, 'Let's just not have any more setbacks. Whatever it takes to get over this, let's do this.' Let's encourage him. Let's not let him feel like he's an outsider. Let's get on with it. But I mean, to talk about him every day, I'll let you know when he's ready to do something.''

Coughlin himself had been the one showing the most frustration over Beckham's absence, often telling reporters of his growing impatience over the fact Beckham has missed all but a handful of practices. Beckham briefly returned to positional drills two weeks ago, but has since been held out of practice.

"It's every day,'' Coughlin said of the questions about Beckham's return. "It's the same question over and over. He is not ready to play. He may be a couple, three weeks away. So we're not going to talk about him. We have a game to play. Can we talk about the guys playing in the game, instead of people that are on the injured report? Thank you for bearing with me on that.''

The Giants open the season next Monday night in Detroit.

Beckham expressed gratitude to Coughlin for the coach's more patient approach of recent days.

"It was great to get a reassurance and just know that it's one of those things that just takes time,'' said Beckham, a former LSU standout. "Everybody's ok with it. Obviously, it's not something you want to happen or to be out for this long a period of time. But it's something we have to deal with and just take it day-by-day.''

Beckham said he has had a handful of conversations with Coughlin in recent days and was heartened "just to be able to have the feeling of your coach and everybody having your back. It's aggravating not being able to do anything, but you just have to deal with it, stay positive and keep moving forward every day. It's more comforting to make sure you get it right. Take your time. We don't know how long it is. Just take your time and make sure that you get it 100 percent this time.''

Beckham didn't know when he might be back.

"You leave those things up to the trainers,'' he said. "But at the same time, being a competitor, you're going to always get out there when you can and you want to be part of the team. You want to make plays and stuff like that. It's just one of those things you have to take your time with. I'm just taking it day-by-day and that's it. I would love to be out on the field 100 percent, so whenever I can do that -- I don't know exactly how long it will take, but hopefully as fast as I can.''