Odell Beckham Jr. not surprised Jets wil try to knock ball out of his hands
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Some Jets defenders apparently believe that Odell Beckham Jr. is vulnerable to having passes knocked out of his hands as he extends for the football. They saw how the Patriots’ Malcolm Butler was able to whack a potential touchdown away from his grip several weeks ago, and believe that the quirk in Beckham’s technique – extending and trying to keep the ball away from defenders – can be exploited.
Beckham’s take on that?
“I mean, that’s their job, to knock the ball out your hands, so it’s surprising that somebody is just now saying that,” he said. “Them trying to knock the ball out of my hands, I don’t think it was the best observation. It’s obviously what you’re supposed to do is knock the ball out of somebody’s hands. Like I said, they have their game plan and we have ours.”
Beckham said he did learn from the experience against the Patriots.
“Go up, catch the ball, tuck,” he said. “I put an emphasis on putting the ball away no matter where I am just because you can’t leave it on anybody else to ever make the call or ever make a decision for you. Just leave it in your hands.”
That seems like a pretty safe place for the football to be.
Beckham chuckled at the idea that the Jets are spending so much time worrying about him and talking about him to the media. He almost blushed, in fact.
“I can’t help what they think of or think about,” he said. “I already know what the case is, I’ve known it from the beginning of this season. People have their eyes open. I don’t think there’s any surprise. It’s the big elephant in the room that needs to be addressed.”
Beckham said that it is better for him when a defender tries to intercept the ball rather than knock it away.
“I feel like that just plays into my advantage,” he said. “You go up for the ball, we go up for the ball together, I have confidence in myself that I’ll be able to make the play when it comes that way. Sometimes they make a great play and that’s NFL football.”
As for this new approach the Jets are espousing, Beckham seemed far from impressed.
“Knock the ball out of my hands, I guess,” he said. “I don’t really know what to say on that.”
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.
