Jets' Walter Powell, the scout team's OBJ, is shut out playing Giants' receiver
Jets wide receiver Walter Powell catches a punt during training camp at the Atlantic Health Training Center on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015 in Florham Park, N.J. Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
This was Walter Powell's moment.
Clad in a white pinnie with a red No. 13, the Jets' return man was expecting to have his breakout moment -- Odell Beckham Jr.-style.
"I was waiting," Powell said, smiling, as he stood in the Jets' indoor fieldhouse after practice Wednesday. "I thought I was going to get the ball 13 times."
But those passes never came.
Powell, a primary kick-returner for the Jets, donned No. 13 to represent Beckham, the Giants' pass-catching phenom, during scout-team reps. But there would be no one-handed grabs in Powell's future.
"Nope," he said, clearly dejected. "Not at all. No Odell-type stuff. I didn't get a lot of balls today. I told them that I was just going to put my hand up all day and one-hand it. But they kept throwing it to everybody else."
The Jets did plenty of game-planning Wednesday in preparation for their annual preseason rivalry game with the Giants Saturday at MetLife Stadium. And stopping Beckham will be a top priority for Todd Bowles' team.
Few can replicate the moves of the second-year receiver, who caught 91 passes for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns as a rookie last season. In fact, Beckham's so good, he makes one-handed catching look easy in pregame warmups.
"The thing about getting the scout-team reps, you get to be a little bit more creative because we run routes a certain type of way here. But with the Giants' type of offense, I guess we can be a little bit more creative with the routes," Powell said.
"I'm not trying to do nothing too spectacular, I'm still trying to make sure I catch the ball and give the defense good looks."
Even so, he couldn't help but frown when asked about not getting a chance to show out in practice.
"I thought I would, shoot," he said, laughing. "But the ball wasn't coming to me. They kept having different people (catch the ball); like whoever was (receivers) Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle. Whoever's the circle on the play gets the ball. So "13" only got the couple times."
