Beckham is out to grab more than attention
ODELL BECKHAM JR. already has The One-Handed Catch on his resume, but now he wants to add The Leap this holiday season.
Sitting at his locker Thursday afternoon, Beckham acknowledged that his dream matchup with Darrelle Revis in the Meadowlands Sunday afternoon seemed unlikely with Revis recovering from a concussion, but personal battles can wait. Beckham recognized the urgency that the game brings as the Giants attempt to gain ground in the NFC East’s muddled standings. In light of last Sunday’s loss to Washington, he wants his team to spring up against the stadium-sharing Jets.
“There’s not a lot of time left, so the steps that we need to take need to be leaps,” Beckham said. “I’m looking forward to taking a leap and progressing.”
He will draw marquee billing along with quarterback Eli Manning, and they will be called upon to lead the Giants back to a .500 record. With Big Blue having lost at Washington last week, Beckham noted that he welcomed the burden of being his team’s top target, insisting that he was ready to grab the balls thrown his way and hold on to them beyond the goal line.
Manning threw to him 18 times against Washington, and Beckham hauled in nine of them, most notably a diving touchdown reception. He finished with 142 receiving yards, but noted that his focus was not on the recent stretch of success — four straight games with 100 yards or more. He wanted to limit miscues like his touchdown grab that was ruled an incompletion against the Patriots when the ball was batted out of his hands.
“Go up, catch the ball, tuck,” he said. “I put an emphasis on putting the ball away no matter where I am because you can never leave it on anybody else to ever make a call, make a decision for you. Just leave it in your hands.”
Beckham spent the offseason performing strength and conditioning exercises, running up hills in Los Angeles and practicing punches of opponents’ forearms to gain better separation. Those drills were done with the season’s backstretch in mind as he wanted to absorb all blows while adding to his rookie campaign. Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo insisted that Manning was not forcing the ball to Beckham in the Washington loss, just throwing to his best receiver. “Absolutely not,” McAdoo said. “That’s just the way it went last week. Every week is a new week.
The last few weeks, he’s been targeted a bunch and we’ll see how this game goes.”
Beckham has plenty of resources available to him. He asked about the Jets during his talks with Miami Dolphins wideout Jarvis Landry, who played with Beckham at LSU.
“I think a lot of guys talk in and out of the locker room, with different locker rooms and a lot is said,” McAdoo 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 really don’t get to hear a lot about.”
No matter the schemes, Beckham will be ready for the Jets. He wants Manning to put the ball up for him. He will take it from there.
“It plays into my advantage,” Beckham said. “If you go up for the ball and we go up for the ball together, I have confidence in myself that I’ll be able to make the play when it comes my way. Sometimes they make a great play and that is NFL football. So I don’t know what to say. Knock the ball out of my hands, I guess.”