Brown, Beckham aim to one-up each
PITTSBURGH — They are millionaires, good friends, arguably the best in the world at their chosen profession and hardly apologetic for their “look at me” exuberance.
Get your popcorn ready — and while you’re at it your excessive celebration flags, meme-generators and unmarried kicking nets, too — for Antonio Brown vs. Odell Beckham Jr.
The two superstar wide receivers will be in the same stadium for the first time Sunday when Beckham and the streaking New York Giants (8-3) visit Heinz Field to take on Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5). And while the final score is important, the drive to put up the gaudier numbers is very real.
“Ultimately I would like to do better than him,” Beckham said. “But if he does better and we win, that’s a battle that I may have lost one but I won the other.”
Of course, finding a way to win both would be preferable for two players whose competitiveness has driven them to the NFL’s elite even if the paths they took to get there couldn’t be more different.
Brown, 28, is an overachiever, a former sixth-round pick whose relentless work ethic transformed him into one of the league’s most productive players. He became the quickest NFL player to reach 600 career receptions when he crossed the plateau against Cleveland last month. He backed it up by scoring a career-high three touchdowns on Thanksgiving against Indianapolis and — in typical fashion — drew another in an increasingly long list of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for his choreographed dance with running back Le’Veon Bell.
Beckham entered the league with higher expectations as the 12th overall selection in the 2014 draft and has somehow exceeded them. He’s spent the past two-plus seasons generating spectacular catches in New York, at least when he’s not ripping off his helmet to show off his shock of blonde hair, tossing around whatever happens to be within arm’s reach when he’s frustrated or jousting with nemesis Josh Norman.
Are they divas? Maybe. Do they care? Not really.
“We don’t listen to media people,” Brown said. “We are solely consumed with being our best selves and representing ourselves at a high level and making plays and helping our team win in the way we desire to do it.”
The more spectacular, the better. They don’t take much time to study most of their peers but keep close tabs on each other during the season, with Brown playing the role of mentor.
“I talk to him, critique him,” Brown said.
And he may be one of the few who can get away with it. The normally brash Beckham turns reflective when talking about Brown. The two hooked up last spring while Brown was filming Dancing With The Stars and also spent time together in Brown’s native Miami.
“He kind of just showed me the ropes,” Beckham said. “He was showing me pretty much everything of what he does. You take that and you put it into your own agenda and schedule. You kind of just go with it from there.”