Odell Beckham Jr. calling up other NFL receivers to get edge vs. Jets
Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants scores a fourth-quarter touchdown past cornerback Will Blackmon of the Washington Redskins at FedExField on November 29, 2015 in Landover, Md. Credit: Getty Images / Patrick Smith
Odell Beckham Jr. said he’s been working the phones this week trying to get an edge against the Jets defense. Asked if he got a scouting report on the secondary from former LSU teammate and good friend Jarvis Landry, who plays for the Dolphins in the same division as the Jets, Beckham simply said: “I’ve seen it.”
But he’s gone deeper that just Landry, with whom he speaks several times a week.
“I talked to [DeAndre] Hopkins, he’s a friend of mine,” he said of the Texans receiver. “I haven’t talked to [Amari] Cooper yet.”
Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo said that’s nothing new and it helps players focus on the details of their techniques.
“I think it happens a little more than we all realize,” he said. “It’s their own culture and I think a lot of guys talk in and out of the locker room with different locker rooms and a lot is said. They have their own mini-game plan, the players do, within our game plan. I think that’s a neat part of our league that you don’t really get to hear a lot about.”
Beckham’s info search has shifted from Darrelle Revis to Antonio Cromartie as the week has gone on and Revis’ participation in Sunday’s game has become more in doubt.
“We were game-planning for other areas and it’s hard to know what exactly they’re going to do now that Revis is not playing,” he said. McAdoo said the Giants will have two game plans for the Jets, one for if Revis plays and another for if he does not.
As for Cromartie?
“He’s a bigger corner, a physical corner,” Beckham said. “He’s a guy who can run and he uses his strengths to his advantage . . . He’s a great corner.”
Beckham said he was hoping to face off against Revis.
“It would have been fun to be able to go against a guy like that,” he said. “Obviously, you know, I have high praise for him. [It’s] unfortunate that he’s not playing, but down the road, you never know, there may be a matchup there.”
And there is still a slim, fading chance for it to happen this week.
“You never know what the case will be,” Beckham said.
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.
