Giants Q&A: Odell Beckham Jr. has a fan in Richard Sherman

Did Richard Sherman talk any trash to Odell Beckham Jr.?

Well, the vociferous Seahawks cornerback was talking, but it wasn't derogatory, and he waited until the end of the game. Beckham, who got the better of the All-Pro defender on several plays during the game and finished with seven catches for 108 yards, said Sherman came up to him afterward and slathered him with praise. "He was like, 'You're the real deal. You just have to keep working,' '' Beckham said. "He was telling me some of the things that were going on, things that he was seeing. He said, 'You're going to be a great player. Just keep working.' ''

Did Sherman cover Beckham for most of the game?

Yes, but not all of it. Beckham expected it, too. In fact, he welcomed it. He said all week he looked forward to the challenge. "That was everything I could ever ask for,'' he said of the matchup. "Thinking back to a year ago and watching Sherman and all the things that went down and everything behind him and watching the Joe Hadens and the Patrick Petersons, why would you not want to go against those guys? This is what you come here to do. You come here to be the best and play against the best, so why not have that mentality?''

How did Beckham get behind Sherman on the deep pass in the first half?

It was a play-action pass with a double move and Sherman bit on the first cut. "He said it was a great move and he kind of just guessed the wrong route,'' Beckham said of the 44-yard catch, the first completed pass by the Giants this season to travel 40 or more yards past the line of scrimmage in the air. "I got his arms off [me] and Eli made the perfect throw.''

Beckham said he thought he could have kept his feet and scored on the play.

Russell Wilson destroyed the Giants on the ground. No one else can run like that, right?

Wrong. In fact, the Giants will face someone similar next week in the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick. "It seemed like every time you turned around, [Wilson] was just running free,'' cornerback Zack Bowman said after the Seattle quarterback gained 107 yards on 14 carries. "We play the same type of quarterback next week, so we'll watch the film, make the corrections and be ready for San Fran.''

Did the Giants get off to that fast start they wanted?

They won the toss -- Tom Coughlin groused about them losing it earlier in the week, believe it or not -- and chose to receive, but it wound up being the 20th straight game in which they failed to score a touchdown on their opening drive. That's the longest such active streak in the NFL. Then, after punting, the Seahawks drove 80 yards in six plays in 3:19 to go ahead 7-0. So, no.

Certainly the Seahawks ran the ball well. How did the Giants do on the ground?

They made some improvements but still were futile. They ran for 54 yards on 17 carries, with 11 of those rushing yards coming on an end-around to Beckham. Andre Williams ran for 33 yards on 13 carries. Also, by the end of the game, the Giants were down to one healthy running back. Peyton Hillis left the game in the first quarter with a concussion and Michael Cox left in the fourth quarter with a season-ending fracture in his lower left leg. He did return with the team to New Jersey.

The good news? Rashad Jennings is expected back next week.

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.