New York Giants: Supporting Odell Beckham Jr. Pivotal to His Maturation

The New York Giants took a critical first step in healing any rifts in their locker room surrounding receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

After storm clouds threatened to decimate the very core of the New York Giants team unity, there are signs that the unrest surrounding the team’s opinion about receiver Odell Beckham Jr. have begun to dissipate.

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In case you haven’t been following what’s become an unnecessary soap opera, some high-profiled Giants, including head coach Ben McAdoo, expressed concern for their dynamic playmaker’s struggle to channel his off-the-charts level of emotion into something productive.

This week, there has been no mention of the word “distraction,” as the Giants have finally realized that there is something behind the age-old saying, “United we stand; divided we fall.”

McAdoo and quarterback Eli Manning, both of whom spoke to the media Wednesday, emphasized how important Beckham is to helping them achieve team goals, and that they support and appreciate what Beckham brings to the table.

“No one likes losing and we just lost two in a row,” Manning said, perhaps providing some insight into the comments made by Beckham to ESPN Radio’s Anita Marks, who reported that Beckham said he’s “not having fun anymore.”

“It’s not fun to lose games,” Manning said. “Last week, offensively, we didn’t play as well as we needed to, so it was a tough game and it’s not exactly fun playing a tough game.”

…The Giants took a critical first step toward eliminating an even bigger problem that threatened to tear the team apart.

McAdoo, who in part helped ignite the added scrutiny on Beckham when he said Beckham needed to “control his emotions better and become less of a distraction to himself and to his teammates,” was also more supportive toward the 23-year-old receiver, who drew a personal foul penalty Monday night after retaliating against Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes for what looked like a late hit out of bounds.

“I think he has great passion for the game. One thing I would hate to see him lose is that drive and passion,” McAdoo said.

“I like him as a salty, competitive player,” McAdoo added, also saying that Beckham needed to stay within the rules of the game when exhibiting that salty behavior. “That’s when he plays at his best. We just need to be productive when we’re doing it.

To be clear, Beckham has unfortunately built up a history in which he’s become a lightning rod for that extra push or shove. Before things came to a head last season in that Week 15 game against Carolina and their then cornerback Josh Norman, there was an ugly sideline incident late in Beckham’s rookie campaign against the St. Louis Rams.

In that game, Beckham, who had drawn an unsportsmanlike penalty for excessive celebration earlier in the contest, was on the receiving end of a late hit out-of-bounds by linebacker Alec Ogletree.

Beckham proceeded to retaliate against Ogletree. Just as quickly as it took for him to lose his cool, a mini sideline brawl broke out involving both teams and resulting in the ejections of two former teammates, receiver Preston Parker and defensive end Damontre Moore, who came to his aid.

Beckham himself has admitted in the past that a lot of what’s happened to him is “a little self-inflicted” and that he could see why opponents might be turned off by his style of competitiveness.

“I know that it may be a little self-inflicted that that’s what it’s going to be like this year,” Beckham said during a 2015 training camp gathering with reporters.

“I could rub a lot of people the wrong way if they don’t know me. I’m sure a lot of it was caused from me being who I am and dancing and having fun and having success at the same time.”

Interestingly as the Giants were conducting their locker room session in which they reversed course and avoided using the “D” word, New York Jets receiver Brandon Marshall, also known for his fiery style of play, warned the Giants to watch what they said to the media.

“Those guys over there need to be really careful,” Marshall said per Daniel Popper of the New York Daily News. “They don’t need to be speaking out on their teammate. They need to keep that in-house, because they can lose him.

“They need to rally behind him and give him the support he needs and handle that stuff in-house, whether good or bad. Because whether they like it or not, he’s the best player on that team,” Marshall added.

He’s right, and although his words came after the fact, the Giants took a critical first step toward eliminating an even bigger problem that threatened to tear the team apart.