OF STRIFE
Of Scars & worries but no Simba
the Giants were scared to scold him.
Mara, who is known as a man who does the right thing, somehow felt backing Josh Brown last year was more important than the damage it would cause to the Giants’ brand and his reputation and the wrong message it sent of condoning Brown’s behavior. The Giants brought back Brown in 2015 even after being informed of his domestic violence arrest. One year later, they signed him to a new two-year contract with a raise.
Mara had looked Brown in the eye and felt he needed to show compassion and aid him in his attempt to turn around his life. It turned out to be a bigger mistake when even more damning information about Brown was revealed, forcing the Giants to finally cut him more than a year too late. Why Mara decided to take a risk on a nearly 40-year-old kicker who had been with the team only three years still is hard to figure out.
The enabling of OBJ began when Tom Coughlin failed to sit him for even one play during his fistfight game with Josh Norman in 2015. That was the first indication the Giants had sold their souls in exchange for trying to win a meaningless game in December and that Coughlin’s “Giants Pride” catchphrase was pretty hollow.
Proving he is an equal opportunity coach killer, Beckham put together a greatest hits list for McAdoo’s rookie year in 2016, which included his strange romance with the kicking net, losing his temper as Minnesota’s Xavier Rhodes shut him down, the all-nighter in Miami in the dance club with Justin Bieber followed by the boat trip and then the worst game of his career in the playoff loss in Green Bay.
Beckham then punched a hole in the wall outside the Giant locker room at historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay. He carried that momentum into this year by sending a message he wanted a new contract by skipping OTAs, then declaring he wanted to be the highest-paid player in the league. He sprained his ankle in a preseason
TAP game in Cleveland and missed the opening regular season game. He celebrated his first TD acting like a dog and two weeks later declared McAdoo’s offense was predictable. His season ended last week when he broke his ankle against the Chargers and then he posted a picture with Drake by his hospital bedside.
For all of Lawrence Taylor’s problems off the field, he never acted like a knucklehead on the field.
This is a different era. Players get paid so much they have become corporations. OBJ makes twice as much per year from his Nike contract as LT ever did in one season playing for the Giants. he Giants won 11 games last season and winning covers up a lot of problems. The 0-5 start causes fractures way beyond the epidemic of broken ankles.
They need to sign Simba, a young free agent lion with leadership potential, to reclaim the Pride Lands.