Giants expect Odell Beckham Jr. to play the way he has all season
Odell Beckham Jr. Credit: Getty Images / Mike Ehrmann
Odell Beckham Jr. says he will learn from the events of the past two weeks, which saw him involved in some ugly on-field incidents and serve a one-game suspension for those actions.
Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo hopes Beckham doesn’t learn too much, though.
“I like him salty,” McAdoo said of the second-year receiver’s energy and passion on the field. “I like that physicality, I like that in a player, a guy who does walk the line. I think that’s what makes him who he is. We just have to keep the flags in the officials’ pockets.”
That’s the balance that the Giants and Beckham need to find going forward, beginning with Sunday’s game against the Eagles.
“I don’t think I’m going to change the way that I play, but I think I’ll change the actions that were on the field that Sunday,” Beckham said on Wednesday in his first public remarks since the suspension last week. “It’s not what we should be doing, it’s not what I would want to represent the Giants as.”
Beckham participated Wednesday in his first practice since he returned to the team on Monday. Tom Coughlin said Beckham seemed a little less … Beckham.
“He just attended the meetings and he was very quiet, to be honest with you,” Coughlin said. “He just came in, took his seat like he always does, and we went to work …. I expect the fact that he’s learned a great deal from this situation. And that he will have taken a little dressing himself in terms of how that happened, and plan on doing a better job.”
McAdoo said there is little doubt that Beckham’s future actions will be judged against the backdrop of his previous antics.
“Everyone understands that there are a lot of cameras on Odell because of the kind of impact he can have on the game and the type of star figure that he is,” McAdoo said. “Everything he does is going to be dissected, and that is as evident as ever.”
Still, the offensive coordinator is expecting big things from Beckham when he returns to the field on Sunday with a lot of prove and plenty to play for.
“I have no question he’ll be ready.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
