David Tyree says Odell Beckham Jr.'s catch is greatest he's seen
Odell Beckham Jr. makes a catch for the Giants during a game against the Cowboys on Nov. 23, 2014. Credit: AP
David Tyree considers Odell Beckham Jr.'s instantly famous touchdown reception against the Cowboys last month "the greatest catch I ever witnessed."
But the fellow member of the Giants' Greatest Catches Club went a step beyond that Tuesday in describing the rookie receiver sensation.
"When it comes to Odell's catches, he can do something better, probably," Tyree said at an event at Grand Central Terminal to promote Steiner Sports' new line of handwritten essays by athletes over pictures of their famous moments.
"The ceiling is very, very high for the young man as far as he's clearly - in all honesty, and I try to wait to say things like this - but he's the most talented football player I've ever seen in my life.
"Talent only takes you so far, but he has the desire. He has the heart. He enjoys the game. He loves the game. He loves going to work. So the potential and what could be and what should be is fantastic. We just have to keep him humble and keep him hungry. So it's great to have him on our team."
Tyree works for the Giants as director of player development.
Beckham has rated Tyree's "helmet catch" that helped the Giants win Super Bowl XLII seven years ago better than his, and obviously it was more meaningful.
But even though Tyree said Beckham's is the best catch he has witnessed, he excluded the helmet catch from the competition, reasoning that he was in the middle of it and thus not an objective observer.
"I don't compare mine because I didn't witness mine, but at the same time [Beckham's] was easily the best catch I've ever witnessed, and it was great that we can have those discussions about making great plays," Tyree said. "Unfortunately it didn't come in the right context, but definitely worthy of merits and discussion."
Tyree said comparing the two plays is difficult. Not only was Tyree's more important, but it included a mad scramble by quarterback Eli Manning that made it possible.
"I think it's different," he said. "Honestly, being in a few of these conversations in the past, they talk about the greatest catch, talk about the greatest play, what makes all that? Do circumstances dictate it? Are you just trying to put his in a vacuum and say is it just the catch alone?
"You have to ask all those questions if you're going to ask who has the greatest catch or the greatest play. But it's good to be in the conversation, I'll say that much."
He said it is "indisputable" the Super Bowl catch had more impact, "but I like to say, at least the catch was in the conversation. That's the whole thing for me. Somebody else could say Santonio Holmes' [Super Bowl-winning] catch. I say listen, man, I guess it all depends on what kind of floats your boat. I think mine was miraculous in some merits in some ways whereas I don't know if you'll ever get those circumstances again. I think that's on my side."
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
