Giants Q&A: How about Odell Beckham Jr.!

So what records did Odell Beckham Jr. break this time?

This could take a while. His 143 receiving yards against Washington gave him 972 for the season, passing Jeremy Shockey for the most ever by a Giants rookie (Shockey had 894 in 2002). He has 71 receptions after 12 Sunday, which is three shy of Shockey's rookie record in that category. He became the first Giants rookie ever to catch three touchdown passes in a single game. His nine TDs are one shy of the team record for first-year players set by Bill Swiacki in 1948. His 12 catches tied the team record for most in a single game by a wide receiver. Hakeem Nicks and Amani Toomer also did that, and so did Mark Bavaro and Shockey. The team record for receptions in a game is 13 by Tiki Barber. And it was his seventh straight game with at least 90 receiving yards, breaking his own record for NFL rookies and leaving him two shy of the overall record of nine set by Michael Irvin in 1995.

Remind me. How many games has he played this season?

Only 10. He missed the first four with a hamstring injury, but he said that did little to diminish his goals. "I set the expectations as high as possible," he said. "I hate settling for anything less." Even his teammates had lofty outlooks. "Antrel [Rolle] came up to me from the minute I got back out on the field and said, 'You still owe me 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns,' " Beckham said. "That stuff is always in the back of your mind when you are playing."

Where does Beckham come up with his touchdown dances?

He outsources them from Georgia. "It's a group of people down in Atlanta that created the dance," he said. "It's called 'The Whip' and 'The Nae Nae' and all these other things. It's a way of expressing yourself and I enjoy having fun, so why not?"

Of course, not all of Beckham's dances are so choreographed. After his third TD reception, he spun the ball and warmed his hands over it like a campfire. "Whatever comes to mind," he said. "You only have a split-second to think about what you are going to do. You never want to look bad on TV."

What happened to Rueben Randle?

He was benched for the first quarter for the second time in three games, although he and Tom Coughlin declined to say why specifically (in Jacksonville two weeks ago, it was because he was late for a team meeting). "You don't like to see your starting receiver get in trouble," Eli Manning said. "It kind of throws off the rhythm of things, being in tune with what's going on out there." Randle wound up catching two passes for 30 yards but didn't come up with his first two on passes that could have been caught.

How long did Rashad Jennings last?

One play, one carry. Then he left the game after aggravating his sprained ankle. Rookie Andre Williams handled the position for the rest of the game. "I didn't know I wasn't going to have my right-hand man beside me, but I knew I was going to get on the field a good amount," Williams said. "Nobody saw that coming. I hope he's all right.''

Why was Santana Moss ejected?

The veteran receiver went ballistic when officials overturned a touchdown run by Robert Griffin III on the final play of the first half. "First we had an unsportsmanlike," referee Jeff Triplette said in a pool report. "The player's language and pointing at the official was the unsportsmanlike. Then a second act took place with another official [field judge Alex Kemp]. Language, very, very inappropriate language that was derogatory towards the official. That precipitated the disqualification."

Moss apologized after the game. "I let my emotions get the best of me," he said. "I was heated that we had something taken away from us and I probably didn't see it the way they saw it . . . I should have handled it a better way."

How is Eli Manning's back?

Ha!

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

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.